1 of 1- reptongeek
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Tube Challenge
Another solo story spun off from Movie Night. This is Kate's full trip on the London Underground. I didn't do it at the time, because I needed more experience of doing it in real life
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'Are you quite sure you don't need a thicker jumper?' Dad asked me.
'I'll be fine' I replied. It was just after 5am on Monday morning, and we were at Chesham station at the end of the Metropolitan line.
In ten minutes, the train behind me would take me to Chalfont & Latimer the second of 272 London Underground stations, I was hoping to visit in a single operating day. In 19 or so hours me and my travelling partner would hopefully arrive at Heathrow Terminal 5 having covered all of them
Rhiannon wasn't here yet, and this was making me even more nervous than I already was. Speedrunning a transit system wasn't new to me, but my previous attempts - the Vienna and Frankfurt U Bahn's - had not only happened within the hours of daylight, they were considerably smaller and less complex than the Tube
The other consideration was I hadn't planned either of these, that was my girlfriend Rachel. Now our positions were reversed, the mental strain was now my responsibility not hers.
Rachel had been brilliant though. She had answered all of my questions, and I felt as prepared as I was going to be
As an added pressure, we were doing this for charity. A mutual friend at sixth form college called Evie had recently lost her Mum and I felt compelled to do something. She had been so kind to us, when we needed extra rehearsals for our college play, willingly allowing ten of us to descend on her house. Before her death she had been a Macmillan cancer nurse, and this was the charity that me and Rhiannon were raising money for
My watch ticked over to 5:10. The train would be leaving in five minutes, and my companion was still not here. My fingers trembled as I bought her ticket. Luckily as the ticket plopped through the machine and landed in the collection area, Rhiannon arrived.
After we said goodbye to our parents, we passed through the ticket barriers and took a seat on the train. My mobile phone was prepped in my left hand, my right hand was positioned so I could read the time. Shortly after 5:15 the doors on the train closed and the clock was activated. Closing the app, I tucked my phone into its case on my belt, making sure to write my departure time in the logbook
Rachel had warned me that the first section was very stop start and would take a while. Not that I didn't believe her, but it seemed strange that it would take so long to get to Northwick Park, the end of our first section of the journey. Twenty minutes later when we were both at Amersham station waiting for our next train, I finally got what she meant. We had had a seven minute wait at Chalfont & Latimer and now we had no information on our next train.
Now we got something. I groaned as my eyes took in the information on the dot matrix. A Chiltern train was next. This was perfectly okay, it was allowed in the rules of the challenge, but it would mean getting off one stop before Moor Park meaning yet another wait at Rickmansworth.
We continued our stop start journey and managed a quick change at the end of the Watford branch.
'We've got our first run coming up' I explained to Rhiannon. 'We need to do a warm up'
We spent the next few minutes stretching ourselves in preparation for the run to Rayners Lane stopping occasionally to fill in our logbook.
It was good that we did do the warm up as it was a hard run up to the station. In addition there had been some rain early morning and the leaves on the pavements made them a little slippery.
Neither of us could believe our eyes however as we saw a train in the platform when we arrived, very dehydrated at Rayners Lane. The doors closed and we flopped onto a seat.
The announcement over the PA system however turned my head to ice. Instead of a Piccadilly train we had got a Metropolitan train instead.
Rachel's voice, so calm and understanding came into my mind.
'If you get a wrong train, don't panic. You might have to rewrite the route, but the important thing is to keep going'
It was this advice that stopped me from getting off at the next station and doubling back. In-between stations I looked at my hand written route in my logbook. My mind was still in turmoil though and I opted to go to Preston Road and decide there what my next strategy would be
Security will run you down hard
And I will lead them on a merry chase
- reptongeek
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- Registered: September 5, 2011
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Re: Tube Challenge
At Preston Road, I traced out the route I should have taken on the big map on the platform. What if I did the Uxbridge-Ickenham part later?
Our next train had arrived, so me and Rhiannon got on it.
