The lads left the next day and Cathy and I went with them into the city for a wander around.
We spent a couple of nights in the campsite before hitching a lift towards Brussels. Unfortunately we ended up in the city of Antwerp and spent a couple of hours walking to the outskirts of the city to get another lift. This hitch-hiking business was turning out to be exhausting. Lesson learned – do not get taken into a city centre.
We eventually managed to attract the attention of a couple of friendly young French men in a Citroën who kindly took us to Brussels and even put us on the road to Liege. They offered to take us to Paris with them, but our hearts were set on Greece so we declined.
It was hot and dusty standing by the roadside, but within half an hour we got a lift with a German lorry driver all the way to Cologne. He didn’t speak any English but was keen to talk to us about English football teams in German! Before it turned dark he let us out at a Rasthof, a German motorway service station where we quickly picked up a lift from a young German guy to a campsite near Porz which was quite a long way from the autobahn. Still we did need to sleep.
The next day we woke early and set off for the autobahn. We had to walk about 8 miles to reach it and were hot and tired by the time we got there. We also got stopped by the police who tried to enforce an on the spot fine for hitchhiking, but as we had no German currency they let us off, but told us to move elsewhere. We eventually got a lift to a place where we were told it would be easier to hitch a lift. We did. Almost immediately from a smart looking male driving a sports car. It seemed he was expecting more from us than we were willing to give, so he let us out right in the middle of the autobahn. We were thinking that the police wouldn’t be quite as understanding this time.
In desperation as it was getting late we hitched back towards Aachen and got out opposite the Rasthof where we had been the night before! Believe it or not we actually ran across the autobahn to reach the other side where we collapsed in a fit of giggles. It’s a good job the police weren’t around to witness that! What a day!
The impression was at that time that a solo female backpacker gets offered the most lifts (not without its dangers I can say from experience), two females, a male and female pair, a solo male and then two males. You definitely needed to keep your wits about you whoever you were.
TRAVEL WORDS 
My husband and a male friend backpacked all over Europe for year back in the late 70s and agrees that the hitchhiking seemed to work that way. I enjoy reading about your exploits. Cheers.
It’s a long way to Greece! You’d have been horrified at your daughter doing some of this? But we’re bullet proof when we’re young… or think we are. Keep on rolling, Jude! xx
A wonderful but scary journey Jude
My goodness, Jude! I’m amazed – and thankful – you survived. The more I read, the more I realise how tame my youth was.