UKH

Is hitch hiking still a thing in the UK?  I have just returned from a couple of weeks walking in Scotland and did not see anyone else hitching, other than myself and friend.  I hitched four times in the Loch Lomond sort of area and each time got a lift within 5 to 20 minutes, which I was amazed at.  I was even more amazed that I couldn't return the favour to anyone else when I returned to being behind the wheel of my own car.

I was very grateful for the lifts and met some very nice, kind, helpful and interesting people.

I travel a fair bit with work and cragging, but rarely see anyone hitching these days, even at places that used to have queues.  A shame, as I will always stop as repayment for everyone who went out of their way for me.

I live and play in the Highlands and haven't seen a single hitchhiker post covid. I walked the Brothers Ridge a month or two ago and struggled to get a lift back to my vehicle (hitching). When half way back someone stopped. Most of the vehicles passing were '23 plate hire cars, I guess holiday makers who maybe it seemed an alien concept to. 

Not the UK, but hitching is alive and well here in Ariège; I'd say I pass hitchers about half the time I'm in the car for any distance, and pick them up when possible. Pretty useful in reverse too, such as when I needed to return a hire car to a place 20km away and got a lift home within about 10 minutes.
I think it's a shame that modern society, particularly in the UK, has allowed itself to become so scared of perceived threats that people no longer feel it's right to ask for or to give help in sharing lifts.

I managed to get a lift from the Cromlech boulders up to Pen y Pass the other day. I would consider it more for linier walks but wouldn't want to rely on it. Have picked up people in the past or even stopped to offer a lift before when people aren't even hitching.

Felt slightly strange offering a lift recently as it was a young lady and I thought I might be perceived as one of those strange blokes that her mother might have warned her about getting in cars with. I was driving down a road near were I live and there was a slight que to go round a bus stopped at a bus stop. Whist I was waiting my turn to pass I witnessed the lady run across the road between the on coming traffic to get to the bus. Unfortunately it pulled away just as she arrived so as I approached I stopped and offered her a lift. Turned out she would have been late for her exam if I hadn't offered so I had even more karma that morning.

Anyway I see less people at motorway junctions etc hitching than I remember as a kid in the 90s when my dad on several occasions picked people up if it was the same direction and we had space. He had done alot of hitching in his younger days going to Greece and back for a holiday. I did some hitching in South America but generally I haven't had to in the UK as have usually had the means to pay for public transport or walked/biked.

Bingers experience would suggest that the latter half of that at least is not correct. I'm not sure it's right to jump to the conclusion about the former half either, there could be any number of different factors or combination thereof that have led to almost nobody hitchhiking any more. I would concur that it's very rare to see a hitchhiker though, even in N Scotland.

Hitched recently from Kingshouse to Bridge of Orchy after I missed the bus. Second car that went past me picked me up. I always seem lucky, and so pretty much always pick hitch hikers up to return the karma. 

Still see the odd one in the Lakes, and even W Cornwall,  but mainly only in the Highlands now.

Same here in the Champsaur, mostly locals going short distances as the bus service isn't very good.

I used to hitchhike home from uni all the time 20 years ago - saved a train fare. I always carried a rope or my buoyancy aid on the top of my bag, so I was often picked up by climbers / water enthusiasts. Always met nice people with a story to tell. It took me a few years later to learn to drive and I've only ever once had the opportunity to pass the favour to another hitchhiker. 

I'll pick people up. And yes, climbing gear is a plus. It has occurred to me choosing people on the basis of those who carry axes is a bit odd!

Ditto here in the Vercors. I've picked people up a few times but there's also official 'covoit' stops with an authenticated ID system (so driver and passenger have some safety) for regular users.

The decrease in visibility in the UK may well be partly down to a large increase in car ownership and better ways of organising transport since the 80s etc. There are apps for car sharing, Uber-type ride hailing for more urban areas plus its just a lot easier just to consult a bus timetable or look at other options on your mobile whereas in the past you just didn't have that many options.