'Sorry, we have to run again' I confessed. 'I've cocked up already' Tears began filling in my eyes. It was so important I get this right and I'd messed up already.
The Bakerloo line train down to Elephant and Castle allowed me to rejig our route somewhat. Now I was able to think clearly, it wasn't too much of an adjustment. Most of our journey would still be the same, just doing things in a different order
'Are we still okay?' Rhiannon asked me.
'I don't know' A single tear overflowed my right eye, and ran down my cheek. 'I've managed to redo the route, but we'll have to see'
At West Ham, I had my next panic, when I heard Barking as the destination. I quickly realised though we were on a Hammersmith and City line train not a District train. However what would we need to do at Barking?
Luckily however I found out quite easily and we arrived at our next destination. We continued on and at one o'clock or thereabouts we were pulling into Wimbledon Station on a bus. We were getting close to the trickiest station on the network, the Kensington (Olympia) train
Pulling out my mobile phone from its case, I looked up the train times. There was one train that was on course to meet us at Earls Court. I chose to go for that one.
As we pulled in, we couldn't see it on the platform and my heart sank. It did however rise again when we checked the dot matrix and found it was four minutes away.
Tears began running down my cheeks. This was the train I was most worried about and we had got it.
After reaching the London Underground's most infamous station, we had another run to do this time to High Street Kensington so we could go round the Hammersmith loop. From there we could cross the road to the Piccadilly line and head up to Uxbridge.
We needed to change at Acton Town as we first got a Heathrow train, but soon we were heading towards Uxbridge. Unfortunately we had another small delay as the outgoing train left without us.
My eyes filled with tears again, but I wiped them away before they fell. The stress of the day was starting to take its toll a little. I then suddenly realised one slight disadvantage of my rejigged route. We would both have to run up a hill towards West Ruislip.
We walked the last few metres to our next station. By this time we had both doffed our jumpers and tied them round our waists. At East Acton whilst waiting for a train to Ealing Broadway, I noticed that Rhiannon was starting to flag a little.
This was a worry, but at the same time I didn't know what was the best thing to do. Rhiannon was on this trip not only because I needed a travelling companion, but also because she had inadvertently told me she had feelings for Evie. To tell her that she couldn't continue would be devastating to her, but at the same time what could I do
My dilemma was still in my mind as we borded our next train to Loughton at the far end of the Central Line.
Last edited by reptongeek (October 19, 2024 2:08 pm)
Security will run you down hard
And I will lead them on a merry chase
- •
Thread Starter- reptongeek
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- From: North Yorkshire, England
- Registered: September 5, 2011
- Posts: 2,041
Re: Tube Challenge
About an hour and a quarter later, we had reached Hainault. We had just got off the shuttle and were waiting for the train back towards Leightonstone. Rhiannon took the opportunity to explore the station a bit leaving me to think.
Tears began streaming down my face. I hated myself for what I was about to do, but Rhiannon was clearly much more tired than she was at Ealing Broadway.
I remembered that my best friends and their romantic partners were at London Zoo. Wiping my tears I sent them a message, asking if one of them could meet me at Camden Town and pressed send.
When we reached Leytonstone, the next problem reared its head. The rain of early morning, which had now given way to bright sunshine had flooded the exit we were going to use, forcing us to take the alternative one.
To my horror this put me out into an unfamiliar place. Luckily a nearby bus driver was able to direct me to a footbridge and I was able to reach the main street without too many issues, but my stress was peaking again, and I still hadn't revealed to Rhiannon that I wanted to replace her.
Luckily we reached the Overground stop and got on the train before it left. Another delay hit us though as we couldn't get down to the Victoria line platforms at Walthamstow Central
I tried not to swear but I did. Rhiannon was a little shocked at first, but then the escalators opened and we got going again.
On the train, my companion admitted with tears running down her cheeks, that she couldn't continue. She was devastated understandably, but I told her that I had a plan and could carry on for Evie.
She wiped her tears, happy that the challenge could carry on.
I checked my phone and Samantha would meet me at Camden Town. The exchange was perfect and Samantha joined me as my trip continued.
