I've written about this in the hitchhiking thread before...

Anyway, today (Friday) evening I'll be leaving to Gdansk for the 10th Hitch-hiking competition.
Yesterday I learnt that 154 teams (308 people) are going to be participating. That's really a huge amount; two years ago last time I took part it was 40-something teams.
And the distance is also the greatest ever. From Gdansk in northern Poland to Split, sothern Croatia. Around 1300km in a straight line (not that anyone will be travelling in a straight line).
And apparently for the first time there are teams from outside Poland participating. People are coming from Germany and Latvia.

The competition starts Saturday 12.00 noon. First contestants are expected to arrive to the finish line Monday morning.

Wow, I'm really excited. This is going to be great. Worst of all will probably be at the start when more than 300 people are trying to leave the city at once.

Wish me luck!

(map below shows the start and finish lines)
http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/8...plitmaptv8.jpg
Map taken from wikipedia.

[ 04-26-2007, 07:08 PM: Message edited by: ZFR ]

You're going to walk 1300 kms? You must be nuts. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Bet he's got beer to keep him company. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Good Luck ZFR! [img]smile.gif[/img] Wow, that's a long walk. Owww just thinking about it LOL.

Good luck! Hope you don't have to walk the whole way...

Wow! [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img] That's a heckuva long trek!

Here's hoping you find a ride quick...

Good luck mate! That's a very very long walk...

Sounds like a fun competition! Good luck! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Good luck, may all the benevolent drivers be on your roads.

enjoy and good luck mate!

Team up with a hottie, mate! :D

Wow, that's quite a journey. I wonder which route he'll be taking.

Good luck. You're going to need it.

Good luck! Don't get in a car with anyone with bloodstains on them or who is wearing a ski mask

I'm back.

After 71 hours on the road, and using 21 cars, we reached Siofok in Hungary, then turned back home...

We were in Siofolk by Tueasday 11am. We had a guy who said he could drop us to the Croatian border but he was leaving at 10pm at night. And the closing ceremony in Split was to take place on Wednesday 9am. Meaning we would have some 9 hours to reach Split from the Croatian border. Not likely. We had to call it quits and so hitchhiked a car back to Budapest from where we reached home by train.
From the Croatian border to Split it is one uninterrupted highway, so we would have made it there by Wednesday afternoon or evening. But since the closing ceremony was by 9 am, there was no point in continuing.

Compared to my previous participations in the tournament...

3 years ago from Gdansk to Lviv (630km) - made it in 24 hours using 6 cars
2 years ago from Gdansk to Bratislava (700km)- made it in 29 hours using 9 cars

... This year from Gdansk to Split (1300km) - made it only up to Siofolk in 71 hours using 21 cars. Not too good :(

I'm really sad we couldn't make it [img]graemlins/verysad.gif[/img] And at times everything looked so promising...

Apparently the winners made it in 23 and a half hours ( [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img] lucky bastards must've caught a car straight from Poland to Croatia) and out of 154 teams only aroung 50 made it to Split by Monday evening.

If anyone is interested I might post some more details of how my journey went.

Did you meet any weirdos? Swingers? Murderers? Hippies? Do tell.

Map of Hungary.

9 hours to reach Split? Sorry, but you could have made it. With a bit of luck, true, but you'd get to... party, and stuff! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

9 *night* hours. from 12 midnight to 9 am. No chance of making it.

Had it been like from 10am to 7 pm, then it's a different matter.