Nighter Journeys Pre Car And Internet

[Dean]

Don't know what brought this to mind but I was remembering the Journey made many years ago, Mansfield to St Ives (Cambs) for the East Anglian nighters.

Bus from Mansfield to Nottingham, Barton's bus Nottingham to Peterborough ( a well traveleld route due to Wirrina nighters), service bus Peterborough to Huntingdon, service bus Huntingdon to St Ives.

I don't know how I worked out the route, probabaly just a guess at an AA road map, and presume the bus times were a hope and pray.

I do recall there was never a connection back which involved a long day thumbing after the nighter.

I know this isn't the longest by a country mile, but it was an effort on public transport.

Any other testing journeys?

[Steve Foran]

Hitched to Cleethorpes back then. Bloody nightmare. Bedford to Peterborough then up through Sleaford to Lincoln ( with a vicar). Met two girls from Boston and got a train with them to Cleethorpes. Got lift home via Doncaster then train to Huntingdon or maybe Peterborough then hitched the rest of the way.

[Ian Parker]

Train to Nottm, then change for Crewe, then had a bust up on the platform, then Crewe to Manchester, finally we saw civilisation.. Train to Wigan. Return journey was 9 hours because of line maintenance. We got the bus from manc to Crewe I recall.

St Ives was a goodie too. . . . Hitch in rain, truck driver gave me a lift to Huntingdon station, then for some strange reason, I chatted to a couple of guys there,,, 20 minutes later, a mate of thiers turned up with a hot wired car. Lift to the Ivo !

Result!

[Guest Garry Huxley]

Whitchurch 2 Wigan, couple of times I hitched, Piece of pe-pee realy, A49 all the way 45 miles ish took3 to 4 hrs,

Gettin home on a sunday morning, F**kin nightmare bout 8 to 10 hrs.

[Mark B]

Only Wigan really bus to Manchester city centre a couple of pints and then train from Victoria station, after Wigan went most places by car as my brother who got me into the music was 2 1/2 years older so his mates had cars.

[Guest southpaw]

Don't know what brought this to mind but I was remembering the Journey made many years ago, Mansfield to St Ives (Cambs) for the East Anglian nighters.

Bus from Mansfield to Nottingham, Barton's bus Nottingham to Peterborough ( a well traveleld route due to Wirrina nighters), service bus Peterborough to Huntingdon, service bus Huntingdon to St Ives.

I don't know how I worked out the route, probabaly just a guess at an AA road map, and presume the bus times were a hope and pray.

I do recall there was never a connection back which involved a long day thumbing after the nighter.

I know this isn't the longest by a country mile, but it was an effort on public transport.

Any other testing journeys?

Made that journey a few times with the Nottingham lads going to the Fleet, nightmare journey on the way home there was a connection back but it wasn't till 16.00 hours

Edited February 18, 2013 by southpaw

[Guest Byrney]

Made that journey a few times with the Nottingham lads going to the Fleet, nightmare journey on the way home there was a connection back but it wasn't till 16.00 hours

Think it was a £1 or so on the bus. I gave in once and jumped on train with no cash and got my dad to pay for me at Nottingham station. That was one special bollocking I got that day

I was with you that night Al

[Iancsloft]

Hitched a lift to the Torch with my ex Joan in 72 these scousers picked us up in a stolen van full of TVs they came into the Torch for a few hours then disappeared more than likely robbed a few bags on the way out lol

[Back Street Blue]

Not an epic journey in terms of mileage but tortuous coming home. We got the SELNEC trans-lancs "express" which went from Stockport to Preston but stopped at every lamp post along the way. Then we got a bus from Preston to Wigan. Good news was that under 16's traveled anywhere for 2p on SELNEC buses, so my terminal acne came in useful!

Train to Wigan from Vic station was favorite but I remember missing the last train once when I was with Carl Holden and Mick Malone. Carl talked a black cab driver outside the station to take us to Wigan in exchange for the expensive wrist watch he'd "pocketed" earlier that day. Big time arrival getting out of the cab that night.

[Guest Owen Conway]

we used to do Reading to Wigan by coach that left southampton and stopped at Newbury/Oxford. i sometimes went by car but that was a nightmare journey. up the A34 to brum then the M6. coming home took allday nearly, having to stop for a kip.

St Ives was just as bad. no M25 in.them days. up the M1 to bedford then the A1. broke down one morning in the mini near godmanchester (do you remember, mark bicknell)

halcyon days...

