Hitchhiker

Well, this is a strange one. Arrived at midnight - camped behind the little (very little!) woodland towards the entrance to the left and put in earplugs (as the traffic is really loud). There was maybe two cars around at that time and I was beat. In the morning it felt a little bleak - traffic was so so but it felt like mostly locals. Still, I knew I would eventually find someone for Strasbourg. I began to heat water for a coffee and along cones a Luxembourgish car. He was going to Nancy, I believe, but decided to deviate to Stras as it was faster. Think he just wanted to take me. He hadn't seen a hitcher in a long time. Awfully sweet guy. Shared his veg wrap with me. You have toilets here& tap water. Not a place I'd like to be in winter, but frankly the road sucks from Luxembourg to Metz and there's little other options. I had stood in Luxembourg for two hours under heavy rain and storm with a sign for Stras to no avail. But, arrive I did...finally :-)

I never really succeed getting long distance rides in Luxembourg, despite the possibilities. Had a sign for Strasbourg in the torrential rain past ten pm. Eventually a car for Metz stopped - it was foolish as there's almost nothing to stop at before Metz but I took it anyway and spent the night camping. On another occasion, perhaps I can crack this...a sign for Stras/ Germany? Who knows..

Eh. Most people seemed very miserable getting out of work. Finally picked up by a very sweet lady to the huge petrol station south. Also as others noted, got the ride from the parking area. I should have just taken the free public transport to the petrol station but was unsure how easy it would be to enter.

Yes...not the greatest spot for getting beyond Brussels. Regardless, got that ride to Luxembourg which was far better than I'd hoped :-)

First car asked for Ghent. As I have a friend there who picked up the phone in bed...perfect. Had been a long day's hitch from London on little sleep :-)

Maidstone...the chaos. As you may well know, it's two sides for traffic with a lot that is local. I chose this spot as cars can pull into the petrol station afterwards. Asking cars is a possibility at the restaurant but it's too overwhelming for me...far too many, with a bunch of rude Brits :-) I've done this dozens of times and never really know the best tactic. I actually prefer Clacket Lane on the M25 if I'm alone as there's a lot of trucks/ vans...but I ended up going from there to here. Hot day. Finally a Belg car stopped and once on theptorwat announced they were returning their rented car and taking the foot passenger across. Curses. I broke my hitch to pay for the ticket - they had a friend taking them back to Belgium on the other side and I could continue with. Not too bad...but £30 is still £30 and I was tempted to remain in Dover. Still, energy preservation and knowing I was in at least Belgium by night, and the grape harvest waiting for me in a few days that would pay it back. Maidstone is the spot in UK to go across...but you could be waiting several hours. I looked at the way coming into Dover and think there are some possibilities at the begining...but you should see with time how you're doing and of course you can't speak to most people like that. Good luck!

Really hot day and lack of sleep. Took the ride to Maidstone (aiming for France/Belg) I wanted to avoid :-D Some space at the end to stop - it's not perfect, but technically cars could stop a little after the exit too but the pull off is not so wide. A lorry did stop saying he was going on the channel tunnel but that it was paid (not true...he was blocking traffic though so I didn't have time to discuss with him...). Look out for Ken - the guy from Singapore who's been living on the services for several months. Quite the character. Won't accept anything of help...

Hitched from here many a time. This particular day with a sign for the M5/M4. Worked a charm!

The blazing sun made this trick, but got my ever reliable white construction van to stop :-) There's a little spot under the bridge drivers can pull in before joining the dual carriageway.

Great spot! [The other spot on another road is actually supposed to be this one... mistakenly marked, I imagine]. The spot is this: a parking just before the roundabout, indeed with shade from a tree. Essentially here you get all the traffic from W. Wales and you should at least get a ride to Bristol (though that last petrol station before Bristol is always a bit hit and miss for me...but what can you do?). Eventually settled on a ride to Bristol as it was hot, but had a sign for Devon and imagine a bit more patience would have got me that ride too.

Almost completely deserted. NO lorries will stop in the Calais radius of 150 km apart from out of cigarette desperation. Arrived around 6:30pm and realised I messed up (though there's almost no possibilities coming from Lille...). Should have gone with the original Luxembourg idea for getting across to UK, or the reliable Jabbeke (though same situation with lorries). Try to avoid stopping here. Was saved by a guy who wanted to see the sea and didn't read the news. A group of guys were trying to get into people's vans/cars. Not the best hitch friendly environment.

This is my "waiting" time not including sleeping. I got there at around 11pm, sketchy time to arrive [no lorries/trucks will be stopping anyway in this area - I would say at least 100km away, maybe more due to the situation..]. This makes it a bit tricky for people to trust you. When I was there, there was a small camp of paperless folk (you really understand your privileges being in this area). If you stop here, you absolutely need to talk to people. While a lot of people can be damn rude, you should find someone eventually. I got a camper van (what?! They almost never stop...we'll...this was rented) going across to UK at Dunkerque...I explained them the process of needing to add me to their ticket, but we got to the office and they said that it was already fine. Does it depend on the company? This was DFDS. Got a little nervous at passport control when they asked how we knew each other - you should do a better job than me - they're not the biggest fan of hitchers...but it would be ridiculous to go past ticket control and be kicked out there. Careful not to get out at Dover - it sucks. Get out if you need to on the first services on the motorway, or M25 services :-)

Hitched just the once here but will try again soon - got a long ride to Luxembourg despite traffic seeming thin. Let's see if it was just lucky for the next time?

Heading north to Ely - a little spot for cars to pull in before hurtling onto the A10. Works surprisingly well, hitched there at least forty times, average around 15 minute wait.