Best spot to hitchhike out of Galway towards Dublin?

domi_94

Hello everyone,

I just got this website recommended by a tour guide I met on a ferry. I am currently travelling Europe on a tight budget, so I am trying to hitchhike where I can.

Now, the Hitchhiking Wiki talked about a roundabout to hold out your Thumb that apparently doesn't exist anymore in Galway and I am wondering where might be another good location for when I leave tomorrow?

Thanks for your time!

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058349039/best-spot-to-hitchhike-out-of-galway-towards-dublin

I for one salute you for doing what you are doing.

I spent my youth and young manhood hitching the roads of Ireland, offen on that Galway to Dublin route.

Alas with the arrival of motorways and cheap and plentiful bus options the days of seeing many hitchhikers in Ireland are gone.

Don't listen to anyone telling you it's illegal or that you would be expected to pay for petrol, it's not and you aren't.

Many of the roundabouts in Galway have been replaced with junctions so it's no surprise the one you are looking for is no longer there.

There are two places I'd go to try.

The first is Bothar na dTreabh (N6) between the Brialhill junction and the exit for the M6.

The M6 to Dublin starts there so there would be a lot of Dublin bound traffic on that road.

This is a straight road with plenty of space to hitch safely and for anyone to pull in to stop for you.

The other would be the Old Dublin Road, just east of the Skeritt roundabout.

As the name suggests this is the old route to Dublin and it joins the M6 at the same place Bothar na dTreabh (N6) does a few kilometers further on.

You are going to get more local traffic on this road but it may still be an option as traffic for Dublin also take it.

Make a big cardboard sign with DUBLIN on it.

Be prepared to spend all day waiting but once you get a lift you should get all the way to Dublin.

In the old days anyone going to the next town or a few towns further on could give you a lift, and you would get out, find the road to Dublin and start again But now with everything being bypassed you have to rely on someone going the full way to Dublin.

But it's certainly worth a try.

Safe travels and let us know how you get on.

kirving

Hitchhiking isn't common. You could be we waiting a long time, and to be honest would probably be expected to give say €10 towards fuel. You'd also need to find someone driving into the city centre

The Citylink bus is €15, and at least every hour (sometimes every 15 minutes) from Galway coach station, and brings you right into Dublin city centre.

Best of luck with your trip!

bureau2009

Hitchhiking has long been illegal in Ireland. It's very much a thing of the past.

I recommend Galway to Dublin bus or train services. Bus in particular is not too expensive and a reasonably pleasant journey.

SuperBowserWorld

Get the bus Gus. Very cheap and fast service to Dublin.

domi_94

kirving Their website says a ticket is at least 22 Euros. That's sadly not really feasible since I already paid for a ferry and return ticket to visit a friend in Inisheer and splurged a bit on a 14 Euro fish'n chips. I brought groceries from Germany but had to buy some things here, of course.

What's expensive is of course a perspective thing, but mine is a 480 Euros a month for everything perspective, so I definitely need to hitchhike and camp outside ^^

domi_94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122067506#Comment_122067506

I don't mind waiting for up to 4 hours and walking towards the city center for a few more is a nice way to discover the city!

CelticRambler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122067511#Comment_122067511

Hitchhiking is not illegal in Ireland, unless you're trying to do it on a motorway.

But @domi_94 : forget about any car-share traditions you're used to in continental Europe. For various reasons, Irish motorists are very unlikely to stop and give you a lift, especially on the main Galway-Dublin route. You're more likely to be waiting days rather than hours.

If you need a cheap journey, you might be better off asking on Couchsurfing.com or similar.

domi_94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122067670#Comment_122067670

Good idea, I created a couchsurfing event as well. I'll try my luck for at least a few hours, maybe on Dublin road.

But surprisingly even finding a couchsurfing host hasn't been easy here, so let's see..

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122067511#Comment_122067511

Illegal? Under what law?

It was extremely common up until the "vanishing triangle" cases. It almost stopped overnight following those

Cushtie

Yes, please let us know how you get on.

domi_94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122067795#Comment_122067795

Thank you for the positivity and helpful reply. Interesting to know that they removed roundabouts for junctions, I'll edit that in the Hitchhiking Wiki.

I'll find a nice spot by the ocean to sleep and pretty up my sign, then make my way to the road you described tomorrow morning.

Personally, I have had so many interesting encounters and insights into the completely different life of people in countries like Turkey, Iran and Portugal that I'd be sad to not have at least tried for a few hours.

I did hear from a very old lady who took my friend and I, both male, in Spain, that it was so common in her childhood and how sad she is that her kids are afraid to do it nowadays. I wonder if my kids will only know it from movies sometime in the future..

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122067731#Comment_122067731

I remember having a conversation with friends about 15 years ago at this stage. A conversation about hitchhiking came up. A few of them had company cars and they were saying it's absolutely forbidden to pick up a hitchhiker, not sure if it was an insurance or just company policy.

A good portion of drivers especially doing long journeys during office hours would be in a company car.

Plus it's highly unlikely a woman will pull in.

