Been mostly quiet lately. Not much happening. Been hitching up and down to the city a few times and such. On Thursday I was hitching up to the city to get the bus to Killarney for a wedding. As luck would have it the lift I got from Midleton to the city dropped me off on the south ring on the N22. So instead of the bus...MORE HITCHING!!!! XD So got a lift handy enough and got dropped again at the turn off for Castletownbere Haven. Then got picked up by a pair of dead sound lads in a van. Mad Mick and Seb. They were going the whole way. It was great. They did have to make one detour to the Toy Soldier Factory which only marginally delayed us and was absolutely and completely worth it. :) We then motored on rather nicely until we came close to a level crossing outside Killarney where a truck had so considerately jack knifed. It did take us a bit to figure this out, but thanks to the monocular I always carry in my bag we were able to see it, do a u-turn and get onto the back road.
Coming back from Killarney was also interesting. I was just buying a bottle of milk from the Centra near the hostel I was staying at before I left and I bumped into one of the girls that was at the wedding. She asked how I was getting home and I said that I was going to hitch. She asked why I wasn't getting the train or the bus. I said no as I was going to hitch. She then informed me that I was going by train as she could get me a free ticket....which she did. What we learn from this is hitching is great, but if we are offered a free and faster alternative, we take it! Anyway, I got the train to cork and then I got a lift from town to Little Island from a guy I used to work with. Then got 2 more lifts to get myself the rest of the way home.


Today I was down in Charles' Fort in Kinsale. Had a good day hanging out in the fort with the lads as there was a gig on. Hitching back I got a lift from a guy that was in the same class as me in college. He graduated on Wednesday. Out of a class of 92 I think he said 8 graduated. Some are on a year of work placement but there is still only 6 or 7 of them. Just shows that the course was only suited for a very small number of people.

That should be it for now. May your towels be fluffy and your lifts swift. :)

Advantge me!

Was going for a short trip from Roscrae to Shinrone the other day and got a lift the whole way. The unusual thing was, I was in competition with another hitcher. This has never happened to me before! EVER!!! The good news is I won. For a very simple reason. My girlfriend was with me. The woman that picked us up says that she never pics up lone men. But the fact that I had a woman with me meant I was not a threat so therefore I got a lift. Just goes to show that there are advantages to hitching in pairs. :)

Life, Death and Epic Journeys

Any of you that follow my blog may have noticed that I haven't posted anything in a while. Well lets just say there are several reasons for this among them laziness and unexpected events. Firstly at the start of July my grandmother went in for a routine cataract operation. She had a bad reaction to the anaesthetic and had a heart attack. 12 days later she died. so for the bones of three weeks I didn't leave home. Also as you can imagine I was in no mood to write in the blog. On the up side during the weekend before she died I was up in Maynooth as my dad was inducted into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. It is a Papal honor which he got for the charity work that he does.
Anyway back to this whole hitching lark. Nearly 2 weeks ago I hitched to Craggaunowen. From door to door it took me 3 hours (for those that don't know the average time for this journey according to Google Maps is 2:40). That's right kids! I'm back in full epic journey mode. The bad luck I was plagued by seems to be gone. I must in the near future have a go at getting to Laois again. See if I can do better than 7 hours. The lads up there couldn't believe it. Even my parents who are used to me having stupid good luck on the road couldn't believe me.
There are of course some unusual factors to take into account in this case. Firstly I got a lift from Cork City to Mallow from a friends brother (my mate Scully was in the car as well). When I was outside Mallow after they had dropped me off there was a guy on the other side of the road heading to Mallow in Punto that he was trying to push start. I gave him a hand and after he got it going again he gave me a lift to Buttevant. Then outside Buttevant I got a lift from a couple going all the way to Galway who dropped me off at the gate of Craggaunowen. It was a good day.

So things are looking up. Also there may be some interesting happenings on here in the near future as my friend Fergal is back from Japan......

Oh! What do people think of the profile pic?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGG!!!

So after getting that out of my system I can get started. Motorways suck!!!!!!!!!!

I was hitching up to Laois at the weekend and it was abysmal. I left home at 1pm. At 8:30 I was only at Urlingford. Considering that I was at the Horse and Jockey for 5 this was an epic fail. Looking at the cars going by it was fairly obvious that all the traffic on the old road was all local. That motorway kills the chance to get a lift. It really does suck great big floppy donkey dick!!!

