Hitchhiking- who still does it? Or picks them up?

I used to hitch hike all the time back in the 70s, best one ever I was about 15/16 and had just come out of Ayresome Park Middlesbrough, we got to the main road and stuck out a thumb, after a couple of seconds a lorry stopped and the driver asked
“where to lads”
“Tooting South London” we said
“Jump in “said the lorry driver, “I’m going back to the depot in Earlsfield “
Earlfield was less than mile from where I lived
Made up for the fact that Chelsea had been beat 7-1, we weren’t all that then

 

I remember hitching from Portsmouth to Glastonbury back in late 80's.

Now I'll pick up hitcher in local village but nowhere else as I'm a bit too weary of strangers now.

 

This was the hitchhiking bible for me back in the 70's.

 

i used to hitch everywhere... when i was going back to uni folks would give me the £25 train fare (scunthorpe to plymouth), that would go in my back pocket and i'd head for the M181... best times were when i'd beat the train by getting a lift from a clugston's lorry taking steel from scunthorpe to plympton

at 16/17 dad realised he had no chance of stopping me so he taught me best/busiest routes and motorway junctions. i got a last lift straight into glastonbury one year with a theatre company. i think i still have my unused £35 ticket!

there's been a few hairy moments but nothing bad ever happened, i often got told off my my lift for hitching/hiding my rucksack behind a barrier, but that was it.

i loved hitching and always said i'd pick up hitchers when i had a car, but the only time i've seen one was in devon when i'd got lost and was turning around so no point picking him up

 

Hitched a ride up from Portsmouth to Putney. Was with a mate and this Hillman Avenger stops for us, we get in the back and two blokes were in the front. We set off at breakneck speed and deadly hush.
It was an Auto. We thought that the guy was nuts. Anyway it turns out that they were ralley drivers!! The hogs back was an experience..seeing as we were being told that Mike Hawthorne had lost his life on the corner were drifting around. Approaching roundabouts was interesting It was an experience that I will never forget.

 

In the 70s it was the only way to travel for a teenager. I remember my sister and I got dropped at the station by my dad with return train fare money to London. As soon as he'd gone around the corner we pocket the cash and hitched. Used to get on the tube with a 10p ticket and say we'd lost our tickets (yes both of us!) and that we'd only come one stop so we just paid another 10p - couldn't get away with that now!

 

Done it a few times always interesting people happy to help someone out. Honestly you got a point you don’t see many theses days maybe because where all paranoid?

 

I love picking up hitchhikers, but don’t see them too often now. If I’m in my camper van , then I just love showing it off. If I’m in my car (Old Zafira) then I love a bit of chit chat and if they come over as a bit weird or a a trifle nutty, then I try and out nutty them

Ozziedog,,,,,,,, and I is very good at nuttying

 

This bloke stopped hitchhiking single handedly in Australia. 
Mind you, he generally just picked on tourists, so that wasn't too bad.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backpacker_murders

Sent from my ALCATEL ONE TOUCH 9002A using Tapatalk

 

Always hitched, right until I got a car and a job . Picked up a couple near Rye this year, they were happy for a ride in a camper ..she was Czech and very beautiful, he Polish. Every time I looked in the rear mirror at them my eyes lingered too long on her,, dangerous for road safety.

Last hitched in Wales in late June after another attempt at the Welsh 3000s. In Snowdonia . People hitch all the time in the hills, it’s normal. 3 rides back to the start, 2 from other climbers and 1 from a nice welsh girl from Llyn.

Don’t know why I don’t see Hitchers no more. maybe fuel and cars are too cheap, unlike in the 80s.

 

I always found holding the trouser leg up to the knee a bit of a pain , but it’s surprising how many short sighted drivers their was out there !

 

And I was thinking this was yours