So there goes a fair percentage of potential lifts.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058349039/best-spot-to-hitchhike-out-of-galway-towards-dublin

In my teens I hichhiked into Galway a lot. In later years it became so difficult I gave up.

My advice is dont do it.

Honestly I'd rather give you the money for the fare than advise you to stand at a roundabout for 6 hours.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122068043#Comment_122068043

Where were you starting from ?

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122067562#Comment_122067562

One way, booked on-line is €13.50.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122068181#Comment_122068181

Just outside Loughrea.

LambshankRedemption

Ireland has unfortunately adopted a compensation culture. If anything happens to you, you sue(or threaten to sue) and get compensation. Maria Bailey, a sitting TD, fell off a swing in a nightclub when drunk and sued the nightclub owner for damages.

I think the reason why hitch hiking has died out in Ireland at least, is motorists are worried a person they don't know will trip getting in or out of their car and sue them for damages, and then their car insurance premiums will explode.

XsApollo

I picked up a hitchhiker a few months ago, hadn’t seen one in years.

Picked up around Ennis, I was going to Shannon, he was going on to Tipperary, we were actually having a good chat , he was telling me his story about why he was hitchhiking , in the end I drove him on to Tipperary town.

So it’s still possible.

road_high

used to be very common i remember seeing it as a chap in the late 80s/90s- you’d often see lines of people with cardboard thumbing outside towns. More innocent times and also people had far less money. You’d see the very odd one now usually backpackers on a very tight budget like the OP.

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058349039/best-spot-to-hitchhike-out-of-galway-towards-dublin

The train to Dublin is from 16 euro.

domi_94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122068347#Comment_122068347

Interesting. Sounds like an explanation. I heard that kind of thing happening in China where you might be liable for any damage on other people, so even if they see someone seriously hurt, they wouldn't help, in case the hurt person makes up a reason to sue them later. A really sad state of affairs if that's where we are headed in society, to be honest.

@Geuze I saw that. But just to do the maths, if I took one train like that every day, I'd have blown my budget in a month, without a penny for food left. And I'm already eating just bread cheese and apples mostly. I can spend money like that in the absolute worst case scenario only. Thank you anyways for the well meant tip!

I'm optimistic though, found a decent camp spot and will update you guys on how it goes tomorrow. Good night everyone :)

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122068609#Comment_122068609

There is frost forecast over the night so I hope you have a warm sleeping bag.

tohaltuwi

Long time ago I used to pick up hitchhikers when driving around Galway, but more particularly remote roads of Connemara. I’m female but stuck with female pax. Last time I picked up a male pedestrian, who wasn’t even thumbing, was a brightly dressed guy on a Scottish island in a very remote area. Weather was appalling and I reckoned I was safe, turned out to be a guy who had come in his own yacht and had been to explore the old remote heritage site I had come from. He seemed almost nervous of me inviting him into my hire car 🤣

Nowadays, in Ireland, I would be nervous of giving any complete stranger a lift, but I would still do it on an island in the right circumstances, eg someone is bad weather heading towards a then/village.

tohaltuwi

looking through safer and stoppable spots in Galway, towards Dublin, overall best spot I can see on Google maps is probably this…

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122068347#Comment_122068347

Compo culture always existed, I recall people giving out about compo culture when I was hitching around the country in the early 1990s.

The road network has affected long distance hitchhiking.

Back in the day going from Dublin to Galway you got the Number 66 bus out to Maynooth and started from there.

Now there's no natural starting point if you were going from Dublin to Galway

Plus student car ownership has gone through the roof.

As students in the early 90s none of our crowd had cars, so hitching was a way to get around.

Now loads of students have cars and don't need to hitch.

Plus there are far more frequent and comfortable bus options between cities and even between small towns.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122068347#Comment_122068347

This isn't true. Nobody has ever successfully sued a driver because they tripped getting in or out of a car in Ireland. If they did, they wouldn't be personally sued, the insurance company would and they've cracked down on fraudulent claims anyway… but it never happens. The Maria Bailey case is a few years old & was dropped & she didn't get a penny & is laughing stock now so it's irrelevant.

The main reason for the decline in hitch-hiking is our massively improved motorway system. More advanced and automated than Portugal, Spain, Iran or Turkey. Very safe but wholly unsuitable for slowing, stopping & illegal to hitch on. Plus we've embraced very expensive high powered, comfortable & luxurious cars here, some people would be horrified at the thought of strangers sharing their space & car pooling is a thing of the past outside the cities and towns.

I pick up hitch-hikers. Avoid motorways, stick to toll free roads.

And… if you're bivouacking be careful. I've bivouaced all over the country. Ireland is different to the rest of Europe, even England. You'll need high end gear, Ireland is incredibly wet and you can't just bivy anywhere, lowlands are wet, high lands are farmed, forests are hard to come by and there's little commonage, landowners are fussy and boglands are messy, wet and have their own challenges. Do your research and enjoy!! There's still a lot of magic left and places to enjoy!

LambshankRedemption

I gave my opinion on why cars nolonger pick up Hitchhikers. It was an opinion, I didn't proclaim it as fact.