If its perception of crime then that's a shame since the statistics show the country is far safer than it was in the '80s (and especially more than the peak of the mid '90s).

Haha - yeah, hitching with axes on your rucksack in the Alps is acceptable. On the slip road to the M4 by Swindon, less so....I always went for a rope. 

In the 80s hardly any students/young people had cars, nowadays virtually everyone drives. I don’t think safety concerns are the main factor (unlike school drop offs which is another debate!).

Ariege is quite special though, in a good way. I've met a few locals who say it's a pretty standard way of getting about. I used to hitch everywhere and France as a whole wasn't as good as the UK for hitching. Switzerland and Germany, especially Bavaria, were really good and in Belgium all you had to do was stick your thumb out and a car would stop.

I loved hitching, met some very interesting people and had some fantastic experiences.

According to his autobiography, Bruce Springsteen misses hitch hiking.

As do I (though I have hitched short distances in the Alps.)

I would build more contingency in to my travel plans for an exam than that! 🤣

I keep thinking I miss hitching but really I miss being young.

Good point! 

With thanks to the two hot girls coming out of Hathersage in about 2010...

Last time I hitched - these days I've always got several kids attached to me.

I agree with your reasoning, but my experience is that hitching became hugely less popular during the 80s and 90s, at a time when other lift-sharing options didn't exist, and that fear of assault (or fear of being accused of assault) was the main reason for people no longer feeling like it was a viable option. I think it was very clearly linked to a change in society in the UK at the time.

Is that true? Wonder what the car ownership stats are amongst under 25s. It seems (anecdotally at least) that learning to drive and maintaining a car are much more expensive now than it used to be. e.g. you used to be a lot more maintenance you could do yourself. Maybe that's offset by the fact that cars are just more reliable now so don't need so much tinkering and we are overall a richer society so people have more money for cars/driving lessons/insurance (even if the last decade of stagnation + recent inflatin doesn't make it seem that way). 

 All hitchhikers a Potential murderers rapists 

And all car drivers are suicidal maniacs or kidnappers

Hmm. You might be right. I wonder if part of the decreasing popularity was down to increasing car ownership too though.

What a horrible view to have on the world. IMO drivers and/or hitchers are an opportunity to hear some fun stories and broaden your horizons.

My wife got chatting to Paul Simon who was hitching around the UK although he was staying in rather nice hotels in the evenings.

I've found hitching in Scotland to be soul destroying. 8 hour wait in Glen Coe, 5 hours in Loch Glencarnoch which was a fail. This after having ticked all the Fannichs. I could go on. It seems even worse in summer. I personally blame that film "The Hitcher".

I did once stand in the middle of the road in Glen Etive to get someone to stop. Likewise in upper Glen Nevis one desperate snowy evening in January when I boldly if stupidly stood in front of an army 3 ton truck!

Absolutely. Learning to drive has always been expensive. Having a car at uni in the 80s was a rarity. In our climbing club of 20-30 active members, one person ran a car - there were two others who drove the minibus and we basically went wherever they wanted to go! I’ve worked at a secondary school recently and the newly extended car park is rammed with sixth form cars, again not the case in the late 70s. Things have changed massively over the last 40-50 years - in the early 80s we got reasonable grants and could even sign on for benefits in holidays (can you believe that?) . This meant we had a bit of money and plenty of time, so hitching was a good way to get about. Many more sixth form/uni students now work part time than did in the 70s/80s and the location of work is now far more extended, hence the need to get a car early.

You can't have been doing it right. I hitched back with a mate from Aviemore once ... he got the first lift, which took him to Perth.I got the next, which took me home - to Upton upon Severn! Conversation was a bit strained by the end, mind.

Of course it’s a horrible view .

why is hitchhiking died out  if it is not one that is held to  by thousands of drivers ?

Well people have already suggested several other plausible reasons on this thread. More car ownership by young people, technological options for booking taxis or looking up public transport. That's really been the whole thrust of the discussion.