With Samantha at my side, our next challenge was at Edgware bus station. From my research I knew there were two buses I could take. The tricky part was their respective stands were at opposite ends of the bus station. Luck however was on our side and Samantha managed to stop a bus to Stanmore which was great news.
We had just six hours left as we made our way down the Jubilee line. I wasn't celebrating just yet as I knew there were still some tricky connections to make. When we got to Finchley Central, I had another groan as I saw the train to Mill Hill East was 15 minutes away.
It was decision time, should I wait for it or not. In the end I chose to wait, but the time it took me and Samantha to get back to Finchley Central was so long, I did wonder if I should have skipped it.
At High Barnet, the next stressful point emerged. The dot matrix on the bus stop wasn't working and I had no idea what was coming next. Eventually a bus to Cockfosters came along, only for it to get stuck in traffic.
'I'm never doing this again' I told Samantha, tears running down my cheeks. 'It's just too much'
Samantha took me by the hand and gave it a squeeze, her own eyes full of tears.
'You've got this far' she replied, as they streamed down her face. 'You'll make it'
It was just after ten o'clock when we got to Cockfosters. After a brief delay we managed to take the first train out of there and started travelling back into the city.
Studying my map in between stations I realised that because I had done the Hammersmith loop earlier, I didn’t need to get out at South Kensington. Could I change at Earls Court?
It turned out that yes I could. By pure coincidence our carriage was right by the lift to the District line platforms. By this point, I was now starting to get a little tired and my brain wasn't working as well as it should. So there was a bit of confusion as to which platform we should be on to take us down to Richmond
We found the right one in the end. It was strange comparing the station at night to several hours previously. Then it had been busy with commuters, but now it was quiet as the last few minutes of the day counted down.
At Richmond the first train out was an Overground train. Because we were both on Oyster we had to tap our cards on the reader and just hope it didn't leave without us
Security will run you down hard
And I will lead them on a merry chase
- •
Thread Starter- reptongeek
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- From: North Yorkshire, England
- Registered: September 5, 2011
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Re: Tube Challenge
The last run of the day was between Gunnersbury and Chiswick Park. Or it was supposed to be. Instead it turned into a quick walk as physically I couldn't run.
One of the station staff was asked to be our chaperone for the brief journey and we both gave him a hug at our destination.
'He'll remember that forever' Samantha informed me with a grin. We reached Acton Town for our last connection, which was simply across the platform. We didn't have to run anymore.
Within minutes we were speeding towards Heathrow Terminal 4 and I finally let all my stress out.
Tears streamed down my face as I sobbed. I was going to do it. Samantha embraced me and I pulled myself together so I could complete my logbook.
During the dwell time, we took pictures of all the pages in my logbook, so I could post the evidence on the Just Giving Page. I had raised quite a bit, blowing past my target of £200. The total now stood at £470 a superb achievement.
The train finally moved again and within a few minutes we were at Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3 awaiting our final train. As we pulled into our last station at Heathrow Terminal 5, Samantha recorded me stepping onto the platform. I turned around and showed her the final time of just over 19 hours.
By my watch it was now Tuesday morning at about 12.30am. The adrenaline of the day completely wore off as I climbed the escalator to my hotel room. I was shattered. Before I collapsed onto my bed, I took the liberty of emptying a bottle of water down my throat. My first drink of anything in five hours.
*******
'Your companion's regenerated' Dad greeted as he picked us up the next day.
'Dude, seriously' I replied. 'I'm too tired for Dad jokes. Can we just go home'
My father grinned and we checked out of our hotel. I had passed a very fitful night and hardly slept much at all. The train sensation was still in my head as we had gone down to breakfast. We were so hungry we both ate cereal and a cooked breakfast. My phone was flooded with lovely messages from my friends and family. My Aunt Gemma who lived in Boston with her partner Billie told me they were looking forward to hearing all about it. And so was my girlfriend Rachel.
For now I just wanted to go home
Security will run you down hard
And I will lead them on a merry chase
- •
Thread Starter