Ken Welsh’ “Hitch-hiker’s Guide to Europe”

In 1971, Pan Books published the first edition of Ken Welsh’ “Hitch-hikers Guide to Europe”, one of, at the time, several guidebooks for hitchhikers. As might more-or-less be expected, it contained chapters like “How to hitch”, “What it will cost and how to get it cheaper”, “What to take”, “How to survive”, “Working in Europe”, and even some about practicalities, like “Photography”, “Weights and measures“, and “Language” (with the basics in French, German, Spanish, and Italian).

Of course, it also included information about the various countries in Europe, subdivided in “The British Isles and Ireland”, “Europe”, “Scandinavia and Finland” (as if Finland isn’t part of Scandinavia…), “The Communist countries”. It even looked beyond Europe to “Morocco and northern Africa” and “Turkey and the Middle-East”.

After the introduction, Ken invited his readers, to

“If you find a deal in eating or sleeping in any of the major cities covered in Hitch-Hiker’s Guide, you are invited to send your find to me care of the publishers. Your hint and credit will be included in a special section in subsequent editions of the book.”

and in the next 16 editions, the 17th and last rolling off the press in 1996, hundreds of reader-suggested hints were included. But just before the half-way point, Ken had included something in…

The 7th (1979-80) edition

namely this section:

Hitching Records!

The world record for hitch-hiking (as recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records) is claimed by Devon Smith who, from 1947 to 1971, thumbed 291,000 miles (468,320 km).

Are there aspirants for the title amongst Hitcher’s Guide readers ? If so, write to me (see address above) briefly detailing your travels and enclosing letters from three different people willing to back your claim.

In the next edition I’d like to establish records for:

  1. Longest hitch in one vehicle (excluding airplanes and ships).
  2. Most miles hitched in any twelve month period.
  3. Most miles hitched in any twenty-four hour period.
  4. Slowest hitch between two points (include distance, time and brief reason for slowness).

Finally, I’d like to hear from people who’ve travelled in or on strange vehicles or animals. Who has thumbed the world’s craziest lift? No testimonies needed for these last five categories. Just tell me the facts. No prizes, either, just brief glory.

The first three are pretty sensible, and as far as the “any … period” entries are concerned, they simply mean that 20 March to 19 March of the next year is OK, just as 12:34 on day 1 to 12:34 on day 2.

As for the other two? Prino would not like to be the hitcher who grows a beard (or, for women, carries a child to full term) getting from “A” to “B” and how does one qualify, let alone quantify, “crazy”?

Anyway, the entries below list all the records, from the 8th to the 17th edition. The first edition Prino bought was the 9th, he never bought the 10th, but he did buy the last six. The missing data from the 8th and 10th editions, as well as the quoted text above from the 7th edition was provided to him by a very helpful member of staff of the British Library which seems to have a collection of all of them.

The winners from the 8th (1981-2) edition

  1. (Longest hitch in one vehicle) Tom Benson, Macclesfield, England. 510 miles (821 km) in a hatch-back Citroën from Mondsee, to Epen [Eupen(?)], Belgium, on 12 September 1979, which helped him to get from Vienna to Manchester in 70 hours flat! [1][2]
  2. (Most miles in any 12 month period) Len Singleton, Akron, Ohio, USA. 9,500 miles (‘give or take 200’) (15,289 km) between October 1979 and February 1980, as far north as Karesuando, Sweden, and as far south and east as Denia, Libya!
  3. (Most miles in any 24 hour period) John Jarman, Coventry, England and Christopher Glaser, Ipswich, England. 600 miles-plus (966 km) in ten hours, and with only two lifts, between Zeebrugge ferry station, Belgium, and Munich, Germany! [3][4]
  4. and 5. (Slowest hitch and world’s craziest lift) Both go to The Wolf, London, England. The Wolf hitched a half mile (0.8 km) ride on back of an elephant in a travelling circus in the south of Spain! ‘Great fun’, he writes, ‘but never again.’
Notes to the 1981-2 records

[1]^ The real winner should most likely have been Ilmar Island, who’s epic 1979 trip from Key West to Fairbanks included a ride of 825 miles (1,328 km).

