When did you last see someone hitch-hiking?

I used to hitch every Friday from London to Stoney Middleton throughout my sixth form with a summer hitch to Sennen. My life was transformed by free and gregarious travel and I wish it returned.
Also hitched around southern Africa and from Morocco. It opened doors for the impoverished.

I will never pick up a hitchhiker and have a Hammer House Of Horror episode to blame for that 🤣

When I was in the venture scouts (80s) we did a sponsored hitch hike in pairs from Lands End to John  o groats….took us less than 24hrs

Can you imagine the risk assessment on that!

I used to use hitchhiking as a standard method of getting to uni and back. Also travelling between North and South of France when I lived in Bordeaux and my girlfriend lived in Brittany. <br /><br />

Never see people doing it now which is strange as you would think it safer since the advent of mobiles

Never see people doing it now which is strange as you would think it safer since the advent of mobiles

i guess ride sharing apps have perhaps taken over from standing by the roadside with a piece of cardboard

Well when i checked the barrel this morning they hadn't fully dissolved so, about three weeks

A couple of weeks ago.

I've not picked up a hitch-hiker for about 12 years but then I've nott been travelling about so much. 

Bitd I hitched all over the UK one summer aged 17 & then took a job 140miles from home, shift pattern meant I got a long weekend every 3rd weekend & so used to hitch home, getting introduced to Frank Zappa by some stoners in a VW gti on the M1 was probably the most memorable or was it the lift with the two nurses up the valleys in deepest South Wales? All seems and was a long time ago, haven't seen any hitchers for ages - remember when there were queues at the beginning of the M1 👍

Nearly forgot my 1 minute of fame, got in the news trying to hitch out of Perpignan as Ian Botham sauntered past with a couple of elephants 🙂 got offered a lift back to UK from the film crew but we'd only just arrived in South of France.

Used to do it a fair bit, years ago furthest was Cumbria to Leicestershire and back in two groups of two including a lift with a trucker who immediately passed us his baccy tin and instructed us to skin up, continuously, for the length of the A1 to scotch corner

in my youth i did loads of outdoor course, climbing, walking, kayaking sort of stuff.

back then in the 80's there was a cracking outdoor center in Craster at a old school, long gone now as new houses.

spent a few years going there sea kayaking. went 3 times a year most years.

train to Alnmouth, then thumb a lift to Craster.    never failed either. even got a lift from a police car once.

Last time I saw one I gave them a lift.

Aviemore. 2019.

It’s years since I’ve given someone a lift , but the last time I saw one was just outside Welshpool about 3 weeks ago

Would have stopped but was just returning from a football match with a stinky 13yr old son

Regularly back in the late 70s/early 80s. Couple of scrapes propositioned by drivers - once in 2 consecutive lifts. Had a great lift from Gordon Jackson - really engaging but did not admit who he was. Said people often mistook him, but I saw a package for Mrs Jackson on the back seat. Nice I got a car I regularly picked up hikers but rarely seen these days

Mid 80's aged 16-18 I hitched across much of the UK  Far up as Peterhead and as far down as the isle of wight. It once took me three days to get from Glasgow to London.

Met an almighty number of very strange individuals, from just crazy - Couple in a Porsche who blasted past Dumbarton police training center at 2am at about 90, with the one hand on the horn, to a rather scary trucker who spent the time i was in the cab trying to sexually assault me.

And the cops wondered why I had a huge knife in my possession 😕 😆

Very rarely these days. From the age of 16 I used to hitch round Germany, Austria and Switzerland  visiting various contacts made through exchange programmes every summer. Great fun, and a great way to learn the language. Only ever got propositioned once by a fat German near Frankfurt Stadium who asked me if English Schoolboys were still regularly beaten. That was back in the late 70s early 80s though.

My hitchhiking record was from Pisa to Coventry in a single hit when I was studying out there. Truck driver on his way from Pisa to Turin, then via France to Dover then onto Coventry.

dropped me on a motorway slip-road where the M73 splits form the A80. Getting a lift from there was eventful!

Snap. Was there for ages. Polis even stopped to tell me I shouldn't be there but wouldn't take me to somewhere better.

Best trip was Budapest to Brittany. Used to pick up hitchers when I saw them but no, not for years.

