The Docklands light railway

I was in London, at the end of July, when I got the impulse to go for a ride on the DLR. I'd met a friend for lunch in central London, so headed back to London Bridge via a very circuitous route -  the central Line to Bank (where there's one of the biggest gaps I've ever had to mind), then the DLR down to Greenwich, where I got onto a Southeastern service, calling at Deptford en route, back to London Bridge to get a train home. And I was on the train home when I had an idea. I recalled Geoff Marshall's video from the start of this year, where he attempted to break the record for visiting all of the DLR stations, and where he mentioned the explorerticket.co.uk website, where all of these unofficial challenges can be found. 

When I got home, I logged on to the website and, having read the rules, decided to attempt the challenge. Whilst I was in no way aiming for the record (indeed, I didn't run AT all, and I did this during the COVID-19 reduced timetables), I decided to time my journey for the fun of it. Unfortunately constraints on when I was able to be in London also meant that I was travelling off-peak (between approximately 12 noon and 2pm) so had to change at Canary Wharf rather than being able to get a direct train from Stratford to Lewisham. 

My route involved starting at Shadwell, where I boarded a train to Bank. Having made my way through the one-way system to Monument, I used the tube to Tower Hill, from where I walked to Tower Gateway DLR station. And this is where I had my first delay. I missed the train by less than 20 seconds. I would say the driver could see me when they left, but I know the DLR is automatic! If I'd have ran the distance, I'd have crossed the road earlier (the pedestrian green man disappeared just before I got there) so would have easily made the train.

But as I was doing this for fun rather than to break the record, I kept going, boarding a train at Tower Hill 10 minutes later and heading for Beckton. From here, I caught the bus to near King George V station, although I had a 13 minute wait at the bus stop. It was an extremely hot day when I did this trip so I debated running into ASDA in Beckton to get a cold drink, but wasn't convinced I'd get back in time for my bus. Instead, I found a local shop on the short walk between the bus stop and King George V station, so nipped into there to grab a drink, which was possibly the highlight of this very warm day. 

From here, I made the return journey to Woolwich (with a not inconsiderable wait at Woolwich for a train heading north), before heading up to Stratford International, where after another wait I headed back to Stratford to head down towards Canary Wharf. Again, I seemed to have a long wait here before the train left (I think it may have even been a bit late), however had a good change at Canary Wharf for a Lewisham train, finishing in around 2 hours and 45 minutes.

From there, I headed back into London Victoria, from where I headed home, feeling very warm indeed!  

Stations visited: Greenwich, Deptford, Lewisham, Nunhead, Denmark Hill and Peckham Rye.