I said that I gave up hitchhiking in my late teen's because it simply wasn't happening anymore. People were not picking up.

I wasn't doing Galway to Dublin I was doing 15 miles outside of Galway city on the old Dublin Road to Galway city. Even then it was hit and miss where they might let you off if you ever got one.

I have bivouack'ed in various places around Ireland too and yes you need good stuff and be prepared. I wouldnt fancy doing it tonight.

tohaltuwi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122068801#Comment_122068801

I actually know of a case where somebody tripped getting out of a car of a friend of mine and sued. Recently too. Got compo and caused a lot of misery along the way.

KaneToad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122068609#Comment_122068609

How are you getting on today?

Hopefully motoring towards Dublin. My thoughts on hitchhiking - having been the hitcher and the driver - is that your appearance is key to getting a lift.

If you are a sole male, the odds are stacked against you. Most drivers willing to take hitchhikers will be male - most of whom won't be as interested in taking a stranger male on a 2hr car journey. There will be a tiny part of their brain telling them that another male might be a physical threat to them but really, they'd rather chat with a young female instead.

Sole male hitchers are much better off trying to get a lift at a petrol station near the M6. It gives you the opportunity to speak to the driver and display that you're not a murderer and that you are just a normal person.

tohaltuwi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122069612#Comment_122069612

that sounds very sensible, getting to have a chat with your potential driver.

I’m interested in this thread as a female driver who will be soon hiring a car in the Hebrides where public transport is thin on the ground and short-distance hitch-hiking is more common, or at least people set out to walk a distance and the weather turns foul and you do the de ent thing and offer a lift. I would have no problem giving anybody on these islands a lift as I have done before. It’s a several hour boat journey or an hour’s flight to reach here, so not the destination chosen by or inhabited by the typical axe murderer, though there’s always the remote and unlikely possibility of somebody struck by a severe psychosis.

We don’t have these kind of islands in Ireland and I’d be very nervous picking up a male, unless he were elderly or disabled. However I might consider giving a guy a lift if I got chatting to him first and had a chance to size up his physical danger potential. It’s simply that a male could easily overpower me with muscular strength if he were so intentioned and statistically those with bad intentions actively seek out such opportunities.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122069585#Comment_122069585

I'd say they're having you on. Very unlikely and unbelievable story.

tohaltuwi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122070668#Comment_122070668

Court case is published. I’m not linking to it here because it’s a friend. Sued for mental trauma some time later, there were no injuries.

thebiglad

There's probably more substance than tripping getting out of the car such as pulled away too soon etc as to receive compo would require a negligent act and simply exiting a stationary car, its hard to see how a driver could be negligent. in certain european countries with strict liability on motor vehicles it could be a different case entirely but their damages are way lower as is, suprisingly, inclination to claim. Rideshare seems to be more popular there too though.

suvigirl

We always hitch hiked everywhere as teenagers, late 80s early 90s. All hours of the day and night. But no young person had a car then!

Also, I remember hitching seemed to die around the times women were going missing, the last time I did was in 94, Going to the Dublin mountains and a complete weirdo picked me up, was clearly trying to.frighten me. Now whether he was trying to teach me a lesson, or he was just in fact, a weirdo, that was the end of thumbing for me.

domi_94

So, sitting at the airport now (13 Euro for a one-way trip btw, awesome), I can tell the rest of my experience. It turned out way different than I expected to be honest.

No idea if this board is being indexed, but my tip for future campers would be: around Galway, by Salthill, there are public changing rooms everywhere, open to the public. Find one that doesn't smell like piss and you'll be safe from rain and wind. It was still a little cold tonight with just the sleeping bag and small inflatable mattress, but absolutely doable. Met a nice swimming instructor in the morning who encouraged me to go to Dublin road as well. Thanks go out to a random Finish woman I met who told me about this.

I talked to a bus driver and he ended up taking me for free to near that road. I put my things down around 8am, and 5 minutes later, a curious girl from Nigeria came up to me, asking if I did hitchhiking for the experience, or because of money issues. I said it's mostly the latter in Ireland at least, and she actually insisted on buying me a bus ticket. There was some time still so we went to her house, had a cup of tea, chatted about life and in the end, she said a little prayer for me (I'm not religious, but what a nice gesture still). I invited her to couchsurf at mine in Berlin if I am not homeless at that time, and made my merry way onwards, none the wiser about hitchhiking in Ireland. Thank you again so much if you read this!

I spent the day at Beatty's, walking to an already closed museum and then walking to the airport. Good time in Dublin, I guess. Taking some Irish Black Pudding with me, in case I'll find a frying pan somewhere.

To conclude: people I met in real life were optimistic about hitchhiking, people online the opposite. I guess in the end it will only depend on the individual, and I met some nice ones on my short time here in Ireland :)

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122070712#Comment_122070712

Send it to me by private message. I won't publish it but I'll eat my words.

tohaltuwi

that was a nice conclusion of O0’s trip, met some nice people! I will definitely pick hitchhikers up on the Scottish island 😃