I hadn’t thought about it in ages, but now it’s been mentioned not for quite some time. I’ve picked up a couple in the past, mainly because I didn’t have anywhere specific I was going except roughly in the direction of home, but never did it myself - I just wasn’t that adventurous.

Around Totnes, almost daily.

Everywhere else, almost never.

Hitchhiking is still a thing in southern France. Quite often see the same guys and girls hitchhiking the stretch of road between the villages and the big supermarket. Also see people hitching at the bus stop, especially if it's cold or wet. There aren't many buses, so if you can catch an earlier (free) ride, why not? Not seen it in the UK for a decade or more...

Last one was a few weeks ago, a rugged chap on the side of the main road out of Porthmadog. He was heading to Barmouth and I was going back to Dolgellau so took the scenic way back for him. He bought me a meal from The Mermaid Fish Bar which was excellent! Previous one to that was a pair of young ladies in the Brecon Beacons, they'd got caught out by the weather going up Pen Y Fan and missed the last bus back to Brecon so gave them a lift into town. Have picked up the odd stranded cyclist too as I keep my bike rack folded in the boot, but not done that for a while.

vd

Full Member

Regularly back in the late 70s/early 80s. Couple of scrapes propositioned by drivers 

User name checks out!

Do students at Bath University still hitch up and down the hill on the off chance it's quicker and cheaper than the bus? 

I used to pick up hitchers and hitch myself in my teens and 20's.  A mate told me a story the other day when he and his gf hitched about Canada for a month before finding out it was illegal :-)<br /><br />I drove a lorry for a few months back in the 80's/90's and picked up loads of people, great fun

Not seen it in the UK for ages. I did give a lost walker/ old fella a lift from the top of Cragg Vale to Halifax about 18 months ago but he wasn't really hitching, more standing in the road looking tired and confused.

Thinking about it, i didn't pick anyone up for ages then in 2019 we gave a young French woman on North Uist a lift. A few months later in Germany we gave a Dutch couple a lift about 20km as they had descended off a mountain and missed the last bus.

The last time i hitched a lift was in Snowdonia about 20years ago.

Standard method of travel for me throughout my twenties. I'd regularly thumb up to N Wales for a weekend of climbing. I lived in Machynlleth and come Friday afternoon you'd find me stood by Dyfi bridge with a big rucksack.

Memorable lifts include a couple from Jim Perrin, a thoroughly nice bloke who I met several times on crags too. He helped me out too when I dislocated my shoulder leading on Craig Pant Ifan. A nice bloke.

Hitching through the night from Reading to Glasgow with a sleepy one-eyed trucker was very thought provoking. I bought him a lot of coffee. Hitching in the Highlands was always a reaffirmation of the generosity of human nature. Getting a lift was never a problem, even when there were a couple of us.

When this lovely woman twisted her ankle descending Yr Wyddfa I helped her down the hill to Pen y Pass and we hitched down to the campsite by the Cromlech boulders. We hit it off OK, so we hitched out to Anglesey next day to visit a friend's gran. Her house had been pointed out from the top of Yr Wyddfa the day before so map in pocket off we went to Brynsiencyn. Found the house, tea and cakes with grandma and it was time to get back. We got a lift to the bridge where we were dropped off in the roadworks. 20 mins later a chance encounter with a local who just happened to be a friend from the same course at university gave us a lift to almost Llanberis. Cheers Huw.

An hour later (ankle girl couldn't walk) a Jag XJ pulls up, we hop in and all is fine and dandy. But he was actually puling over because there was an issue with the car but he took pity on us anyway. FWIW, ankle girl and I are now married.

We did our dissertations together on the south shore of Loch Torridon and hitched between Shieldaig and Torridon regularly that summer. In my memory lifts were always easy to come by.

Hitching was the standard way to sort solo kayak trips.

I always vowed that once I could offer lifts I would. Test passed and I became Mr Generosity himself. There was only one person who I avoided, Phyllis Rock. She would flag motorists down and get in the car. She would refuse to leave unless you took her to her destination. Sunday morning on the road in Corris was perilous because she'd be on her way to chapel. Chapel could be pretty much anywhere in North Wales, she liked to visit isolated places. Locals knew to actively avoid her. My god she stank as she peeled off layers of socks.

I gave a lift to a guy fairly recently who was so horrible and abusive I stopped at the side of the road and told him to leave. He was well pi55ed and I've since found out has a real reputation as a nasty piece of work. He wouldn't leave until I was activly calling the police after he threatened me. Idiot.

