Being a budget expedition, I kept track of my £100 hitch-hiking adventure in February by Tweeting with the free text messages I get on my mobile phone. This is the story in bite size chunks:
I am setting off with the bag on my back and £100 in my pocket – http://twitpic.com/137pf4
Result. Bus driver had no change so let me ride to Heathrow for free. Good start.
Stove’s churning away on a park bench.
Happy Valentine’s Day from a distinctly unromantic bivouac within earshot of the M4 and Heathrow airport!
Commuters drive past through the mist while I’m cooking up porridge in a children’s playground.
Two hours unsuccessfully trying to hitch a ride and running on the spot to stay warm. Time to move on.
Wandered through Eton. Nice buildings but a distinct lack of budget supermarkets. Ah, Slough! Now that sounds more promising…
After a ridiculous afternoon marching up and down the A4 – and moments before the heavens opened – two kind souls have picked me up.
Walking across a wet and windy Severn Bridge.
Never thought I’d manage it but can safely say that tonight’s bivi location is even grimmer than yesterday’s. Beneath A48 with beer cans.
Man emerges from bushes into Tesco carpark eating a banana, cleans his teeth in the customer toilets and heads on his merry way.
Walking to Cardiff.
Arrived at the Welsh capital and a couple of hours ahead of schedule. £89 remaining
Just got online and seen website hits went through the roof yesterday! Thanks so much for your support everybody…
Screaming somewhere between pain and euphoria. Objective #3: Swim Outdoors… Done.
Not quite sure where to head next. My original plan is looking a bit over budget. Perhaps I’ll just let my thumb decide…
Back on the road with my thumb pointing north.
Dropped outside Aberystwyth, I started hiking only to be picked up by the same friendly couple an hour later! Still headed north.
“I wouldn’t leave a UCL boy in the valley” …the alumni bond brings me direct to Holyhead port.
Got the summit of Holyhead Mountain with the lights of Anglesey and a view of the Irish Sea all to myself.
Tonight’s bivi spot is perfectly flat, well sheltered and has running water. Oh, and strip lighting.
This should do for Objective #8 ‘Explore New Areas’… Ireland.
Been to the castle, Trinity College, the Spire, Chester Beatty Library, Hugh Lane Gallery and National Museum but one last thing left…
…a €4.80 pint might seem frivolous on a £100 budget but then it IS Guinness and it IS my first time in Dublin
(Just heard this wicked band on Grafton Street: ‘The Riptide Movement’. Apparently they’re on Facebook/MySpace – check ’em out!)
Tonight’s bed is either Waiting Room floor (warm + easy) or the bushes outfront (uninterrupted + outdoors). Gotta be the latter.
The sun rises over Dublin and hits the frost lining my bivi bag (or is it the ferry port flood lights?)
Run down the ramp, rush through baggage claim but I’m too late to catch the cars off the ferry – surely prime hitching fodder.
In a truck heading for the M6.
Doubted I’d make it in a day yet here I am, mid-afternoon, and only 10 miles from my destination. Walking distance!
Didn’t even need my thumb this time. Driving south with friends.
Bed for the night in London then homeward bound in the morning. Still got a few quid left.
Feels a bit like cheating but it’s raining and I’ve got change so think I might take the train home (£2.40)
Forked out 30p to use a toilet. Bit of a blow for the budget but when a man’s gotta go…
Removing the in-soles from my shoes has provided instant relief from blisters. Almost home now.
Home (with £30 change) – http://twitpic.com/14q71g
