Hitchhiking from Gillingham
Hitchhiking to Gillingham
Recent reviews mentioning Gillingham
51.2649, 0.61582
I always sit on the bench outside McDonald's. It means everyone stopping at this service station gets a chance to look at you and think about offering you a ride. You can also chat with the smokers whilst you're waiting here. My sign said "NORTH please :)" I got an offer to London after 20 minutes, I declined as I was aiming for Norfolk. A couple minutes later I got a ride to Ipswich.―Anonymous
51.2649, 0.61582
Did nothing but sit at the rocks and thumb throughout the morning. Got offers for Coventry (traveller with an RV), Liverpool (truck driver) and one other slowdown, but none towards the continent until an older lady offered me a lift to Dover. Took it as it was getting boring…―Nasalodor
51.43878, 0.05155
Waited just outside the exit of the petrol station. There could’ve been a better waiting spot…―Nasalodor
51.26634, 0.61629
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!
―whisperingofthestars
51.27315, 0.04278
Really hot day and lack of sleep. Took the ride to Maidstone (aiming for France/Belg) I wanted to avoid :-DSome 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...
―whisperingofthestars
51.26674, 0.61518
Walked around carpark with an EU and BE sign. Just friendly smile and chat to people. Found a family who said they were going back home that night and that they were Belg. I went with them BUT their ferry was for 9pm. I bailed at Dover and found someone else but MAKE SURE YOU FIND A PERSON HERE TO GET YOU ACROSS. It is 10x harder at Dover.―Kjmurray1230
51.40946, 0.1449
Super good spot, not the most traffic but most will at least be going to maidstone. M20 sign―Kjmurray1230
51.43901, 0.05095
Fastest pickup ever . 1.5 mins straight to Maidstone services, now onto France!!―Anonymous
51.26705, 0.6146
got an offer to go on LeShuttle but they wanted us to pay. After a short while, got an offer to Dover from a Polish truck driver who spoke very little English. Lots of European cars stopping here.―Alifeee
51.49186, 0.27054
we were heading to Dover. it took a while to get a lift, but we were 3 people. our friends arrived to hitch after us and took a lift before us (cheeky). eventually found a lift to Maidstone after trying several spots (food court, fuel station, roundabout). Lots of French/German/Belgian/etc cars around.―Alifeee
51.26594, 0.61564
A long wait. There’s lots of EU number plates and truckers. A couple offers to Folkestone, a couple apologetic “we would if we had space”. Eventually we found a lift to Belgium. Unfortunately our lift would not add us to her ticket and offered to continue the lift after we had made our own way to Calais. Foot passenger ferries only come three times a day and our arrivals would not align. We got dropped at Dover―Breno
51.30528, 0.33105
A decent, high traffic spot to get a lift to Maidstone services―Breno
51.26565, 0.61577
Took a while but hitchhiking the channel can be competitive here, when competitive in the morning, you have a better chance here going to France.―Anonymous
51.40485, 0.39537
Quickly found a ride into southwest London from here―daganzebuaatramper
51.14499, 1.33021
After 15 min I found a ride to a gas station close to London.―daganzebuaatramper
51.27656, 0.57977
Not much traffic.―mossenmoons
51.26605, 0.61511
―Anonymous
51.3012, 0.51376
―Anonymous
51.26605, 0.61511
The best possibility to hitch a ride through the Tunnel to France, only negative aspect traffic are either going north or south―Anonymous
51.3012, 0.51376
Pretty bad junction, traffic in most directions has nowhere to pull over. Eventually had more luck standing by the roundabout itself (where marked) than by the slipways.―Anonymous