I used to amaze non climbers telling them that ice axes made hitching easier.  Axe or rope in view.

There were hazards - driver passing out with drink in Galway, no wipers in a Transylvanian thunderstorm, lights going out when descending Corriehallie Brae, but I got around very easily in the 1980s by hitching.  Worst of all getting stuck at Garve on our honeymoon.  First row, tick!

The last two times I have hitched I've been picked up by French couples on holidays and ignored by locals. Both on Dartmoor! Haven't seen anyone hitching in years. Used to travel all over the UK gave all sorts of interesting people lifts, even picked people up that weren't hitching but were slogging along long boring country roads for whatever reason.

Hitched in the late 70’s from Inverness to Glasgow.

We got a lift from a French guy who smoked a mixture of camel shit and bus tickets.

He dropped us at Drumnadrochit where he’d booked a B&B.

Skint, so camped in a field next to the loch and cooked up what was left of our rations.

In the morning we dragged our kit back to the road, stuck our thumbs out and were picked up in about five minutes.

By the same guy.

Dropped off at Glasgow Central.

If Carlsberg made lifts . . . . . . . .  😊

I hadn't noticed but post covid I havnt picked up a single hitch hiker. Previously I would pick people up maybe every couple of months, normally guys with trade plates but occasionally just a random traveler. 

I always pick up hitchers if I have space. I believe it's good karma, and a great way to relieve the monotony of long journeys, especially if you get an absolute bam who outlines their lizard people theory in technicolour detail.

Definitely don't see as many about as I used to.

During covid, for obvious reasons, I wouldn't pick anyone up. Then as it began to recede I would refuse to entertain the idea of picking up anyone who didn't obviously have a mask with them. I found it hard to believe that anyone would try to hitch without one, but there were many. It's only really quite recently, with the relaxing of mask requirements in most shops and public buildings, that I've found myself no longer looking for a mask around a hitcher's neck.

A good friend of mine got offered a blowjob from a nice middle aged chap after getting picked up in British Columbia in the late 90s.

How we laughed in the pub - well everyone except him...

Once got picked up in Rolls Royce, pissed wet through after getting rained off at Rheecastle Crag in Borrowdale. Must have made a hell of a mess of his back seat. Must have been 14/15 at the time.

That's just part of the hitching etiquette, though, right?

I understand it was a very polite offer.

Humm- so you were picked up by people who like watersports?

if not I’ve been giving out a lot of unnecessary blow jobs

I used to hitch quite a bit when at Sheffield University about 10 years ago. Generally quite easy with a rope slung over your rucksack. Some long cold waits in the dark, but generally quite a fun experience.

Hitched up Snake Pass a couple of years ago to make for a more interesting walk back over the moors to the car, from a nice commuter. I'd do this again but probably trickier now we have a dog.

Once I got a job and a car, I'd keep an eye out and always give lifts to hitchers but not seen any for about 5 years now

I think it is as I was finding it then.  I hadn't hitched for 20 odd years and that had just been from one end of Aonach Eagach to the other.  Given a few lifts in mountain areas of France.

The first lift recently was the longest wait, but it was before I remembered to take my rucksack off my back and lean it against my legs.  The the successful lift arrived.

Good to hear so many still want to give out good karma.

Haha - I specifically worded it 'water enthusiasts' for that reason! LoL

I haven’t seen anyone hitching since covid and it was getting hard pre covid.

Generally if I need a hitch, for example doing the Fannichs, I’ll get chatting to other hillgoers on the tops and hope that it will lead to a lift. I once chatted to some other climbers on a plane to San Fran, and had secured my hitch to the valley even before we’d left UK  airspace.

I never had anything bad happen but a student friend in the 90s had the misfortune to be strip searched on the Swiss border as the couple whom gave him a lift were rather interesting to a search dog.  Later in the UK he got picked up by joy riders who took straight to where he wanted at high speed for a bit of a laugh.