If I can give a lift I will, it's a great thing to do.

Plenty of hitch hikers in Australia (yeah i know).

I live at the bottom of a mountain range and a lot of hippies live on the range. Also lots of backpackers around. Public transport is poor, so plenty of straggly looking folk with their thumbs out (but pointed down as is custom here).

I've only hitch-hiked when doing one way hikes/runs and needing to get back to the car - always with my wife actually. We ran up Mt Wellington in Hobart and pestered people in the car park to get back down. Did the Jatbula track in the Northern Territory and needed a lift back, same with the Cape to Cape in Western Australia. Pretty easy in tourist-friendly places.

It's a long time since I've picked up any, but the last time must be 15 years ago in Tasmania. Travelling for work and saw a couple of lads at the side of the road. Turned out they were French kids on a gap year. Their English was as bad as my French and they were trying to tell me about the bird recordings they were making as they travelled around Australia. They definitely couldn't say Kookaburra. Nor could they imitate one.

Back in England I once picked up a guy on the A1 as I was heading south about an hour from home. I think I was going to Glastonbury via London. He was also going there, via somewhere else I can't remember. After about ten minutes we'd worked out that we'd both gone to school with the same friend, albeit different schools.

Dad told me a story about driving to Manchester early one morning on Snake Pass. He picked up a guy that had gone over the edge and scrambled back up and took him to hospital to get checked out.

I am reminded of the episode of Tales of the Unexpected...

and the fact that in the story they drive past my Nan's house.

I don't think I've seen a hitch-hiker since the 1990s, aside from those carrying trade plates (who I'd always pick up).

I'm not sure as it's worth the risk, either as a hiker or a driver. A mate of mine once stopped for a HH, they weren't far into the journey when the new passenger produced a hypodermic and posited "I'm diabetic... you don't mind, do you?"

I got two lifts this last month. With my bike. Touring in the USA.  Not that I had my thumb out.

First one pushing up the steep part of a long hill. Guy in a pickup stops and offers me a lift. Rude to say no.So up over the hill and got a coffee at his house before I carried on.

Second one my bike was upside down while I fixed a puncture. Guy driving a van asked if I needed a lift. As I had been doing 7 or 8mph into a raging headwind I said yes and he dropped me off in Prescott AZ 15 miles on and saved me 2 hours pedalling.

Occasionally see the odd one in Stroud, usually on the outskirts of town trying to get home. Picked up my last one at the beginning of summer and drove him the half mile home up a steep hill with his shopping.

Late 90's gong from Norwich to see then girlfriend in Dorking, got a lift with a couple. Spliffs a plenty, they had to stop at some dodgy industrial estate for something whilst I waited at side of road. The returned with literally a carrier bag full of ecstasy.

Another time from Norwich to London a car pulls in to the layby, door opened so we got in. Given a lift all the way to London. As we got out the bloke said, ' you know I only stopped cause I dropped my cigarette down the side of my seat but then you two got in so I thought I'd better give you a lift.

In Aus..." I only stopped because I don't want you to get murdered" was a very common opening line 😬😬😬😀

Picked up a couple with huge rucksacks in June out in the country lanes. Turns out they were paragliders who had done a cross country flight and needed to get back to our village. It was a sunny day and we got bought an ice-cream in return 😀 (they'd only been waiting a few minutes and never expected somebody to be going all the way to where their car was parked)

Used to hitch everywhere early 90s to watch bands, all over UK and Europe...kit bag over shoulder.

A couple of Japanese teenagers from Snowshill Lavender to Moreton in Marsh train station.

They didn't really hitch a ride with us as such, more they walked up to us in the car park and instructed us as to where they'd like to be taken 😂

I think they got a bit of a shock when they got in the car to be faced by our huge black Labradoodle, Barney 😂

Used to hitch a lot bitd. Got a lift from a Rasta back to a mates once who came in for a few smokes 👍

Clearly the world is a far nicer place these days and anyone sticking out their thumb is offered a lift in no time, thus you rarely see anyone waiting. Maybe?

