Bristol to Dublin on nowt
As a teenager I once htch-hiked to Dublin to raise money for CLIC.

I didn't really fancy it, but my best mate's gf was dead keen and he bottled it at the last minute, so I stepped in.

I had precisely £30 to last the estimated 2 day journey, much of which went on tabs and pasties before we even left Avon.

On our trip we met a fantastic bunch of people, but to keep it short I'll only relate a couple of tales, viz:

Bert, who not only got us free transit on the ferry by letting us hop in his car but told us a fantastic story. He was on his way to Eire to meet his first true love. He had left her behind in the company of his best mate while he went off to fight in WW2 (best mate had flat feet or smth). He was wounded in Europe and captured as a POW, but officially listed as KIA. After a year or two of mourning his gf ended up very close with best mate and they married. After the war Bert was released, and on his way back home met a lovely Belgian woman, who he brought back to the UK and married.

The two couples remained close and regularly spent time together, Bert in Cornwall and his ex in Eire with best mate. As the years passed Bert's wife passed on and he spent more and more time with the other couple. It became clear that his original lady still had feelings, but they couldn't do anything about it for obvious reasons. Then one day best mate passed on too. Bert had picked us up on the way to a) mourn his friend, but also b) move in with his original beau. The car was full of his worldly possessions and he was very philosophical about losing a friend but finally being with his first love.

Second amazing lift came from a couple of Irish guys who drove at least 150 miles out of their way to drop us at a convenient place for hitching. They were on their way to their kid sister's funeral. When they heard we were raising money for CLIC they gave us a carton of tabs, a flask of tea and a load of sarnies. Turns out she died of leukemia and they were happy someone was raising money for it. They were awesome.

Length? About 300 miles
(toomanypies, Sat 16 Jul 2011, 21:39, Reply)