Edited February 18, 2013 by Owen Conway

[Guest southpaw]

Think it was a £1 or so on the bus. I gave in once and jumped on train with no cash and got my dad to pay for me at Nottingham station. That was one special bollocking I got that day

I was with you that night Al

Some of those nights at the Fleet looking back now were some of the best nighters I went to, Bryney what was the story (if it was you ) went to the casino on train & got ambushed don't know if it came to actual blows

[Guest Byrney]

Some of those nights at the Fleet looking back now were some of the best nighters I went to, Bryney what was the story (if it was you ) went to the casino on train & got ambushed don't know if it came to actual blows

Oooh dunno if it was me mate, nearest to it was when I was with you and Shippo last night at Casino, paid £13 for the train (half my wages back then) and you and Shippo I'm sure hitched and got there before us.

On The journey home did get on the train and the carriage was full of footy lads, think they might have been scousers, They gave us some stick as I recall but they were sound enough and didn't kick off. Unless I over egged the pudding and said we had a toe to toe

[Guest southpaw]

Oooh dunno if it was me mate, nearest to it was when I was with you and Shippo last night at Casino, paid £13 for the train (half my wages back then) and you and Shippo I'm sure hitched and got there before us.

On The journey home did get on the train and the carriage was full of footy lads, think they might have been scousers, They gave us some stick as I recall but they were sound enough and didn't kick off. Unless I over egged the pudding and said we had a toe to toe

Yes that was the one

[Peter99]

I used to thumb if from Mablethorpe in my very early days - soon got mesen a car! It was ok thumbing it to the niter - looking forward to etc. It was another thumbing it back - tired, paranoid and on a bad come down. I remember thumbing it to Derby - probably assembly rooms. In the morning Chris King picked me and my mate up and dropped us in Nottingham. I didn't know who Chris was then other than a dj who had been on at the niter. Chris had a white mercedes sports car and bollocked me mate for slamming the doors. We felt so shit and down we ended up trying to sleep on some benches at Nottingham train station. We were "rescued" by three northern soul lads from the Meadows - hardly knew them really. One was Vernon - who has recenly joined SS. Anyway one of the lads took us back to his house and his mam put us up for the night and fed us - not much of an appetite but got summat down! We were back on our slighty merrier way the day after. They were good lads them three - they dropped off the niter scene pretty soon after that I think.

Made lots of mates with the Nottingham lads and lasses - some of them are on here. We used to travel a bit with them on buses I seem to recall. Used to meet up in the King John pub by Broad Marsh station. I remember driving Shippo - Alan might have been there too, home from Mablethorpe one dark winters night. No heater in the car it was fecking freezing - had hot water bottles and blankets! Them were days.

Peter

Edited February 18, 2013 by Peter99

[Zed1]

Some of the above replies perfectly illustrate just how much the scene has changed, ie back in the day we'd travel all over the country via crap public transport just to listen to the music, these days most won't even travel any further than Taxi distance if it means they can't get pi55ed!...

[Guest southpaw]

Some of the above replies perfectly illustrate just how much the scene has changed, ie back in the day we'd travel all over the country via crap public transport just to listen to the music, these days most won't even travel any further than Taxi distance if it means they can't get pi55ed!...

I think the scene was better then, maybe that's for another thread though

[Peter99]

I think the scene was better then, maybe that's for another thread though

And you lot are much older of course.

Me, I'm Peter fecking Pan!

Peter

[Northernjordan]

As a 19 year old lad, I've never done the hitch hiking to get to Wigan or daft train routes to get to the Mecca etc... And now things have changed on the soul scene and these kind of acts are rare i imagine. However, on the scooter scene, the journey there is still and integral part of the scene. We still battle the elements , reliability issues and just about every other road user to get to destination. Theres still such a buzz and sense of achievement when you see the "Welcome to..." sign a feeling of making it despite the odds. Many of the machines are getting on 50+ years old, and these little moped were never designed to do hundreds of miles in a day laden with luggage and camping gear.... In a few weeks time I'm going to attempt a 600+ mile round trip to Dorset and back, just to get my fix of music, two stroke and banter.