Just remembered hitching Aberdeen to Dublin for St Patrick's day in 1998 with a couple of Canadian lasses. Took ages to get a lift to Stranraer but eventually got picked up by a van carrying tulips from Amsterdam. We'd missed the earlier ferry and he wasn't going to let us sleep by the side of the road so took us back to his mam's place to kip on the kitchen floor. She didn't bat an eyelid the next morning. He gave us a tour of the city the next day including up the the Falls Road and down the Shankhill and if we got stopped the best thing would be to let the girls do the talking.

Dublin was great but I had to get back for a Monday morning lecture so was on my own when I got dropped off next to the South Armagh police station. I stuck my thumb out immediately and the next car pointed up the road to where another one had already stopped for me. 

Not for a while, but like picking them up if I can. Not quite true hitch hiking but did a walk in the Pentlands over summer and passed a couple of German girls (find memories of time in Germany/ Austria). Got back to the car and they came and asked where to get a bus back to Edinburgh so gave them a lift and tried out my very rusty German. It wasn't the experience you're all still reading this for.

Was just pondering this a couple of days ago. Not seen anyone hitching for ages. 

My funniest hitch was from the London end of the A1 all the way to home in Yorkshire. There were about 10 of us waiting spread up from roundabout. I had my cardboard saying Tadcaster and a reliant Robin screeched to holt by the next guy up the road.

'He wants you', he shouted at me. 'no, you take it' I replied. 'he's going to Tadcaster' came the reply.

So I ran up and jumped in. It was a really windy day and the guy drove like a complete loon. Every time he overtook a truck the little reliant swerved as the wind took it. 

But it got me all the way home. 

Saw some the other day at Lothianburn and Flotterstone (Edinburgh way) . Normally always see the trade platers at Lothianburn too.

I frequently see folk at Lothianburn heading south.

I see them all the time around here in the highlands. I gave a guy a lift a couple of months ago he was heading to my home village to camp and explore. It’s mostly in the summer though. Usually students on a tour of the nicer bits of Scotland. I normally give them a lift if I have the space.

Saw one last week in Sowerby Bridge - wrong spot, dodgy as ****, I'd be amazed if he got a lift. Last time I hitched was back in May on Jura. Twice. First vehicle past stopped both times, one local and one visitor.

I once picked up Barry George, or as he was known in his "pre Jill Dando" days, Barry Bulsara.  Completely uneventful but did come across as a rather eccentric character.

Not for a long, long time and as an ex-hitchhiker I use to also give lifts.

I travelled a lot in the UK (+40k pa) in the 90's and early 00's, so use to see loads and it broke up the long journeys.

I'm also of a similar age to probably most of the above and hitched for walking in the North in the early 80's.

Ullapool to Ferrybridge in one hit is my best (first car that came along), and then another back East across the M62 to within a mile of home.

A school friend hitched to the fall of the Berlin wall. Arrived in Rotterdam, having been given free passage, a Dutch guy stopped asked where he was going. Then drove him all the way to Berlin, having gone home to explain to his wife. Think she even went to Berlin too.

It was already dying out but covid completely kilked it for a few years and its never really come back. I’ve hitched a few times in the last couple of years but usually just getting back to the car after a point to point walk or run.

yeah hitched loads in my younger days. Always used to pick people up to until small car filled up with my kids and all their sh*t.

Had some amazing experiences, some less good.... Picked up by a land cruiser full of ex child soldiers ( now in their twenties) in Uganda, they were very quiet but luckily the officer that was with them was nice and chatty and eased the atmosphere a bit.

Same trip I was in Kenya and hitched a ride in the empty tipper of a tipper truck. Seemed brilliant driving south across the Turkana desert, lots of ventilation and good view etc, but quickly became clear the driver had a death wish. Stopped the truck and asked to get out in the middle of the desert, cos something would come along after a while, but was persuaded back on by driver who then drove like miss daisy!

Shame it isn't used a bit more, cost of living crisis etc , I guess the pandemic killed it off?

Used to hitch a lot,so always stop if I can.
Had some great lifts and met some real characters.
No axe stories and (thankfully),I was never threatened by a chopper.
The last few years up here,it was usually seasonal workers,but covid/Brexshit seems to have put paid to that.

I saw one last weekend on the sliproad at Bridgewater services.

I used to do it a bit from Bridgend to London....i remember standing on the slip road at junction 37 of the M4 watching one of the coal convoys going past...hundreds of the things.