[2]^ Prino only started his recorded hitchhiking career in 1980, and never saw the 7th or 8th editions of the Guide. What if he had? If it hadn’t been for Ilmar Island, the first record might have been his, on 6/7 July 1980 he got a ride by the late Norwegian football international Roger Albertsen, which took him from Varberg in Sweden to De Bilt in the Netherlands, a distance of 574.1 miles (924.0 km).

[3]^ For this record, the real winner should also have been Ilmar Island, as his 5,200 mile (8,369 km) trip in just five days, 20 hours and 52 minutes, implies an average 24-hour distance of 886 miles (1,426 km)!

[4]^ Prino’s ride with Roger Albertsen was preceded (within the same 24 hours) by two short rides totalling 36 miles (59 km), which means that in the absence of Ilmar Island, he might also have captured the third record with a distance of 611 miles (983 km).

The winners from the 9th (1983-4) edition

  1. (Longest hitch in one vehicle) David Donkin, Leeds, UK. Approximately 3,000 miles (4,828 km) in a VW van driven by two Aussies through Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany. ‘Took 12 days,’ writes David, ‘and we only ran off the road once!’ [1]
    Honourable mentions go to John Riordan[2], Vinderup, Denmark, for covering about 2,000 miles (3,219 km) from Nova Scotia, Canada, to Toronto, in a station wagon with two Canadian servicemen, and to Phil Reeve, Godmanchester, UK, who covered 1,700 miles (2,736 km) in thirty-six hours between Kingman, Arizona, USA and Decatur, Illinois.
  2. (Most miles in any twelve-month period) Alan Barlow, Cheadle, UK, who covered 15,700 miles (25,267 km), heading through Munich to Sweden as far as Kiruna, then home, then to Sicily and back to Munich, down to Italy again, along the Yugoslav coast to Greece and then back to England.
    Runner-up is Douglas Rodericks[3], London, UK, who, give or take a couple of hundred miles, covered 13,800 miles (22,209 km), travelling from London up to Scandinavia, back through much of Europe, across to northern Africa, down through the Sahara to Niger and south-east as far as Malawi. Whew!
  3. (Most miles in any twenty-four-hour period) A walkover to Ashok Gupta, Delhi, India. 1,200 miles (1,931 km) from Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, to 100 miles east of Thunder Bay, Ontario.
  4. (Slowest hitch between two points) No one has beaten – if that’s the word – last year’s record, held by The Wolf, London, UK. The Wolf hitched a half-mile ride on the back of an elephant in a travelling circus in the south of Spain.
  5. (World’s craziest lift) How do you measure crazy? John Riordan, Vinderup, Denmark, rode with a body in Vermont, USA. The coroner was driving it to the morgue for an autopsy. Douglas Rodericks, London, UK and Ylva Orrevall[4], Stockholm, Sweden were picked up by an Israeli army tank along the Jordanian border. Peter Brennan, Australia, spent two days and a night, not to mention a couple of thousand miles, in the cabin of a truck being transported by a bigger truck in north-west Australia because the driver didn’t want to talk to anyone!
Notes to the 1983-4 records

[1]^ Can you really call a 12-day trip a ride?

[2]^ Amazingly, John Riordan still lives in Vinderup in Denmark. Prino found him on LinkedIn.

[3]^ According to Ylva Orreval, Douglas Rodericks died in a car-crash in South-Africa in 1981, so it’s somewhat of a mystery as to how this entry could ever have appeared, as Ylva wrote to me that “I have no idea how this information got the book you cited”.