Heres one journey i've already written up for a magazine;

Due to prior commitments, I couldn’t set off to Bridlington till about 2:30 on the Friday afternoon from south Cumbria. The plan was to meet my mate Wal from the Young Guns SC who was riding up from Telford, on the other side of York. Much of the morning was spent killing time and checking my Jet200 over. 2:30 couldn’t come soon enough; I was eager with excitement at both the ride and getting to Bridlington itself. I got a few warning texts of Wal telling me how cold it was riding. No problem I thought, my big thick “submariners” woolly jumper and armoured riding gear would keep me warm… So I set off and sure enough the cold started to set in and it really did feel bitter. My route took me via Kirkby Lonsdale, and I managed to get stuck behind every slow moving vehicle known to man! It was like the stars had aligned against me. My frustration was made worse by the fact I set off so late in the day. Slowly, I managed to get past all the tractors, lorries and trailers. Only to pull in for fuel and watch it all go past me again! Like before, I slowly had to overtake all these again and made good time. The next challenge was Harrogate, I always hate riding through the town. Long tailbacks are almost a certainty. However, to my surprise it wasn’t too bad and after another quick fuel stop I made decent progress. I could really feel the cold now, as rode onwards to York. I got to the meeting place after what felt like an eternity, and the stop couldn’t come soon enough. Light was starting to fade a little, but sure enough Wal arrived, a little later than expected. Both of us, feeling like scooter riding ice burghs agreed on a brew stop in Stamford Bridge. The much needed warm up and cup of coffee did wonders, and we hit the rode once again. By now, it had pretty much gone pitch black. It felt like the blind leading the blind as we snaked through the north Yorkshire country side, as neither standard T5 Mk1 lights nor Lambretta lights are much cop. As we pushed on wards to Brid, we got caught in some sleety/rain, which would stay with us all the way there. The only good thing about the dark and sleet, was that it took your mind off the freezing cold as you had to concentrate so much on your riding. Every cars lights that went past us, seemed to wipe out our headlight beams and highlight every drop of rain or mark on our visors. It was tough going. A fire engine zoomed passed with it lights flashing, so I dipped the clutch and break a little to slow down as it passed. The next thing I knew my clutch cable had snapped! I decided, it would be best to carry on riding without stopping. The last thing I wanted to do was to spend hours on the side of the road in the pitch black and pouring rain. I remember thinking at every roundabout, “please don’t have to stop!” We pushed on to Brid and eventually got there at about 7:45. After pulling a few wheelies around town when snapping the scooter into gear, I decided to push it the last hundred or so yards to my B&B.

Edited February 18, 2013 by NorthernJordan

[Northernjordan]

Oh, and mablethorpe.... thats always an epic journey on the scooter!

[Peter99]

Oh, and mablethorpe.... thats always an epic journey on the scooter!

It's an epic fecking journey by any mode of transport! Not so bad now with the Lincoln and Newark by passes. Havind said that I haven't been back for years - the nearest I go now is Lincoln to see my brother.

Back in the day - before the Newark by pass, on our way to either Nottingham, Derby or Leics we had a regular habit of stopping at the Newark Little Chef for a last eat and brew of the weekend before necking our gear - anywhere between 10 and 11 pm.

Peter

[Northernjordan]

It's an epic fecking journey by any mode of transport! Not so bad now with the Lincoln and Newark by passes. Havind said that I haven't been back for years - the nearest I go now is Lincoln to see my brother.

Back in the day - before the Newark by pass, on our way to either Nottingham, Derby or Leics we had a regular habit of stopping at the Newark Little Chef for a last eat and brew of the weekend before necking our gear - anywhere between 10 and 11 pm.

Peter

Every time I make it to the really windy road I'm always short of fuel, freezing and its pitch black... Always a right mission!

[Dean]

Just 2 more to throw down memory lane:

Remember hitching it to Coalville without really knowing where Coalville was (Doh!).

Picked up at a roundabout in god knows where, drove around with someone clearly as lost as I was to be dropped off "near" Coalville, only to walk on thumbing for 30 mins to find myself back at the same roundabout.

Last minute decision to go to Sheffield Sam's one night, with Veronica Lynch (Mansfield lads will remeber her), got picked up by police walking up M1 after a lorry driver changed his mind about his route. Bless them, they took us to Sam's and dropped us outside to some very questioning suspicious looks from the queue outside.

You'd always see a nighter bag in any transport cafe.

[Carty]

train from manchester to edinburgh for the clouds all nighters 1979.1980 , used to collect vouchers off persil packs which gave cheap train travel, then another time bought a platform ticket and got under the seat on the train and jumped the barrier at waverley station, same again on the way back. it was easy in those days. went to the mecca in a car boot one night , the only space available, insane .