Got a lift from a lorry driver once who delivered Benylin (amoungst other pharmacy stuff). He reckoned he'd take a case of benylin off the truck on a Friday and have a Benylin party when he got home 😂😴

Everyday when I’m home. I pick one up most days too.

A thousand hates on all those in popular media pushing horror stories.   A pardon for the originator of the "What are the odds of there being two serial killers in the same car" though.

Worst things that happened to me:  Driver passing out due to Guinness overdose in Co. Mayo; Lights failure on the brae down to Corriehallie near Dundonnell; Transylvanian thunderstorm with no wipers - they like tree lined roads there; being asked to jump out of a moving Landrover in Commercial St, Hereford as the driver was late for mess.

I have not seen anyone hitching for ages and probably the last time I did was getting back from a linear walk on an EUMC meet back in 2005.  Last lift given was a few years back in Iceland.  Car is usually full with two passengers and bike now, not that it makes any difference, you just don't see anyone.   I used to hitch thousands of km a year to get to the hills or back to family from University.  Hitched to our honeymoon destination, guests hitched to our wedding. Always raises a smile passing Tiso's in Perth, Craigforth, Newbridge, Fairmilehead etc and a groan passing black holes like Fort William, Gordano and Knutsford.

We’ve got richer, so even the poorest students now have ready cash to get a bus, or advanced train fare. The ‘Trade plate’ car deliveries have changed their method, most delivery companies, if doing single cars, give the driver the fare back, so very few of them on the side of the road now hitching a lift, also, a great many car deliveries are done on car transporters, I have a friend who does that, out on Monday morning, all over the Country, then back home on the Friday, some cars are picked up on the Monday, and dont get there until the Friday, its a large rota, with multiple pick ups and drop offs.

Not seen anyone for a long time, but used to hitch regularly in the 70s and 80s.  Used to go between home in Bath and Bangor, about 200 miles and always managed it in a day.  Also back to Bath from the concert at Blackbushe aerodrome with a leg in plaster.

Memorable things are the noise a two stroke Foden makes going up hill and the driver who took an artic through the middle of Conway before they built the by pass, which meant going through an arch in the old castle wall.  There were tight turns through the town then a turn into what looked like a dead end with a small hole in the wall at the far end.

A few years ago I picked up a european couple in the highlands.  Thats the last time I saw anyone.  Used to hitch myself back in the day,  all over europe and the UK

I did sucessfully hitch a lift in the highlands a fee years back myself

Gave a few Ukrainians lifts when in Kerry in August, young lads mainly who had got the bus from the village they were billeted in to town and just trying to avoid seven mile walk back - one pair of lads was a 15km diversion for us but it was raining so might as well do the right thing. Still relatively common out where our place is, the middle of the the countryside.

Not seen for decades. Those car traders used to stand by the road with trade plates and get lifts didn't they - probably have to travel with a colleague nowadays.

When was in a band in the 80s, we went to the next town to audition someone for the band. Had no way of getting back so hitched, a van full of students stopped on the M27 and squeezed us in the back.. and drove us all the way to my mate's doorstep. Proper fun adventure 😀

Just chatting to one of our lorry drivers about this - he said that every company he's driven for recently doesn't allow hitchers to be picked up and there is a camera in the cab - he'd get sacked straight away.

Part 2

Hitched back from France around 1982-3, can't exactly remember. I'd run out of money so had to beg the hovercraft people to let me on, which they kindly did, but christ, what a horrible way to travel across the channel! Got a couple of normal lifts up towards London, then somewhere in Kent, as it was going dark a big motorbike stopped with a big german on it, sort of like a 750cc trial bike. Said he was going to Windsor, so as I was going to Salisbury and had a healthy disregard for my own safety on I got. Soon turns out he likes to ride fast. Ok but my seventies style frame rucksack is now trying to pull me off the back. No matter, I hang on a bit harder smashing through the warm summer night.

We get to our first roundabout on the south circular. He's a bit tired and used to riding on the right, so accelerates hard up the wrong side of a dual carrigeway. I can see headlights over his shoulder coming straight towards us maybe 150m up the road.

No matter for my host, he brakes and then hops us over the central reservation (no armco luckily) just as all the cars arrive where we just were.

Anyway, he does exactly the same thing 10 miles up the road, bit less dramatic this time,  but I decide he's a bit of a slow learner so suddenly remember I have a friend in Brixton who I can stay with. I didn't but just wanted out.