[4]^ Ylva Orreval still lives and works in Stockholm, Prino also found her on LinkedIn. As for the record, she informed me that she and Douglas Rodericks both stayed as volunteers in a kibbutz in Israel in 1978(!) and that “we hitchhiked a lot, like most of the other volunteers. I do remember we all hitchhiking a lot with army vehicles but I can not recall getting a lift with a tank. I can only recall vehicles like this type of canvas covered vehicles that had benches under the canvas cover.”

The winners from the 10th (1985-6) edition

Ken Welsh starts with a disclaimer:
Last year’s winners in categories 1, 2, 3 were not beaten. I have added this years best efforts to the ‘honourable mentions’:

  1. (Longest hitch in one vehicle) David Donkin, Leeds, UK, is still the winner in this category. He covered approximately 3,000 miles in a VW van, driven by two Aussies, through northern Europe, taking 12 days.
    Honourable mentions go to Joker, Bærum, Norway, who hitched about 2,000 miles (3,219 km) in a German car from Chiclana (near Jerez in south-west Spain) to Munich, taking three days, and to Graham Hopkinson, Gateshead, UK, whose longest single lift in Canada was 1,750 miles (2,816 km) between Ottawa and Regina.
  2. (Most miles in any 12-month period) Nobody has yet beaten Alan Barlow, Cheadle, England, who zigzagged 15,700 miles from northern Sweden to Sicily and Greece and back to the UK.
  3. (Most miles in any 24-hour period) The record is still 1,200 miles from Medicine Hat, in Alberta, Canada, to east of Thunder Bay, Ontario, held by Ashok Gupta, Delhi, India.
  4. (Slowest hitch between two points) Ruth Cleece, Preston, Lancashire, England, rolls to victory. She hitched a lift on a steamroller in St Ives. A half-mile (0.8 km) journey uphill took about 45 minutes! [1]
  5. (World’s craziest lift) Plenty of challengers. Two of the zaniest: Stephen Morgan, Poole, Dorset, England, hitched a lift on the back of a bike pedalled by a Dutch schoolgirl and pulled his luggage behind on a shopping trolley. They covered 11 miles (18 km) to Meerkerk in Holland. And Chris Schelin, Kauniainen, Finland, rode with a bunch of Italian farmers in a truck with no brakes, horn, signals or lights. ‘Every time we came to an intersection or a curve, we all had to honk like geese. When we turned, the honking was accompanied by everybody pointing right or left. And when it got dark everybody shone flashlights on the road ahead.’
    Honourable mention for Ian Gunn, Ashburton, Victoria, Australia, who was given a lift in a bloodstained riot truck in Taumarunu, New Zealand.
Notes to the 1985-6 records

[1]^ Ken Welsh never mentioned the time it took “the Wolf” to hitch his half-mile (0.8 km) ride on the back of the elephant…

The winners from the 11th (1988-9) edition

Ken Welsh again starts with a disclaimer:
Despite a record number of entries, the last edition’s winner in category 1 was not beaten. As before, I have added this year’s best efforts to the ‘honourable mentions’.

  1. (Longest hitch in one vehicle) The winner in this category is still David Donkin, Leeds, UK. David covered approximately 3,000 miles in a VW van driven by two Aussies, through northern Europe taking 12 days.
    Honourable mentions must go to David Willcose of Wolverhampton, UK, who hitched 1,100 miles (1,770 km) in a German car from Greece near the Yugoslavian border to Stuttgart, taking just 18 hours. Also to Paul Thompson, Western Australia, who managed a lift from Orange, through Spain to Estoril, a total of 1,187 miles (1,910 km).
  2. (Most miles in any 12-month period) Mike Wakefield of Retford, Nottingham, UK, hitched a staggering 30,500 miles (49,085 km) covering most of East and West Europe.
  3. (Most miles in any 24-hour period) This record, held by Ashok Gupta for several editions, has finally been beaten by Robert Prins of De Bilt, Netherlands. Robert hitched an incredible 1,297 miles (2,088 km), from 30 km. south of Nis in Yugoslavia to 2 km. east of De Bilt in Holland in just 20 hrs. 47 mins! [1]
  4. (Slowest hitch between two points) The half-mile journey taking 45 minutes by Ruth Cleece, Preston, Lancashire, UK, on a steam-roller is still tops, but honourable mention must go to William Innes, Aberdeen, Scotland, who bagged a lift on a milkfloat on ‘collection’ day and took 4½ hours to travel 2 miles (3.2 km) from North London to the start of the M1. [2]
  5. (World’s craziest lift) Crebb of Birmingham, UK, was picked up by two cyclists in Lahore, Pakistan. Larry of Snaresbrook, London, writes: ‘I got a lift from a gypsy woman driving a Volkswagen with no windscreen wipers and no back window. Apparently she had just bought it for £5. In the back was an alsatian bitch that had just given birth. It then started to rain and we all got drenched.’
Notes to the 1988-9 records

