To walk on nearby moorland as my daily exercise with the kids? (COVID19)

[Krisskrosskiss]

I have seen this drone footage of people going on 'unnecessary' walks shared by the police... and its given me the fear! I dont understand what the people are doing wrong? I thought you were allowed out for exercise once a day? I've been going out for a walk with my kids every day.... we live quite rurally and altho there is a town within walking distance... the other way there is open moorland... I've been avoiding the town and walking up onto the moors...is this wrong or something? I asked on facebook but just got shouted at to 'stay home'... which isnt helpful... I do not have a garden and I have two children under four... if this is going on for months I am going to need to take them for walks. I wouldve thought its safer to go up to the moors rather than down into the town? The government guidlines seem to say its allowed but the police seem to be acting like it's not allowed....

They are really asking us to cut down on driving unless going to buy essential supplies. It's to minimise accidents. I'm sure my car's battery will die, I need to rev it every day I think, just to be on the safe side.

I don't get the 'don't drive to exercise' thing.

Because the more people travel, the more it spreads. Driving across town to the nature reserve isn't the same as driving 15 miles to the beach, but seeing as too many people are taking the piss, it's probably easier to just put a blanket ban on it.

Around here, the carparks at the beach and nature reserve have been closed off, so if you can't walk there, you can't go.

I've been doing similar walks within walking distance of my house. I find being out and able to see water in particular really calms my anxiety......... I've filled my house to plants to help. In fact when everyone else was out panic buying toilet roll and pasta I was panic buying plants.

And the problem with driving to different areas is if everyone flocks there it swamps that particular area. If we stick to our areas it levels it out........ The only ones that really need to do that are people who live in massive housing estates with lots of tower blocks due to the overly high number of people.

The police do have drone footage but as response to criticism they inspector said they were checking registrations and some people had clearly driven 2 or 3 hours to get there. That is clearly different from driving 5 minutes to a nearby quiet open safe place.

If they said driving short distances was ok you would still get people saying 'what's a 'short' distance?'

If it said 3 miles, you'd get 'my park is 3.5 miles away can I go?'

The rules will always be more draconian than will be 'enforced' in an unprecedented situation like this. Most police and people in charge will use discretion and persuasion before getting punitive. I suspect even fines are unlikely to be handed out for single offenses except where the perpetrator becomes aggressive and refuses to follow advice.

Which is not to say we shouldn't all follow the rules.

Same here op. In one direction it’s a city - in the other direction is local rural walks.

I’m also worried about being spotted by a drone doing a standard walk in my local countryside. Our local police are photo shaming people saying “walking in the countryside is not an essential journey”.

We haven’t used the car for days and don’t intend to!!

We’re definitely walking 100% locally & only once a day but still worried about being publicly shamed

It's stupid to make it a blanket rule.

Which is probably why the legislators haven't done that. 6 b

We're a bit worried about our car batteries if it doesn't get a long run, they're quite old. Not so bad if it dies on the drive, I'd think the local garage or AA could install a new one with zero contact. But we stopped driving anywhere remote a few weeks before the guidelines came in. DH has just this morning repositioned one of the cars so we could get the other out - it has an electronic handbrake, we don't know if it can be released if there's no power.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/350/pdfs/uksi202003500_en.pdf

I can walk along busy streets amongst people and kids to the park or I can get in my car in my drive not passing anyone and drive 5 minutes to run dogs in fields. I think common sense has to be called for.

The police arent being clear... today there was a picture of a man walking alone on moorland, taken by drone.. saying 'not a necessary journey'

Our local police have been posting similar images on Facebook.

I have the downs and quiet non-touristy beach about a 10 minute walk from my house so take the dog there most days. We’re out for about an hour.

I got pulled over on the way home from doing my horses last night. I had the dog with me as I usually take her to the yard so she can have a good blast around the horses’ secure paddock while I poo pick

He was really aggressive with me and told me it wasn’t on the official list of essential reasons to be out. Although he did eventually accept it, he did tell me I couldn’t take the dog up with me anymore

The 'no driving for a walk even if it is much quieter where you are walking and would enable social distancing- walk from home along busy streets instead' is so stupid.

Songofsixpence I was wondering what people with horses away from their homes are expected to do. I mean you have to go to the stable once per day don’t you?

That’s my other worry. Aggressive tone from the police when it’s completely uncalled for!

The 'official list' in the law is examples of what are included as 'reasonable excuses'. It's not a list of the only things which are allowed. If you got fined, I doubt any sane magistrate would say that animal welfare wasn't a 'reasonable excuse'. It's surprising it wasn't explicitly mentioned - maybe the omission is because it's so blindingly obvious.