So I walk to Trafalgar square, its now gone midnight and as I'm standing by the roadside wondering what my next move should be, a car pulls up, window down and a non descript fella asks me if I need a bed for the night. Now he may have just been concerned for my welfare, but I thought I was probably being propositioned, so politely said I was fine and making my own way. Off he goes.

I watched a series of docu drama about the serial killer Dennis Nilsen last year, and although my exact memory of his face is vague after all these years, I think it may have been him....

I then made my way out to the feeder road to the M3 where I gave up for the night and grabbed a couple of hours sleep under a bridge. I remember being woken briefly by a massive explosion, went back to sleep.

When I went back onto the road in the morning, lightening had struck the hedge on the central reservation and disturbed the big curb stones.  Strange night, probably used up some of my nine lives.

Not as common as used to be, I would guess Covid broke the habit for many, but still see them around rural Scotland.  No doubt media driven fear puts some off and social media /forums /lift sharing apps mean people can find transport with less chance of being an awkward hour with nothing to talk about.

Last one I picked up was about a year ago - pouring rain, from Peebles, wanted to go to Edinburgh but seemed to have no specific plan on where.  Was going to camp, dropped near a shop just off the bypass.  She must have been hardier than me to be camping in that weather.

Normally always see the trade platers at Lothianburn too.

I’ve always been confused what they were doing.  Are they hitching? I assumed they were waiting to be picked up by a colleague.

I spotted a pair of right crusty looking individuals hitching last weekend near me, trying to get to Chester.

Always raises a smile passing Tiso’s in Perth,

I picked up a couple of Slovak guys there, heading North on the A9. They'd hitched from home, through Italy, France and England. This was pre Smartphone days and all they had was a map that had torn out of a pocket diary. By the scale of it they assumed the A9 passed Loch Ness. After a bit of chat I took them cross-country to Spean Bridge and Fort Augustus and waited for them while they got photos at Urquhart Castle. Dropped them off at the Tourist Information centre in Ullapool. 

I’ve always been confused what they were doing. Are they hitching? I assumed they were waiting to be picked up by a colleague.

They're hitching, usually with trucks or other delivery drivers. They get paid a set fee for the delivery including fuel/return transport so if they avoid incurring return costs they earn more. At least thats my understanding.

I picked up two German girls on the road from Laggan to Newtonmore in the highlands last autumn. They were walking their way from somewhere to Kingussie but it had started to hose it down so they hitched the last 10k (with me).

last time i remember was New Years Eve 1988, I hitched form cambridge to scotland in 6hours, for hogmanay with the family.
I saw the bus full of VIPs going to Lockerbie after the bombing
Id always give a lift to hitchers if i had a car, I know too well how it is to be stuck for hours, or overniht, at Knutsford etc
I can vaguely remember getting a lift in the back of a van with goats or something in, indonesia maybe

Its a shame that its becoming less of a thing, I've never hitched but I used to pick up hitchers when we were touring Scotland. You use to get some great chat and stories, it was just a nice thing to do for people visiting and cost nothing except maybe a little bit of your time.

These days when we are touring, there are four in the car so its not generally an option.

Best hitcher I picked up was a Japanese tourist on Islay. He was only a young guy and had about 6 words of English, although that was more than my twos words of Japanese. We worked out from pointing at maps where he wanted to go that day and it was the same places we were going, so we basically adopted him for the day drove him round all the distilleries, got him booked in beside us for the Laphroig tour (fives stars would recommend), helped him with photos and other touristy stuff.

We dropped him back at his hotel in Bowmore and it turned out it was the same place we were having dinner. So we asked him to join us. The language barrier became less of an issue after a few local tipples. After dinner as he was leaving he gave us the most dignified bow.

Today. Driving down from Troodos the heavens open and a thunderstorm started. I picked up three German girls who’d hiked up from Platres and dropped them back at their car. 

if we got stopped the best thing would be to let the girls do the talking.

Sorry, I've missed something here. Had you done something wrong?

A few years ago I picked up a european couple in the highlands. Thats the last time I saw anyone.

Jesus, that's a cautionary tale. Do you get food through a slot or something?

Just chatting to one of our lorry drivers about this – he said that every company he’s driven for recently doesn’t allow hitchers to be picked up and there is a camera in the cab – he’d get sacked straight away.