[Guest manusf3a]

train from manchester to edinburgh for the clouds all nighters 1979.1980 , used to collect vouchers off persil packs which gave cheap train travel, then another time bought a platform ticket and got under the seat on the train and jumped the barrier at waverley station, same again on the way back. it was easy in those days. went to the mecca in a car boot one night , the only space available, insane .

But all part of the experience,in those days trains were meant to be jumped,,sheffield train station at the time of samanthas with loads of folk dropping over the wall just before you went down the steps to the ticket collection point ,starting out from Kettering train station people going to the nighter would get on along the way,leicester,chesterfield etc and most of them would be "going over the wall". at the other end.Wigan was a much longer and more complicated train jump from our home town of Corby via Kettering station(as Corby didnt have a rail station then)but still thinking back fairly easy.Coming back also had its highhpoints including a couple of jumpers from Kettering who lept off about a mile or more from the station jumping out the door on to the embankment and one ending up with a broken arm to go with his come down.Coaches were great,I loved them because of the laughs you could have as covered by another thread,here to the main objective was to never pay if you could get away with it.Hitch hiking had a fairly large place in things back then with lots of strange incidents of course such mad ,crazy but good times were also had when you did go in a car load with your mates.For me the journeys there and back were all part and parcel of the scene,with the most outlandish surreall ones by far the best.

[Ian Williams]

Bristol to Norwich Back Street Soul Night - 6 hours in a Triumph Herald with no heater. It felt like it took 24 hours at 55 mph top speed. Blankets on laps to keep warm and s massive cassette player in the back with spare batteries cos it ate them quickly. :-)

[Guest southpaw]

train from manchester to edinburgh for the clouds all nighters 1979.1980 , used to collect vouchers off persil packs which gave cheap train travel, then another time bought a platform ticket and got under the seat on the train and jumped the barrier at waverley station, same again on the way back. it was easy in those days. went to the mecca in a car boot one night , the only space available, insane .

Did you go home in the boot aswell, that would a been a paranoid trip

[Guest southpaw]

But all part of the experience,in those days trains were meant to be jumped,,sheffield train station at the time of samanthas with loads of folk dropping over the wall just before you went down the steps to the ticket collection point ,starting out from Kettering train station people going to the nighter would get on along the way,leicester,chesterfield etc and most of them would be "going over the wall". at the other end.Wigan was a much longer and more complicated train jump from our home town of Corby via Kettering station(as Corby didnt have a rail station then)but still thinking back fairly easy.Coming back also had its highhpoints including a couple of jumpers from Kettering who lept off about a mile or more from the station jumping out the door on to the embankment and gone ending up with a broken arm too with his come down.Coaches were great,I loved them because of the laughs you could have as covered by another thread,here to the main objective was to never pay if you could get away with it.Hitch hiking had a fairly large place in things back then with lots of strange incidents of course such mad ,crazy but good times were also had when you did go in a car load with your mates.For me the journeys there and back were all part and parcel of the scene,with the most outlandish surreall ones by far the best.

wonder what was worse the come down or the broken arm

[Carty]

southpaw, actually, no , a couple of the seated passengers a bit worse for the wear drinkwise had an argument as to which one of them should have the journey home in the boot experience, so i got a seat on the return journey.

[Guest manusf3a]

wonder what was worse the come down or the broken arm

I forgot to add he was also arrested as somone pulled the emergency cord having seen what were two bodies hurtling out the door,the other lad got away,vince the lad from kettering was a hardy fellow and did not let the broken arm stop him from being back at another all nighter the next week.Kettering station back in those days ,security zero below zilch as my mate Wilky would put it, vince and his mate would have been just as well walking off at the station as the rest of us did,just vignoring cries of "wheres your ticket",or pointing back as you walked swiftly past bluting out "Hes got it ",as you pointed back at the other passengers.Recall the britsh rail people who worked behind the buffet bars etc often getting confused by requests for tea with five duarphet ms s in it please along with dont hold back on the drinamil.There was always something reassuring about seeing other folk getting on at staions along the way with bags etc all heading to the nighter,it meant there was more chance of avoiding capture at the other end as there would be a larger group of fare dodgers for ticket gate blokes to deal with,best policy get tucked in about halfway among the mob then if they are busy trying to handle front runners just walk through. Edited February 22, 2013 by manusf3a

[Dave Thorley]

Gloucester to Wigan, varied and anything from 5 hours to 24 hours.