Another factor is since the end of May and that trip back from Duncannon it seems to be harder to get lifts. I don't know what it is but the past month hitching has been very slow.

When I came back from Laois I used the bus. Coming out of Cork was dead slow. I got a lift from town to the Glanmire roundabout and then walked as far as the Little Island/Gounthaune slip-road before I got a lift. Then I got a lift from there all the way home from a dead sound bloke. Part of me is starting to think this whole hitching lark may not be viable anymore. I'm heading to Offaly this weekend so I'll see how it goes...

What an interesting week.....

Well as the title says it was an interesting week. It started off with hitching home from Duncannon on Monday.  As in Bank Holiday Monday.  Now normally Bank holidays are great for hitching. Lots of people on the road and often willing to pick up.  My brother dropped me off in New Ross as he was heading back up the country.  I was on the road for 17:30.  By rights I should have been home in 3 to 4 hours.  Normally the Journey would take 2 to 3 hours if driving.  It took me 6 hours.  23:30 I was walking in the door at home. I may not even have gotten home that early save for the fact that the last lift I got was from a guy going from Dungarvan to Cork, who took pity on me and dropped me home.  Added an extra 30 minutes to his journey time at least.  Well done that man and thank you very much.  

Next was Wednesday.  I was hitching from home to Portarlington in Laois to visit my girlfriend.  I left home at around 14:00 a 3 hour journey at the most when driving.  It took me 7 hours.  I was starting to think I was losing my touch.  Thankfully I got a lift from Cahir practically to the door by a very sound lad.

Then on Friday I was hitching down from Portarlington on Friday.  Left at 11:00.  Didn't get home till 17:30.  There were some advantages.  I got to prove how utterly random and awesome the world is.  Myself and my girlfriend were after getting dropped at the top of the Cobh sliproad on the Cork/Midleton road.  After walking back down onto the hard shoulder and waiting a while we got a lift... It was the man whose tyre I had helped change.  Granted he could only take us a small distance but I thought it was kind of cool.

Anyway.  After some consideration I figured out a decent reason for the slowness of the travel.  At first I thought it may have been the fact that I was wearing a straw hat as I had left my leather one in my brother's car (Also known as my hitching hat. :P) .  But then I realized that there was another time when hitching took a stupidly long time.  Last summer it took me 5 hours to do 26 miles.  On a hot day.  From this I have deduced that hitching on a hot day is always slow.  The higher the temperature the less generous the people - sounds crazy but my brother who also hitches would agree.

Secondly my long trip on Monday was not helped by the fact that I had to walk through New Ross and Waterford City.  New Ross wasn't too bad but Waterford was a nightmare.  That city just goes on and on and on.  Took 2 hours.  Felt like one of the longest walks ever.   Never, never, NEVER!!!  Get a lift to the wrong side of a city.  It's not worth the trouble.  Even if it means you have to pass up a good long lift.  Just leave it.  Also never get a lift it is out of your way too far.  For example getting a lift from Portlaoise to Limerick when you are going to Cork.  Pass up the lift.  Wait.  You'll be better off.

Today I was hitching back from Ballincollig to Cork city and I got a lift from a suit.  I was surprised considering that I'm a scruff beardy freeloader...kind of.  That however wasn't the most unusual thing that happened to me today.  I was hitching out of Cork when I got picked up by a woman.  Now this in itself is a bit strange.  Women on their own don't pick you up unless they know you.  The really weird thing is the fact there was a wee panda purse on the dash.  (For those of you that don't know I'm known as Panda).  I said that I truly am haunted and she asked me why.  I told her that I'm known as Panda and then she said " So am I."  I was almost surprised.  I then went on to find out when she doesn't have/can't afford to run a car she also hitches.  I could do nothing but laugh.   A friend of mine used to say that there's a singularity of wierdness around me.  I think he may be right.....

Ok so there have been no updates recently but I have had some family stuff happening and at the moment I'm trying to put together a basic guide to hitching in my head.  I'm trying to word it properly so it'll be clear and concise. 

For now I'm just going to say one of the most important things about hitching.  Be nice to those that give you a lift.  For example at the weekend I went to Wexford.  On the way one of the cars I was getting a lift in got a flat tyre.  The guy that was giving me a lift said that he'd do it himself when I said I'd help.  I was insistent.  It's what you have to do.  The person is giving you a lift.  They are going out of their way to be nice to you so do the same. 

Bye for now.