A good point in itself - back when I had a company car, it was a clause in the lease agreement that I wasn't allowed to pick up hitchhikers. Quite why, I don't know.

I've seen a few when there's been a big extinction rebellion protest in London. Which I guess is putting their money where their mouth is

I've not seen any for a few years.

I've only really hitched once, with a mate from worcester to malvern at 4am as we couldn't be bothered walking back along the train line.

it was a chavmobile. the guy seemed nice, said hi, chatted breifly, then pretty much floored it all the way to malvern. It was a very quiet journey, I don't think I've been that fast in a car.

Week or two ago, somewhere near Manchester.

I took a guy from Ingleton to Settle the other week. Wasn't on my way exactly but I had time and the guy looked like he needed some help.

Took someone from Dumbarton / Luss area to Fort William in 2016. He had lots of good chat to fill the 2 hours on the A82.

We used to do it all the time. Both as donor and recipient. A couple of memorable "to the door" ones - especially the Hartshead Moor services to Hampstead in a 32 ton artic.
We did our honeymoon hitching in 1975. Tried to get to Val d'Isere but ended up in Turin instead. Ah, well, thems the breaks.

A couple of scary ones but it's been ages since I've seen a hitcher when I've had room to pick them up.

if we got stopped the best thing would be to let the girls do the talking.

Sorry, I’ve missed something here. Had you done something wrong?

On the Falls Road, his Belfast Protestant accent and my English. To be honest I'm not sure if it was a wind up but he seemed genuine. 

I got a funny hitchhike in Amsterdam. Well not a hitchhike as is normal in a car, but on a bicycle.

I'd got lost late in the evening trying to get back to my guesthouse and stopped one local who turned out to be really drunk, where such and such was.

He said hold on, disappeared off and came back a couple of minutes later with a bicycle and proceeded with me on the back to ride the 2 or so miles back to the guesthouse. I said to him at the time, 'Is this bike stolen, did you steal this', and worried he'd get into trouble, but he assured me it was ok because he was a lawyer 😆

Well timed thread. Not seen a hitchhiker for years either, but then these two are currently hanging out at the end of our lane thumbing a lift..........2hrs and counting. This is a Wednesday morning...and they are stood in the arse end of nowhere in northern Scotland. A proper WTF moment. I thought they might be lost leprechauns from the photo, but Mrs C says they are real sized human beings. I think I'd being picking them up to find out what's occurin. It's got to be an interesting conversation.

Is that Keith Lemon?

On the Falls Road, his Belfast Protestant accent and my English.

Aha. Thanks.

Ireland's (NI and RoI) politics and various moires and idiosyncrasies are a large black hole in my knowledge. That's probably a thread in itself.

did it a lot in the early 80s, standard for into the dales/lakes and frequently up to Edinburgh, down to London to see friends. Sometimes quicker than the coach, though getting that first lift onto the M1 was always an issue.

Longest was somewhere near Canterbury to Milan.

Hitch hiked to istanbul when I was 18. Not uneventfully.

Used to pick them up for a few years but basically only got a car once we had small kids, rarely drove without them, and it kind of died out as they grew up.

I hitched about 2 months ago, started walking up to where I was camping to meet some mates near Blacksone edge. Thumb out...third car stops and top chap, a brewer, mountain biker and metal fan gives me lift! lots of good folk about still in this country!

@covert they are probably members of the Zunft from Germany doing their Wanderschaft (journey years). I used to work with one. It is still the done thing over there for young people working in the (artisan) building trade to walk between jobs with all their life's possessions and tools on a trolley. Picking them up and giving them a lift seems to be the expected norm. They must have had an offer of work locally and now moving on to their next job.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderjahre

Last one was a group of three who I gave a lift to local small town so they could grab the mega bus, theybuad missed their local bus. I had my two year olat the time in the van. Not worried at all. That was 5 years ago.

Not sure I have seen any since COVID to be honest. They have been infrequent for all my adult life (early 40s) but COVID seems to have stopped it all together. Never hitched hiked myself but picked up a few if it I had space and noticed them in time

Will usually give a lift to anyone here on Mull - buses are ££ and infrequent. Local FB pages are good for people looking for lifts to ferries and beyond.

Used to hitch a lot as a student to get to places - once got a lift from the Orkney ferry back home to Glasgow in one.