[1]^ The distance was covered between 27 June 1986 @ 06:05, and 28 June 1986 @ 02:52, and was made up of the 893.5 miles (1,438 km) second, after-sleep, part, from around 30 km south of Nis in the old Yugoslavia, of a 1,377.68 miles (2,217 km) ride with a German woman that had started in Thiva, north of Athens the day before. That part was followed by a 252.8 miles (406.9 km) (in a mere 2h30m) ride in a VW Golf GTI with another woman, a 147.9 miles (238.0 km) ride, and ended with a short 3.2 miles (5.1 km) ride.

[2]^ Two miles in 4½ hours seems to be significantly slower than half-a-mile in 45 minutes…

The winners from the 12th (1991) edition[1]

  1. (Longest hitch in one vehicle) The new winner in this category is L.J. Gordon of Western Australia, who started from Whitepark Bay Youth Hostel in Northern Ireland, where four Americans in a Combi Van gave him a lift through Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, France, Andorra and into Spain. They covered an astonishing 4,441.9 miles[2] (7,149 km) before parting company.
    Honourable mention must go to Robert Prins of De Bilt, Netherlands. Robert hitched from Evzoni on the Greek-Yugoslav border to the autobahn Raststätte Siegburg near Cologne, a distance of 1,311 miles (2,110.6 km) in just over 20 hours. [3]
  2. (Most miles in any 12-month period) Mike Wakefield of Retford, Nottingham, UK, hitched a staggering 30,500 miles covering most of East and West Europe.
  3. (Most miles in any 24-hour period) The same Robert Prins of De Bilt, Netherlands, mentioned with honours in category 1 has more amazingly broken his own record by hitching another three lifts within the same 24-hour period. He clocked up another 129 miles (207.8 km), making a total for the record of 1,440.6 miles (2,318.4 km).[4]
  4. (Slowest hitch between two points) The half-mile journey taking 45 minutes by Ruth Cleece, Preston, Lancashire, UK, on a steam-roller is still tops, but honourable mention must go to William Innes, Aberdeen, Scotland, who bagged a lift on a milkfloat on ‘collection’ day and took 4½ hours to travel 2 miles from North London to the start of the M1.
  5. (World’s craziest lift) Crebb of Birmingham, UK, was picked up by two cyclists in Lahore, Pakistan. Larry of Snaresbrook, London, writes: ‘I got a lift from a gypsy woman driving a Volkswagen with no windscreen wipers and no back window. Apparently she had just bought it for £5. In the back was an alsatian bitch that had just given birth. It then started to rain and we all got drenched.’
Notes to the 1991 records

[1]^ This time Ken Welsh didn’t add a disclaimer, despite the fact that the second, and last two records had not changed, which, especially for the “World’s craziest lift”, seems a bit crazy…

[2]^ Rightly or wrongly, Prino has some doubts about the quoted distance, and it could be that distance of 4,441.9 miles was in fact 4,441.9 km (2,760.1 miles), something that this artificial route on Google Maps seems to bear out. Then again, they might have been zig-zagging a lot more…

[3]^ More details about this ride can be found at Prino’s 24-hour record.

