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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Are you in Yorkshire

102 replies

GingerRodgers18 · 20/04/2020 13:24

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.

OP posts:
OnTheMoors · 20/04/2020 16:07

Do not drive anywhere. You might break down and the associated complications .

NannyR · 20/04/2020 16:09

Ogden water is closed.

Veterinari · 20/04/2020 16:16

Yorkshire is the largest county in the UK. You'll need to narrow your location down considerably for anyone to give you safe and appropriate advice on places suitable for walking with a toddler.

Stronger76 · 20/04/2020 16:19

Wetherby has LOADS of nice places to walk! What about a circuit of the Ings? Or down by the river near the bandstand? A quick trip round the racecourse? Down by the beach near Collingham/Linto Road? A short drive to these would be acceptable. Don't be 'that person' that thinks the rules don't apply to them. The guidelines published are simply that, for the police to use. You have miles of lovely walks on your doorstep.

BlankTimes · 20/04/2020 16:26

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

This ^ Any livestock farmers are just coming to the end of lambing season and the last thing they need right now is an influx of people who have no idea of how to behave in the countryside.
Not only that, but the added stress of moving around on their own land wondering who has been touching their stiles gates and often private property.
Some paths go through farmyards and some people wander in and out of farm buildings, let their kids sit on tractors etc. so how can anyone who has a footpath like that on their property feel anything but unsafe themselves in their own gardens and outbuildings and more to the point, how could they even start to make everywhere "the public" could have wandered off into and touched, safe for themselves and their own families. This is why they are blocking paths.

I live in a very small rural Yorkshire village, mainly attractive to walkers and cyclists. Someone has put up a lot of signs saying things like 'This village is in lockdown, you do not need to be here, Go Home and stay there' The signs seem to be having the desired effect.

For everyone who thinks they want to drive to a pretty village and go for a walk there, please don't and don't walk through farmland, even on designated paths until lockdown is over. Just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should do that, particularly whilst people who live in the villages see you as a contamination threat.
This is a random image from Google and shows how a lot of people in the countryside feel about strangers using their areas for exercise.
i2-prod.bristolpost.co.uk/incoming/article4046908.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_DR_BRI_20200414-Pill003.jpg

hammeringinmyhead · 20/04/2020 16:28

I think the OP's point is that the world and his wife also think those walks in Wetherby are nice.

ErrolTheDragon · 20/04/2020 16:34

For goodness sakes, if anyone does think of somewhere local to Wetherby which may be quiet enough for good social distancing, PM the OP and don't post the details on here for every lurker for miles around to see.

We've found a way to access a suitable walk near our home, starting from a small lay-by - last thing I'd do is say where it is on social media of any form!

AnneOfCloves · 20/04/2020 16:42

St Aidens is good, and there are lots of YWT places nearby Wetherby you could walk around

Original poster
GingerRodgers18 · 20/04/2020 23:00

@IdblowJonSnow Hetchell has been busy apparently, also dog crap can sometimes be problem there, annoying to let the toddler out and walk. I was trying to avoid woodland as well as I was thinking with all the trees coming into leaf it might start to be a bit enclosed. Yes I think most NT places are closed.

OP posts:
Original poster
GingerRodgers18 · 20/04/2020 23:01

@Stronger76 we're not actually in Wetherby - just closest well know place. Smaller outlying village.

OP posts:
Original poster
GingerRodgers18 · 20/04/2020 23:05

@RatherBeRiding I know it's just been so busy and as lot of the paths directly from the house are narrow and roads only have pavments on one side so it's really tricky to get any sort of safe distance - especially when it's been busy, last time I went out I just felt I was constantly having to drag DC into grass verges.

OP posts:
Original poster
GingerRodgers18 · 20/04/2020 23:08

@BlankTimes yes we are near lots of farmland and I want to avoid as the tracks are so narrow and like someone up thread said farmers are closing the gates - which rightly or wrongly I do understand. And I really don't to have to be touching something someone else has touched. Thats why I said ideally somewhere away from a residential area - more an open expanse. I can do village walk from home.

OP posts:
Original poster
GingerRodgers18 · 20/04/2020 23:09

My Dad suggested driving up to the Hole of Horcum which me and my siblings were weirdly obsessed with as kids. Think its too far though.

OP posts:
EllenOlenska · 21/04/2020 00:02

North Yorkshire moors national park are asking people to keep away full stop.

