To remind people of the exercise rules

[Orangeblossom78]

Keep seeing all this stuff where people are making up their own rules and telling people off! we were even glared at while having a family picnic on a long walk yesterday! Please stop with telling people off when they are within the guidelines.

Here is the current situation, as updated about a week ago.

What are the current rules when it comes to exercise in the UK?

Daily exercise, including walking, running, cycling, tending to an allotment or doing yoga is allowed.

You are allowed to drive somewhere to take your exercise. The guidance says, ‘it is lawful to drive for exercise.’ However, ‘Driving for a prolonged period with only brief exercise’ is also deemed ‘not likely to be reasonable’. The rule of thumb? You’re allowed to drive somewhere to go for a walk or run as long as you spend much more time walking than you do driving.

Exercising more than once per day is likely to be allowed if you have a ‘reasonable excuse’ for needing to leave your home.

You are allowed to sit and take a break from exercise, say, on a bench or sitting down in a park. However, this must be for a short time only and, as before, you must spend markedly more time exercising than resting.

if everyone stopped to have a family picnic it wouldn't take long for groups to build up then it gets busy.

I don't understand why people keep coming up with this sort of non-argument. The plan fact is that everybody is not going to stop for family picnics, so why waste time speculating about it?

How is walking for one hour a “long walk”? That’s what, three miles? Maybe two if your kids are small? You definitely don’t need to stop for a picnic in that time!

DH and I usually do two 10-12 mile walks every weekend (this was regular before COVID-19), and even then we don’t take a picnic with us! A piece of fruit to eat on the home stretch maybe, but not a whole lunch!

I swear this is part of snack culture. People get bored, so feel like eating is the answer.

Why not though judy-like everything it snowballs-theres a shortage so everyone runs out and buys up toilet roll

you can have a picnic so everyone will start to have one-where does it end

No, as we had walked for over an hour and stopped for 20 mins, so no we had not broken the rules

Why do you need to stop for a picnic when you've only been out for an hour?!

I think YABU as you may just be out to wind people up (oh and a family picnic after an hours walk is not within the guidelines so wind your neck).

@30not13 do you have any links for that? I ask as when I saw people were posting about driving for exercise I spent a while looking for what was said by the police in Scotland and could not find anything. (I have not been driving but if I could, 2 miles would get me out of narrow streets and into a wide open area).

I'm all right thanks, I don't need reminding.

It is odd that you need to eat a picnic on an hours walk. Can you not just eat when you get home? 🤷🏻‍♀️

What really pisses me off is that people will interpret this as being allowed to do something and do it. Then the park benches will fill up of able bodied people with no space for disabled elderly - especially due to social distancing rules. Whereas these are really for people, who need a rest rather than those who fancy it. Children in the main and a lot of able bodied people can sit on the ground.

There seems to be one of these hectoring threads a minute on here right now.

@JudyCoolibar
I don't understand why people keep coming up with this sort of non-argument. The plan fact is that everybody is not going to stop for family picnics, so why waste time speculating about it?

It's the principle that people question. If too many ppl doing something unnecessary, could prolong the issue we're dealing with... Then the few shouldnt do it either. Because it encourages others to do the same. We all want to go out for a picnic, yet we all understand the danger of everyone else doing it. We expect everyone to be considerate and not jam the parks.

I don't understand it. If you go and have a picnic with people you live with and stay away from other people (2m or whatever), what difference does it make to the spread of the virus?

I've just made a lovely picnic for our walk today: flatbreads with houmous, grilled halloumi and roasted peppers, and homemade apple crumble muffins.
Have that, frothers! And shove your Faux worry about 'why can't people walk miles without eating' right up your bum. We're taking our picnic for fun, because it's nice, and because we're seeking as much joy as we can for us and our kid in these weird times.

Still people are unable to mind their own business. It's none of your business why people want a drink or a snack while out for a walk.
Except the OP is talking about a picnic, not a quick snack @BuddleiaTime. She Says it was for about a third of the time they were out.
And actually it IS all our business at the moment - people going out and about and engaging in activity which might spread the virus (which is all activity, so we should limit that to necessary things) aren’t just risking themselves. They are risking everybody.

@MarieG10 the issue appears to be that there is a legislative gap between the new laws and the lockdown guidelines issued by govt. The key is the difference between ‘reasonable excuse’ (the langue used in the regs) and ‘essential’, which has been used in all the govt messages.

The ‘new guidance’ has been issued by the CPS to provide advice to the police on when/whether to issue fines or prosecute etc.

This doc sets it out - not surprising there’s been confusion around this as the messaging and comms has been shocking: www.college.police.uk/What-we-do/COVID-19/Documents/What-constitutes-a-reasonable-excuse.pdf

What you have described is a day out, not a rest from exercising. Most people exercising dont need a snack or bloody meal halfway through.

@MarieG10 I meant to say ‘i agree with you’ at the beginning of my post bit it disappeared

@lonelySam it’s because the social distancing rules don’t make passing the virus impossible. They just limit the risks to balance against other things which might make us ill, like not having food in the house or mental health issues or becoming very unfit. There is still a risk, and the longer you are out or the more you make it difficult for others to distance from you (say by taking up a chunk of space for 20 minutes to picnic instead of walking straight through that space in seconds) the more you increase the risk. At some point the balance against the other evils swings the other way. The more people who stretch the rules, the more likely this is to happen. And when I say ‘rules’ it’s shorthand. As a PP said we shouldn’t need to be told every little thing. We should have a bit of community feeling and limit our interactions with outside space because it benefits us all in the end.

It's not good for anybody to be cooped up inside for long periods for fear of breaking 'the law'. There are ways to easily avoid catching or spreading the virus - keep away from people and practice hand washing, no face touching etc. People shouldn't be made to feel like rebels for wanting to spend a decent amount of time outside, be it walking or sitting on a picnic blanket or whatever. Many people simply wouldn't cope without doing that every day and suicides would sky rocket. People need to do what's right for them as long as they're not putting others or themselves at risk (which as mentioned above, is easy).

I don't understand it. If you go and have a picnic with people you live with and stay away from other people (2m or whatever), what difference does it make to the spread of the virus?

Because you are being a selfish twat and making people walk round you taking up excessive space and time when both are restricted and we all have to share and be considerate.

I've just made a lovely picnic for our walk today: flatbreads with houmous, grilled halloumi and roasted peppers, and homemade apple crumble muffins.
Have that, frothers! And shove your Faux worry about 'why can't people walk miles without eating' right up your bum. We're taking our picnic for fun, because it's nice, and because we're seeking as much joy as we can for us and our kid in these weird times.
And here is an example of someone deciding that anyone else's need to walk and be out must not stop her wonderful family picnic - everyone will just have to make do with less space.

I walked through a local park yesterday - gorgeous day. Park was quite empty and included individuals sunbathing and mothers and children on their rugs eating food. Everyone miles apart from everyone else, posing no risk to themselves or anyone else. IF the park started filling up, the people already there didn't move off, and people could therefore not observe the distancing rules, then it would be a problem, and the police should intervene. But in the circumstances I saw yesterday? Nah.

It’s actually really bad to eat during exercise. A quick tiny snack to get energy levels up if you are doing an excessive amount of exercise but anything more Is not good for the body.
Seeing as the ONLY reason to be put and about is exercise, no-one should be stopping for lunch or a picnic. A short rest to catch your breathe/have a drink of water is fine but anything more really isn’t what is intended.

I would glare at anyone having a picnic.

The guidelines:

”Stopping to rest or to eat lunch while on a long walk” is likely to be reasonable”

Eating lunch = picnic is ok while on a long walk