[4]^ More details about the record can be found at Prino’s 24-hour record.

The winners from the 13th (1992) edition[1]

  1. (Longest hitch in one vehicle) The new winner in this category is L.J. Gordon of Western Australia, who started from Whitepark Bay Youth Hostel in Northern Ireland, where four Americans in a Combi Van gave him a lift through Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, France, Andorra and into Spain. They covered an astonishing 4,441.9 miles before parting company.
    Honourable mention must go to Robert Prins of De Bilt, Netherlands. Robert hitched from Platamon in Greece to Driebergen in the Netherlands, 1,555 miles (2,502.9 km). [2]
  2. (Most miles in any 12-month period) Mike Wakefield of Retford, Nottingham, UK, hitched a staggering 30,500 miles covering most of East and West Europe.
  3. (Most miles in any 24-hour period) The same Robert Prins of De Bilt, Netherlands, mentioned with honours in category 1 has more amazingly broken his own record by hitching another three lifts within the same 24-hour period. He clocked up another 129 miles, making a total for the record of 1,440.6 miles.
  4. (Slowest hitch between two points) The half-mile journey taking 45 minutes by Ruth Cleece, Preston, Lancashire, UK, on a steam-roller is still tops, but honourable mention must go to William Innes, Aberdeen, Scotland, who bagged a lift on a milkfloat on ‘collection’ day and took 4½ hours to travel 2 miles from North London to the start of the M1.
  5. (World’s craziest lift) Dick of Stourbridge, West Midlands, got a lift in an amphibious troop carrier in Zimbabwe.
Notes to the 1992 records

[1]^ This time Ken, and/or his editor(s), made a complete mess of things, again some records didn’t change, and the combination of the “Longest hitch in one vehicle” where a certain Robert Prins got another ‘honourable mention’, and the “Most miles in any 24-hour period” no longer makes any sense!

[2]^ The ride, with a Dutch guy, Lucien Steenkist, and his dog, started on 13 August 1990 @ 16:32, and ended on 15 August 1990 @12:54. During the first day only Lucien drove, but when Prino confirmed that he had a driving license during breakfast on the second day, Lucien and Prino took turns driving for the rest of the ride and, based only on average speeds and noted times of driver-changes, Prino may have driven around 1,100 km (680 miles).

The winners from the 14th (1993) edition[1]

Notes to the 1993 records

[1]^ The records for this edition were completely unchanged when compared to those in the previous, 13th, edition.

The winners from the 15th (1994) edition[1]

Notes to the 1994 records

[1]^ The records for this edition were completely unchanged when compared to those in the previous two, the 13th and 14th, editions.

The winners from the 16th (1995) edition[1]

Notes to the 1995 records

[1]^ The records for this edition were completely unchanged when compared to those in the previous three, the 13th, 14th, and 15th, editions.

The winners from the 17th (1996) edition[1]

  1. (Most miles in any 24-hour period) Fred Roberts[2] of Clapham in London raced[3] a friend[4] from Prague to London[5] in just under 24 hours, door to door. We decided to include this amazing hitch even though he cheated a little: Fred paid £10[6] for a ferry to Calais.[7]
Notes to the 1996 records

[1]^ Only the changed “record” was include above, the other four records remained unchanged.

[2]^ Fred Roberts was the driver…

[3]^ In private correspondence with Robert Prins, Ken Welsh had always declined adding a record for “Fastest ride”…

[4]^ The unknown friend didn’t hitchhike…

[5]^ The distance from Prague to London (centre to centre) is around 790 miles (1,271 km), rather a lot less than the distance of the previous record, 1,440.6 miles (2,318.4 km)…

[6]^ Cheating? Why would someone driving from Prague to London not have to pay for a ferry…

[7]^ …and finally, nailing the total incompetence of Katie Wood, who had, starting with the 15th edition, somehow managed to get her name on the cover, “Why the effing hell would someone pay for a ferry to Calais when he’s driving from Prague to London…

Free counters!