SPT Roundabout challenge

[sidequester]

Hello!

I've seen in other posts that this has been attempted before - and being new to the forum I'm glad it's not just myself that has had the urge to do this challenge!

I attempted in January to do this on a weekday (foiled by one cancelled train at Carfin!). Issue with that being I have to start from 9am rather than whenever (I work Saturdays so can't do it on the best possible day). It doesn't include the subway or Buchanan bus station, only the train stations, but the theoretical time would be 14h 25m! Downside to this route is that it involves a jog at 10pm from Barrhead to Neilston, and a 5 minute sprint through Paisley from Canal to Gilmour Street! Believe it or not, despite hours of working through potential routes I cant find a better option. I had hoped to give it a go on Easter Monday as the ticket is valid all day on public holidays so I'd have a lot more room to work with, but I quite like the challenge of it starting at 9am, so hoping to give it another shot in the next week or so

A question I have for people on this forum who will have a better sense of this kind of thing is that in this route I have it seems to be better for me to visit Coatbridge central via foot only as part of a journey by foot from Sunnyside to Whifflet - thoughts on this? Whilst not departing/arriving on a train I'm definitely visiting the station so I feel quite conflicted about it.
Any thoughts are welcome, and I will update again with how my second attempt goes!

 

[yorkie]

...a jog at 10pm from Barrhead to Neilston...

That's 3.2km / 2 miles, with an elevation increase of around 100m. How long are you allowing for this? Do the buses stop running at that time?

and a 5 minute sprint through Paisley from Canal to Gilmour Street!

Is that entrance to entrance, rather than from doors opening to doors closing? If it's 5 mins between trains, then I don't think it is realistic, unless you are extremely fit. I'd also be careful with potential hazards, crossing roads on the way, running at that speed.

A question I have for people on this forum who will have a better sense of this kind of thing is that in this route I have it seems to be better for me to visit Coatbridge central via foot only as part of a journey by foot from Sunnyside to Whifflet - thoughts on this? Whilst not departing/arriving on a train I'm definitely visiting the station so I feel quite conflicted about it.
Any thoughts are welcome, and I will update again with how my second attempt goes!

For me, it wouldn't count if you did not arrive at, call at, or depart from, the station, by train.

 

[sidequester]

That's 3.2km / 2 miles, with an elevation increase of around 100m. How long are you allowing for this? Do the buses stop running at that time?

There are very infrequent buses at that time, unfortunately none that work in the time frame needed - if one was to go past I'd gladly hop on it! It is a 33 minute window according to my notes from my last attempt, so plenty time to make it, I had around 8 minutes left over the last time I attempted it.

Is that entrance to entrance, rather than from doors opening to doors closing? If it's 5 mins between trains, then I don't think it is realistic, unless you are extremely fit. I'd also be careful with potential hazards, crossing roads on the way, running at that speed.

It's a 1656 arrival at Canal and a 1703 departure at Gilmour Street. Its certainly a workout, and I managed to make it on my last attempt with ~1min/45secs spare (whilst waiting for pedestrian crossings!). It is fortunately effectively in a straight line down the road, and the last section is pedestrianised. I do also know the area quite well so that would've helped me.

For me, it wouldn't count if you did not arrive at, call at, or depart from, the station, by train.

I had this thought because it's not really involved with the ticket just visiting by foot - will mean I have to footer about with my route a bit!

 

[sidequester]

I reworked my route and attempted it on 4th April, and managed to complete it in just under 14 and a half hours!



I have attached my scheduled that I followed (I slightly altered it twice by getting an earlier train, getting off at a later stop, and picking up the same train I would have been catching anyway, firstly from Dalreoch to Dumbarton East, and also from Paisley Gilmour St to Johnstone before catching my final train of the day). Luckily everything went very smoothly, with a couple of delays but thankfully nothing that impacted any connections.

The closest scare was in Neilston when I almost missed the bus down to Barrhead. I also worked out midway through the attempt that I'd be able to catch a bus that would take me most of the way to Carfin from Motherwell, which was a big save for my legs!

Total distance covered according my my Strava tracking the whole day was around 356km.

If anyone sees any way that this route could be improved upon I'd be excited to hear it, this has been whirring away in my head for a while so I'm very happy to have completed it but also I want to do it better if at all possible!