Are you in Yorkshire

[GingerRodgers18]

Sorry blatantly posting for traffic.

If you're in Yorkshire can you recommend anywhere we can drive to (since we are now allowed apparently) for a socially distanced walk with a toddler?

I've given up near us and haven't been any further than the garden in a week (DH has on his own though), we live on greenbelt but in a quite densely populated village/suburb and it's like bloody Piccadilly circus. No chance of social distancing really, this is in part due to the nature of the area - lots of single track farm paths and then roads which only have pavements on one side, but we also have a lot of idiots who don't understand social distancing. Apparently since they said you could drive it's got even busier with people driving and parking all over the pavements - this was reported to me by DH.

We've kind of thought well if you can't beat em.......I want to social distance though 100% and certainly don't want to piss residents off so can't be close to houses/residential areas, and ideally needs to be a vast or really large open space and with lots of places to park spread out so you could park away from other cars safely and without obstructing anything - Ideally in North or West Yorks.

Wracking my brains but can't think. We don't really go further afield unless its the coast or National Trust as plenty of family walks on our doorstep.

But I think you’re only meant to be doing a five minute drive.

There's no such restriction. It says a short drive - what's reasonable or not is really down to police discretion.

"Ideally in North or West Yorks.

Wracking my brains but can't think. We don't really go further afield unless its the coast or National Trust as plenty of family walks on our doorstep."

No no no. That's not what this guidance means. As you're walking with a toddler somewhere within a 10 minute drive will be more than enough.

Where do you live?

"what's reasonable or not is really down to police discretion."

Yes and this guidance was for police officers to aid them. Not so everyone can start flocking to beaches.

An hour is more than you should be travelling unfortunatly

Tbh it probably is - if you're going to do 2 hours driving to get there and back then the 'far more' walking would be maybe 4 hours so 6 hours total ... without any loos.

And if you're driving somewhere you don't already know well, there's a high chance of not finding any parking when you get there.

@GreyishDays 5 minutes, we've been walking to places we can drive to in 5 minutes , everywhere's packed, because whilst we are on green belt/semi rural it is a large village so it's just packed every where and you cannot safely socially distance.

The guidelines are to keep everyone safe, we just can't do that here, much better somewhere more open.

if you’re an hour away from Leeds/ in Leeds. I suggest the following:

Ilkley
Otley chevin country park
Temple newsham
Kirkstall abbey
Round hay park

Just a few nice places to walk round. If you are in Leeds/near Leeds there are hundreds of places to go for nice walks that are in close distance. Having lived round several areas of Leeds over the 7 past years you’re always close to fields and the country side. Have a google map of some places and enjoy your walk (:

Templenewsam is big enough to socially distance, you can walk for miles, parking is shut up there though and it is kinda frowned upon to drive there and park on the road although now the rules have changed to being able to drive somewhere (as long as your walking more than the drive) i imagine it should be ok.

@Alb1 not tried it but we presumed it would be really busy as it's smack bang in the middle of a residential area, might ask locally - we're nr Wetherby.

Ah, my parents are near Huddersfield, not far from Scammonden Dam on the Pennines. So it's all the ones in that area they are doing and they're quite remote.

"the rules have changed"

No. No they haven't

If you're up for a decent walk, expanding your range from 5 to about 15 minutes increases the area for starting points by a factor of 9 .

Send your DH on some recces ?

Try www.viewranger.com/en-GB/get-the-app

Its easy to use, shows you walks near to where you are. Even as you move around if you have GPS switched on.

my.viewranger.com/places/gb/leeds-walks?utm_source=viewranger&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=besttrail

Fgs the guidelines do not state that your drive has to be 5 mins or less.
It just says your walk needs to be longer than your drive. Use your common sense and stop listening to the covid police over the actual guidelines.
At some point I plan to drive to an area which will take approx 12 mins to get to and walk for an hour or so.
You do realise no one is going to be there timing you?!
OP you sound fairly responsible by wanting to avoid your local areas as they are too busy so just crack on. I would avoid NT places. Maybe just Google nice quiet walks or something near to you.

@hammeringinmyhead Ah yes know it well used to live in Kirklees, would be blinking ideally out on the Pennines but alas definitely too far from where we are now.

@tashakg89 yes we've thought about TN but knew the car park was closed and yes residents get pissed off with people parking round there at the best of times.....we don't want to piss anyone off and ideally want to keep out of people's way so was thinking somewhere less residential.

You want to go in your car for an hour to find somewhere to walk? While the guidelines are up for interpretation, it has been clarified that this is NOT how they should be used. Our police force is very vocal about this.

Driving somewhere safer, up to 5 or 10 minutes outside of your village is a much better idea. (it is also what the guidelines were designed for as some people do not live somewhere they can safely walk from).

Try to look on google maps for any bridleways or quiet lanes that possibly have a layby beside it that you can walk from. You might find these are much quieter. Anywhere "well known" will be extremely busy

If you're near wetherby there are places you can walk by the river. Or Hetchell Woods?

Also, be aware many farmers are both legally (and illegally) closing certain rights of way to protect their livelihoods and the safety of their livestock. Councils I have had contact with have said they are within reason approving many of these applications as farmers are having lots of issues. I'm sure they would have these signposted.

It just says your walk needs to be longer than your drive.
'Far longer' - so sure, 12 mins each way for an hours walk should be fine. But 30 mins or more for an hours walk might not be deemed ok if you got questioned.

And while no one may be timing you, there seem to be quite a few police out on rural roads. They can probably do a licence check and know how far you've come.

I think it depends more on the time of day than location for busyness. I live in a nice bit of Yorkshire and if I go for one of several nice local walks at 10am/3pm there are people everywhere. But if I go at 8am/8pm it's deserted. I would guess that's the case for all places worth walking around.

Yorkshire sculpture park?

OP, there's a great round walk around Boston Spa. I can't remember where I found it (try Google 'Boston Spa woods round walk'?) I did it with my DC ages ago, and it was great. We didn't see a single person while we were there. There's also a good Harrogate walk from Harlow Carr through Harlow Woods and to the Valley Gardens (may or may not be open - I don't live there so don't know). There are also good walks around Swinsty and Fewston reservoirs (only accessible by car - may be busy??) Ditto the Cow and Calf Rocks at Ilkley. They are all round walks and are interesting. There's also a reservoir walk in North Leeds - can't remember its name, but I also did that with the DC many times. Again, try Googling it. It was always pretty deserted when we did it. Plus Bolton Abbey (though I don't know if the walk would be open at the moment - if it is, it's fantastic. I used to do it most Sundays with the DC, including one who was in a pushchair. Though you need an all-terrain pushchair for that one!) Finally, there's a good walk which starts in Saltaire and goes through the woods (again, it should be on Google, though Google didn't exist when my DC were small! I think I had some books of round walks in West /North Yorkshire).

Just Googled, and the Leeds reservoir walk is at Eccup.

You do know Yorkshire is HUGE?

finally... Just Googled again to see if I could find what we used to call the "Gorge and Ravine walk" at Roundhay Park. It's called the Secret Gorge Walk on Google. We all used to like that one - there's a ruined folly which used to entertain my children...