Would catch the bus into Gloucester midday and go to the pub in the market to see if there was a lift going, if so, sorted. If not then hitch it out to the M5, lifts from there could take you one exit or many, but always tried to get to get to Frankley services just south of Birmingham, here would often hook up with Angie & Heather from Redditch and travel the rest of the way with them. Every other week, the bloke that drove the Wagon Wheels truck would pull in there and give anyone looking for a lift, one all the way up to the Wigan exit.

Next option en-route would be to get dropped off at Hilton Park, if you weren't to late and catch a lift on the Wolverhampton coach, if not out with the thumb again and onwards. Any of the service stations on the way up, were possible stops to look for lifts, tried not to get dropped off at exits, as you could be stuck there for hours. Always aimed for Knutsford service as most of the cars going to Wigan from the south would pull in there. But down side was everyone else hitching had the same idea, there could be as many 10-15 on the exit trying to get a lift and you needed to find someone going on up the M6, not off into Manchester or the M62.

When it was very busy there, trick was to watch cars arriving with just two people in and catch em just as they arrived and ask for a lift, so to get ahead of everyone else. After that fairly plain sailing into Wigan, but if you got dropped off at the exit, it was still a bloody long walk into town and the Casino. But in the main, if you started at the M5 junction by at least 3pm you could get to Wigan before midnight.

The return was a whole other thing, don't know why, but that often took the whole of sunday, once I got home on monday morning with the milkman. Got washed and changed and straight to work.

Edited February 22, 2013 by Dave Thorley

[Gilly]

Hows this for a stroke of luck,me and Kev Orton from Burton started to hitch to Wigan,as we reached the outskirts of our town a Triumph Herald pulled up asking of our intended destination,its a town in Lancashire called Wigan,oh well thats ok then i live there,.He had been visiting his girlfriend from Burton. Result

[Mak]

Trans-peninne coach from Ripley (Derbyshire) to Manchester , buss from Manchester to Bolton , bus to Wigan . Got sick of doing that so organized a coach every week.

[Irish Spinner]

The trip back to Cambridge after the Casino 74. Four of us in car when it broke down on the slip road to the M6 shit!!! closely followed by a cop car but as luck had it, a mechanic was driving the car . He towed us back to the police garage but could not get the car started, so we headed to the coach station. Would you believe it a coach

for Cambridge was parked with with its engine running and doors open. Although the coach was more than half empty all seats had been booked, and the next coach was

2pm that day. Well we split up into two, a lad originally from Ipswich and his mate. My best mate Dave Giedd and myself headed off thumbs out as we walked.

It wasn't to long before we got a lift to Stoke Jcn and then on to a Wolverhampton/Brum Jcn. So far so good we thought till after almost 3 hours it was past mid day before a

good hearted yank picked us up in a cadillac a bit of style we thought.We told the driver we where heading M6/M1 Jump in guys he said then proceeded M6/M5 Foookin tosser I thought kind hearted though. We told him to stop the car so we could get out, only to find ourselves straddled between two motor ways scary I tell ya.

But who should come to the rescue again but PLOD in a XJ12 . One of the kind police men risked life and limb crossing busy lanes to escort us back to the Jag. It took off like a rocket 120 on the clock it hardly felt we where moving the cops took us right back to the Jcn we were stuck at for 3 hours.Lets try again but not after still feeling a bit lively I hopped on on Dave's shoulders to write on the motor way sign Dave & Irish were here. That writing stayed on that sign for a few weeks I guess only to be seen by other niter lads stuck at the Jcn just as we were. It began to sink in how far from home we really were. After a few short lifts we got to Jcn 15 on the M1 it was well into the afternoon by then on the journey across country from Beds to Cambridge it was getting harder to get a lift as day light faded and we weren't far behind it, Thirty some hours was taking it toll on us the, last few caps got dropped in the back of the cop car when it towed us of the slip road at Wigan. We got into St Neots at 11 PM .Only to wait till about 12.30 still with no lift not a cop car in sight when you really needed one, f*ck we must have looked a state no wonder cars carried on. I made the call to walk to Caxton Jib-bit thats only about 5 mile or so on a good day . The road was as black as the ace of spades, night fell like a fookin stone, only the white lines could be seen on the road, We plodded on I began to hallucinate at this stage and was wonder all over the place, as I watched the white road lines raise from the road and people dancing on top of an old garage roof in the distance so I thought just couldn't here wot they were dancing to. The odd car whizzed passed us as we both staggered along the road. 5 mile was taking as long as 15 . There were street lights in the distance and I could see more cars at the cross roads ahead thank God. We sat down at the Cambridge Jcn and waited it was now 6am Monday morning. Our final lift came along and dropped us off about 3 miles from our home's .I hit my bed around 7.15 am and my mum god bless her called me for breakfast and work about 7.20. My mum left for work and I went back to bed I slept for 23hrs, my dad said I never even got up to have a piss, he never seen anything like it . Soon it was the weekend and I started all over again for the next two years or so. Happy day miss spent youth I weighed in at a mean lean 10st 7lbs in those days.No bloody wonder lol.