You have to wonder about the police sometimes don’t you? I wonder if they are just bored because they’ve not got anything better to do at the moment? I’ve often thought this of my local police force when they randomly set up speed traps on the weekend.

By all means break up mass gatherings, but how do they know that bloke walking his dog in the peaks didn’t live down the road?

Think it depends where you live,our local Police have posted on Facebook that you CAN drive to an isolated area to exercise or walk your dog,as this is preferable to walking on pavements that are busy.

Think common sense has gone out the window at the moment.

MN is full of people frothing at the bit to condemn anyone they can; I assume the police force is not magically free of similar types.

Peapod29. Twice a day

BHS say that tending to livestock is essential, we’re on a DIY yard and are their primary carers so their advice is to continue as normal but to respect any protocols the yard have in place.

Our yard has implemented a rota so we’re not all up there at once, hand sanitiser everywhere and regular hand washing. I go up early, give them their breakfast and turn them out, muck them out, etc. Then go up in the evening to bring them in and give them their tea.

We have an old lady that needs careful management and medication twice a day.

Their field was flooded until fairly recently so we don’t have a lot of grass yet, in a few weeks we’ll be able to chuck them out 24/7 - we’d still have to go up and hay their field at the moment.

Although, I’m hoping it won’t come to that, our old lady is prone to laminitis so we have to be really careful with spring grass, plus she has medication twice a day anyway and doesn’t cope living out. Our other one is fine, but I am really worried about our oldie

The police need to be careful here. If they start behaving in a draconian way people will lose confidence in them and the rules and rebel. The start is the easy bit. The longer it goes on the more people are likely to push back.

The Government Q&A after one briefing suggested it was fine to drive and walk.

Recently some police forces ave been saying it isn't. Have the Government changed their stance officially?

I disagreed with end one footage as there was nothing on their to say that all the people spotted - who were all spaced out, looking like either individuals or small family groups - had walked or driven there.

However, you aren't driving so this should be fine.

When we have gone for a walk we vary - one direction is streets, another is fields and country lanes, and another is countryside, woods and lanes. We access all by walking a few minutes away.

Link to the BHS page - maybe worth horse owners printing out, and check daily for updates?

www.bhs.org.uk/advice-and-information/coronavirus-covid-19/for-horse-owners

Derbyshire Police had a situation last weekend when faced with a perfect storm of free time, mothers day, nowhere indoors to go and the first pleasant weekend of weather in at least 8 months. Tourist honeypots like Matlock Bath were rammed and social distancing rendered impossible.

Crowds of people at remote locations increase the risk of mountain rescue call outs draining precious volunteer time, police and ambulance resources. It increases social mixing from hotspots to less affected areas as we approach peak hospital admissions.

Walking out onto your local moor is not a problem and is safer for you if half the world and their dogs aren't spilling out into the top 10 known beauty spots around the city.

I often "pop over" 30 minutes to the Peak District for a quiet evening walk. This is not the time for that. I am still running from home into the local countryside which is quiet. It is relatively heaving at the moment, spotting about 3 clusters of (dog) walkers and runners in areas where I rarely see another soul along 4-8 miles of route. Better than laps of my suburb. I know the area, I'm rarely more than a few fields for road access in the unlikely event of needing assistance. It's a much lower risk to public health and services than masses flocking to beauty spots.

Walking locally is fine.

checking registrations and some people had clearly driven 2 or 3 hours to get there

How does that work

The number plate...or is it where the cars owner registered it?

I think common sense should be called for really .The river (which I can walk to ) was heaving yesterday, even though the car park was shut .A chap came near to me on his bike and I had to jump back .The park nearby is better ,as there is a large field and at certain times of day is normally quieter .I think a short drive of maybe 5/10 mins is OK although I saw someone there that lives at least 20 mins to half hour! The toilets at the beach are closed so obviously no good for a walk!

I think common sense should be called for really

Unfortunately too many people lack common sense, as can be evidenced by the number of people who came up to the Lakes for a "nice weekend break" 24 hours before we went into lockdown!

However, you aren't driving so this should be fine

Yes, but our police are posting images of lone dog walkers on the beach or up on the downs with ‘this is not an essential journey’ all over their Facebook page.

People then post hundreds of vile and abusive comments which are left on there unchecked

No one knows how any of these people go to the beach or the downs - thousands and thousands of us all live in walking distance of various beaches/the downs/countryside.