An adventurous trio are hitchhiking nearly 1,500 miles from Sheffield to Serbia, in a bid to raise money for local and international charities. 

Robin Hibbs, 23,  is taking on the challenge to Serbia’s capital Belgrade, as part of a challenge organised by the University of Sheffield’s Charity hitchhiking society known as “Bummit”. 

The challenge is in aid of four different charities; City Of Sanctuary, Sheffield Wednesday Community Programme, Mums United, Roundabout, and Yucom, a Serbian Charity. 

Robin is completing the challenge with his teammates Libby Evans, 20, and Rebecca Maguire, 19, and said: “I want to take part in the challenge because it’s something out of my comfort zone, and we’re raising money for five wonderful charities.” 

“Bummit” is the world’s largest student organised hitchhiking group, having raised over £1.3 million since it was founded in 2003, and is a part of the University’s “Giving and Raising” society. 

The challenge will be over the course of seven days, between the 28th March and 5th April, with over 60 people doing the challenge in total.  Robin added that: “The goal is not to spend any money other than the channel crossing fee, and rely on the kindness of strangers to get us across Europe.”

The students are given emergency contact details through the society, and a safety briefing before the challenge. 

The society is planning on raising £40,000 for all 5 charities combined, with the donations being split equally between the 4 Sheffield based charities, and the single Serbian charity. 

The group organises 2 main hitchhiking challenges a year, one in England, known as the “Baby Bummit” and one that ends at a destination in Europe, known as the “Big Bummit”.

The 3rd year student was inspired to complete the challenge by the BBC show “Race Across The World”, and stated that: “I feel like I’m doing my own version.” He added “I’m most excited to see the wonderful and varied scenery of mainland Europe.” 

The 23 year old added: “I think the hardest part of the challenge will be the language barrier. Google translate is going to be my best friend I think!”. 

The participants have raised £5000 so far, with a total of 367 donations. Robin’s team have raised £315 so far, with just under a month to go until the challenge begins. 

Robin said: “We’ll be posting regular updates on my teams instagram page @bummitwith.blr, so you can follow along!

Donations to the challenge can be made to: https://givestar.io/gs/robins-charity-hitchhike-to-belgrade