Atb Irish

[Dean]

Trans-peninne coach from Ripley (Derbyshire) to Manchester , buss from Manchester to Bolton , bus to Wigan . Got sick of doing that so organized a coach every week.

Wigan was a piece of cake Mak. X67 bus Mansfield to Machester Chorlton St, train form Victoria to Wall Gate, with afew hours to kill in Machester.

Although first time I went I got a lift from Brian Rae, sat looking through the records in the back of his van, with the uncomfotable knowledge I only had enough money to get into the nighter and nothing to get back with, that was a long day coming home baby!

[Guest southpaw]

The trip back to Cambridge after the Casino 74. Four of us in car when it broke down on the slip road to the M6 shit!!! closely followed by a cop car but as luck had it, a mechanic was driving the car . He towed us back to the police garage but could not get the car started, so we headed to the coach station. Would you believe it a coach

for Cambridge was parked with with its engine running and doors open. Although the coach was more than half empty all seats had been booked, and the next coach was

2pm that day. Well we split up into two, a lad originally from Ipswich and his mate. My best mate Dave Giedd and myself headed off thumbs out as we walked.

It wasn't to long before we got a lift to Stoke Jcn and then on to a Wolverhampton/Brum Jcn. So far so good we thought till after almost 3 hours it was past mid day before a

good hearted yank picked us up in a cadillac a bit of style we thought.We told the driver we where heading M6/M1 Jump in guys he said then proceeded M6/M5 Foookin tosser I thought kind hearted though. We told him to stop the car so we could get out, only to find ourselves straddled between two motor ways scary I tell ya.

But who should come to the rescue again but PLOD in a XJ12 . One of the kind police men risked life and limb crossing busy lanes to escort us back to the Jag. It took off like a rocket 120 on the clock it hardly felt we where moving the cops took us right back to the Jcn we were stuck at for 3 hours.Lets try again but not after still feeling a bit lively I hopped on on Dave's shoulders to write on the motor way sign Dave & Irish were here. That writing stayed on that sign for a few weeks I guess only to be seen by other niter lads stuck at the Jcn just as we were. It began to sink in how far from home we really were. After a few short lifts we got to Jcn 15 on the M1 it was well into the afternoon by then on the journey across country from Beds to Cambridge it was getting harder to get a lift as day light faded and we weren't far behind it, Thirty some hours was taking it toll on us the, last few caps got dropped in the back of the cop car when it towed us of the slip road at Wigan. We got into St Neots at 11 PM .Only to wait till about 12.30 still with no lift not a cop car in sight when you really needed one, f*ck we must have looked a state no wonder cars carried on. I made the call to walk to Caxton Jib-bit thats only about 5 mile or so on a good day . The road was as black as the ace of spades, night fell like a fookin stone, only the white lines could be seen on the road, We plodded on I began to hallucinate at this stage and was wonder all over the place, as I watched the white road lines raise from the road and people dancing on top of an old garage roof in the distance so I thought just couldn't here wot they were dancing to. The odd car whizzed passed us as we both staggered along the road. 5 mile was taking as long as 15 . There were street lights in the distance and I could see more cars at the cross roads ahead thank God. We sat down at the Cambridge Jcn and waited it was now 6am Monday morning. Our final lift came along and dropped us off about 3 miles from our home's .I hit my bed around 7.15 am and my mum god bless her called me for breakfast and work about 7.20. My mum left for work and I went back to bed I slept for 23hrs, my dad said I never even got up to have a piss, he never seen anything like it . Soon it was the weekend and I started all over again for the next two years or so. Happy day miss spent youth I weighed in at a mean lean 10st 7lbs in those days.No bloody wonder lol.