ViciousJackdaw · 21/04/2020 01:17

My Dad suggested driving up to the Hole of Horcum

I'll bet he did...

greenlynx · 21/04/2020 01:38

OP, I do understand your problem as some streets are so narrow that make social distancing practically impossible but you can’t expect nice walks in this situation, you just need to find somewhere to walk safely. Well known spots might be not such a good idea as they are popular.
Could you go out earlier or later ? We’re in area with wide streets and even so 4-5 pm is absolutely impossible whereas 7-8 pm is fine, 9-10 am is deserted.

Original poster
GingerRodgers18 · 21/04/2020 07:29

@greenlynx it’s not about nice it’s about somewhere open, not too fussed as long as we can leave plenty of space, social distance and keep away from eejits who don’t seem to respect it - doing this from the house is impossible.

We’ve tried earlier even pushed it to 8am and it was still busy. Loads of folk popping out for bloody newspapers and milk, stopping to have a nice little chats?!? Evenings a no go really as DC needs to be in be asleep by 8. He’d be tired and wouldn’t walk anywhere at that time.

OP posts:
crankysaurus · 21/04/2020 08:54

Is there nowhere closer, say five/ten mins drive away? Are there any empty playing fields or something near you?

AuntieMarys · 21/04/2020 09:02

5 mile walk round Harewood...not house and gardens, but the one which skirts the Emmerdale set.
Do not go to Ilkley, Eccup or Otley as they are heaving.

PurpleFlower1983 · 21/04/2020 09:05

Pugney’s if it’s open.
Newmillerdam

Both in Wakefield area.

Haffdonga · 21/04/2020 10:53

anywhere we can drive to (since we are now allowed apparently)

We've kind of thought well if you can't beat em

Again, I'm saying OP. You are WRONG. The guidelines haven't changed. Merely some clarification has been published that say it's likely to be reasonable to drive a short distance to get to somewhere you can walk. This is not a green light to jump in the car and travel for an hour for a day out.

ALL of the suggestions on this thread (including your df's of the Hole of Horcum Hmm ) are likely to be full of other people all doing the same as you. There is a reason that 90% of the places people have helpfully suggested on this thread are closed - because you should NOT BE GOING THERE.

Even if there is a big empty open space like the moors, the trip will still involve car parks, footpaths and other people. The trip is not essential travel. You'd probably avoid people more easily by walking round some of the industrial estates in Leeds if you genuinely want wide pavements and fewer people.

Please for the love of common sense and science stop planning to join the crowds of people that you yourself called idiots and stay the fuck in your village.

circusintown · 21/04/2020 10:55

So you're going ahead then OP? Considering a couple of hours driving because those you perceive to be "eejits" are all collectively buying newspapers at 8am? Hmm

Nothing has changed. It is still unreasonable for you to drive that far to go for a walk and you know it. Places have had to close because of people like you.

Fredthedoggie · 21/04/2020 10:59

You will probably be stopped if you go up the A19 towards the Moors.

We go up weekly to take food and stuff to isolating family. Even at 8-10 am the police are highly visible on the roads into the Moors.

VivaLeBeaver · 21/04/2020 10:59

I think you'd be better off just looking at an OS map and finding some footpaths close to you. Not ones associated with well known areas, beauty spots, parks, etc.

Anything which is well known enough to be recommended by people on the internet is likely to have loads of other people flocking to it and thats when you'll get in trouble with the police and put yourself and others at risk.

BarbaraofSeville · 21/04/2020 11:12

Have you been around Spofforth Castle? Park on the road outside - if you can't get a space, that probably means too many people have already had the same idea and it will be too busy. There's a few footpaths from the village.

Another idea would be the area around Micklefield and Towton. You can park on the B1217 on the Lotherton side of where the road goes under the motorway bridge and there's a windfarm with footpaths going past it, you can go for a good few miles around there. Also the Towton battlefield site on the same road, just before you get to Towton from the Lotherton side.

There's the woodland surrounding Harewood House (park on Wike Lane near the junction with the A61 but I suspect that might be busy).

Area around Thorner and Bramham?

You could also look on www.streetmap.co.uk, put the map on large and zoom into 1:25000 for footpaths if you don't have any maps.

Good luck! I'm on the greenbelt between Leeds and Bradford and haven't actually 'done' all our local footpaths yet, there's so many, but it's so so busy. Maybe if you go later in the afternoon and give DC a nap first, it's probably quieter after about 3/4 pm?