tubechallenge.com

I can attend this, the South London challenge should be interesting as you say it is a whole new challenge.

Alright, everyone who is interested should read & print this:

tubechallengeday.doc (526 kB)

Admittedly, a lot of the information I have included in there will be familiar to you already, but I wanted to make sure that newcomers know exactly what they will have to do.

So there'll be at least four people coming - Peter, Starkey, Tangy and myself - any more?

Interesting scoring system. It might be worth deliberately missing out some of the more annoying stations (like Paddington H&C) because they would take more than 5 minutes to do.

I disagree, why miss out Padd H&C? Z1 has always included this station. If we missed out Padd H&C on this challenge it would be breaking by the rules that have been mutally agreed by all of us that do the challenges.

Yes, Z1 does have some "remote" stations but that doesn't mean you can just ignore them! The recent debate about Marylebone and Edgware Road being a case in point.

Well you see people might be tempted to miss Paddington H and C out because they "might not get to the next challenge in time". The phrase "accidentally on purpose" might crop up here!

But I'm sure none of us would actually consider doing that, would we, hmmm?

Yes, that thought struck me yesterday.

It would affect the South London Challenge moreso - missing out Kew Gardens and Richmond would easily save you more than the ten minute penalty.

I've really racked my brains to try and find a solution that is a compromise between encouraging people to turn up on time for events and rewarding people who complete them.

I suppose the encouragement is that you won't be able to enter your time into the records list if you don't complete it!

I think I'll change that particular rule slightly, and will announce the change on Monday. I expect it will be a 5 minute penalty for each station you miss, plus a 10 minute penalty for not completing an event (so missing out three stations would cost you 25 minutes), but that's liable to change!

Can I take a final head-count, who is definitely coming?

I've got a pukka route for South London Challenge, only involving crossing the water once!

That's all I am saying for now, see you 1030 at Nth Greeenwich

Hmmmm, you're better at route planning than I, then, Tangy! I've got a choice between crossing the river three times or having a two-mile run. Crumbs...

As it is the South London Challenge, only crossing on the mandatory one occasion would be ideal, but it's up to you. It's like going into Zone 2 on a Zone 1 day - completely within the rules, but why would you want to? Okay, you could change at Stockwell and go up to Waterloo, but it was a rhetorical question.

I tried the South London Challenge on Friday. I didn't set a time, as the Bakerloo was part suspended and I couldn't be bothered to do two double-backs to get around it and visit Lambeth North. There were also uber-delays on the Northern Line and I had to let TWO trains go due to over-crowding (this was in peak time), but I still got round in 2:45, so my estimate of three hours is very generous. I also got severe stitch on one of the runs, which hopefully won't affect me on Monday...

I'm only crossing the River once.

Maybe I'm missing something but surely if you start at North Greenwich and only cross the river once you will end up on the North side unable to visit any other stations. Therefore you have to cross the river at least twice.

You're quite right, and I feel stupid now. I will be crossing the Thames twice, of course. I suppose I meant that I'll be doing it in one go.

Doh! Just dawned on me that one has! I cross the river twice on my route too...either side of Canary Wharf!

I disagree with all the above posts. It's possible to do the entire South London Challenge without crossing the Thames at all during it, as long as you don't have to start at North Greenwich:

Start somewhere else, do all the other stations, and then approach North Greenwich on the 129 bus from Cutty Sark. Then take a Jubilee in either direction. As soon as the doors close, you've finished!

Although that suggested route is not possible as we are starting from North Greenwich, although it would be great as a finishing station for the reasons you say.

It's obvious though that bus routes are not your strongpoint!

Why are they not my strong point?