Atb Irish

That would have done my head in Edited February 25, 2013 by southpaw

[Steve Foran]

Gloucester to Wigan, varied and anything from 5 hours to 24 hours.

Would catch the bus into Gloucester midday and go to the pub in the market to see if there was a lift going, if so, sorted. If not then hitch it out to the M5, lifts from there could take you one exit or many, but always tried to get to get to Frankley services just south of Birmingham, here would often hook up with Angie & Heather from Redditch and travel the rest of the way with them. Every other week, the bloke that drove the Wagon Wheels truck would pull in there and give anyone looking for a lift, one all the way up to the Wigan exit.

Next option en-route would be to get dropped off at Hilton Park, if you weren't to late and catch a lift on the Wolverhampton coach, if not out with the thumb again and onwards. Any of the service stations on the way up, were possible stops to look for lifts, tried not to get dropped off at exits, as you could be stuck there for hours. Always aimed for Knutsford service as most of the cars going to Wigan from the south would pull in there. But down side was everyone else hitching had the same idea, there could be as many 10-15 on the exit trying to get a lift and you needed to find someone going on up the M6, not off into Manchester or the M62.

When it was very busy there, trick was to watch cars arriving with just two people in and catch em just as they arrived and ask for a lift, so to get ahead of everyone else. After that fairly plain sailing into Wigan, but if you got dropped off at the exit, it was still a bloody long walk into town and the Casino. But in the main, if you started at the M5 junction by at least 3pm you could get to Wigan before midnight.

The return was a whole other thing, don't know why, but that often took the whole of sunday, once I got home on monday morning with the milkman. Got washed and changed and straight to work.

Hi Dave

Used to bump into you a lot when I was hitching with Tony Warot back then.Was just thinking of Angie and Heather the other day. Generally we would see you at Hilton Park on the Sunday around midday.

Any idea how Angie and Heather are now?

Regards

Steve

[harpo1]

We heard that a red van was going to the oldies from Willenhall, so we piled down there, me Neil Russell, Mac Pitt, Shelton possibly, and Dave Lewis, didn't recognise anyone there, perhaps the trousers should have told us what we wanted to know, they certaily convey the same message loud and clear these days!!!

"In we get, alright lads what you got for tonight, i got 4 pint can of Bank's mild an me moms done some brawn sandwiches for us all, " well were fron Ashmore Park you dont mind us i said, Phil i think was a bit worse for wear and went spark out with his head on this lads shoulder. But we were all aware of the situation , and went about our business quietly and left them to sleep, it appeared that they seemed a litle bit quiet and got further into the one corner.

al night, got to thhe van they were asleep inside, ok we said were ready now, the driver set off out of Wigan Neil opposite me started coughing and heaving, he grabbed this empty botle and started gobing phlegm in it, i dected out of the corner of my eye more movement inyo that corner, Niel you cant do that i said its alright and i grabbewd some rag, or possibly a towel and wiped it off i detected a move deeper into that corne,

Phil's in the toilet at the services, we are running wild on the car park with the Stoke lot, then Phil collapses into the van , its ok travel sickness i say, i assume they didny worry as they never spoke again. We drag Phil out of the van, cheers lads , you going next month ?

Yeah we am said the spokesman, on the train from Walsall...i never saw any of them again, the nightmare of a journey with us probably had them heading to Hmv for some grebo albums leaving a trail of soggy bread n brawn on the path behind them.

Told you we should of gone from Wolverhampton i said, these lot are wierd round here!!!

[Dave Thorley]

Hi Dave

Used to bump into you a lot when I was hitching with Tony Warot back then.Was just thinking of Angie and Heather the other day. Generally we would see you at Hilton Park on the Sunday around midday.

Any idea how Angie and Heather are now?

Regards

Steve

Not seen either of them in many years.

[Tfk]

Was always good old BR and then sometimes the old Earl Wright [Thumb a ride]...

I found this old train ticket a couple of years ago stuffed in the back of a record paper sleeve inside a copy of James Bynum -Time passes by on Philly City Records....Sleeve reads 75p - Newie-next biggie ?

I had scribbled down on the sleeve -Wigan allnighter Friday {Oldies] Wigan Alnighter Saturday[Newies] -Nottingham alldayer Sunday......another quite weekend up north!!!!! .........i would guess this was a bank holiday weekend ????

ktf tfk

Edited February 26, 2013 by tfk