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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder what all the walkers would usually be doing

557 replies

CloseSchoolsProtecttheNHS · 17/01/2021 02:13

I live in a small village near a lovely green open space for walks. I walk every single day and have done since I moved here many years ago. It's always been very quiet - many, many times I've been the only person out and have walked for an hour+ and not seen a soul.

Since Covid - and particularly since the summer - it's been mobbed! I'm dodging people constantly when out walking and although the size of the space means I can keep 2 metres away, I now often have groups of people behind, in front and to the sides of me which makes me a bit uncomfortable. Most are considerate but some are arseholes that want to brush past you so you have to be aware and it's a lot less relaxing. I'm pretty sure that they are local people as it's not a 'day out' place or anywhere people would know about let alone go to, and it's nice that more local people are out walking but... why have they all just discovered walking? It's not like it was a closely guarded secret before and we are quite rural. What would they normally be doing (for example today on a Saturday afternoon) that they now can't do that leaves walking as their only option??

(Yes I do kind of wish they'd bugger off and yes IABU for that as I don't own this piece of land! But mostly I'm just really perplexed as to why so many people are now out walking!)

OP posts:
Campervan69 · 17/01/2021 21:37

What I think is causing a big problem locally to me is that we are only allowed to exercise locally. I think it would be safer if we were allowed to drive to a less populated area to walk but we can't. Its like rush hour down our canal all the time.

CaptainMyCaptain · 17/01/2021 21:54

@Campervan69

What I think is causing a big problem locally to me is that we are only allowed to exercise locally. I think it would be safer if we were allowed to drive to a less populated area to walk but we can't. Its like rush hour down our canal all the time.
But did we get a firm ruling on that? My nearest walk is also a canal path.
saraclara · 17/01/2021 21:57

@CloseSchoolsProtecttheNHS

Thank you again to all the helpful people. It interesting to see things from other perspectives and I’m grateful to you for sharing them.

I hope the people hating walks find an alternative soon and that those newly finding them enjoyable manage to keep them up. And I obviously hope to an end to all this soon so we can all go back to doing whatever we like best.

I don't think that it's that people are hating walks as such. They're just feeling resentful that everything else they'd normally do has gone. So of course they're grumpy.

I actually like walking less than I used to. Because it's no longer a choice. It is literally the only thing I can do outside the house. And I almost always have to do it alone now.

HazeyJaneII · 17/01/2021 21:58

@Chicchicchicchiclana

430 messages on this thread. I have a question for the last 300 posters - do you think you have said anything new/of interest?
Yes! I'm thinking of carving that poem into stones and placing them at random places on popular walking routes, so people can reflect on the error of their ways, and try to have a bit more understanding of how they are affecting others with their actions.
PortalooSunset · 17/01/2021 22:06

I wonder if you're near dDad - he didn't walk every day (but played golf a couple of times a week), but now feels he has to go out for an hour every day because he's been told to Grin

Campervan69 · 17/01/2021 22:18

CaptainMyCaptain no firm ruling but those 2 women fined for doing that has put a lot of people off. My FIL for example - he's 85 but very fit and active. Always done a lot of proper hill walking, used to average 4 miles a day, now reduced to trudging round his local streets. He's even worried about the police spotting his car isn't on his driveway (I know, but this is how elderly people on their own worry)

CaptainMyCaptain · 18/01/2021 00:22

The police rescinded those fines though. It is very counter productive confining people to more crowded places.

AmoElCafe · 18/01/2021 08:18

@CaptainMyCaptain

The police rescinded those fines though. It is very counter productive confining people to more crowded places.
True. But I live in that area and it has definitely put me off travelling anywhere for exercise. They rescinded the fines unwillingly and their statement included a long list of reasons why they thought they were to right to issue the fine, and will continue with their ‘strong’ approach. I have 3 huge country parks within 6 miles of my house, all of which have been in the news for fining people and sending them home, so I will continue to trudge the crowded pavements nearby.
cherish123 · 18/01/2021 17:33

Most people would be working. When they are not working, shopping, socialising, going out for lunch, ferrying children, visiting castles.

Prinzy · 18/01/2021 17:34

YABU.

you are asking what they would usually be doing, i would imagine all or any of the things we did before the pandemic.

another point would be that people being stuck indoors as we are, has shown people say the importance of being outside, not just for physical health but the mental benefits of doing so in these times are colossal.

you may feel uncomfortabke, as humans we are hardwired to fesr cha ge, but embrace it, make conversation, you may find it enjoyable, and may even make more friends.

DanceItOut · 18/01/2021 17:45

Um nearly everything? Visiting family and friends is usually a weekend activity for anyone that normally works during the week for example. Some people also work weekends so now they might not be and be able to walk. Some people go to gyms or have clubs they go to that now they don’t. For example on Saturdays my son and I used to have archery club, my daughter used to have cheerleading and their father worked. That’s now all stopped. On Sunday’s we would visit one set of the grandparents. That’s stopped.
I don’t have a garden so with everything shut going for a walk is all my kids and I can do.

Lucyk1 · 18/01/2021 17:46

Wht a stupid question. Most people had work, shops and things open to go to. With nothing open whatsoever and the only thing allowed is a daily walk... Then people will go just to get out the house.

FontSnob · 18/01/2021 17:54

I don’t understand why this is still a question.

TrixieMixie · 18/01/2021 17:56

Similar situation - we are longstanding walkers and suddenly we have a lot of company! Not only that but our local pub has set up a burger/coffee wagon on a national trail, which has turned the farm track in front of our house to something resembling the M4. It is a bit annoying but people have nothing else to do and I'm sure once the pandemic is over (please, please...) then they will be back to their usual pursuits and we can have the countryside to ourselves again....My DH gets wound up about the burger wagon but I say to him what I say to you - we are lucky to live somewhere with access to open spaces and walks. When you look at pix of Hyde Park etc it could be much worse, or you could be stuck in a tiny high rise flat. Fakey walkers with their clean boots and silly new kit are mildly irritating but a small price to pay. Let's not begrudge them a bit of fresh air and what passes for recreation these days. Who knows, some of them might find they like it and become proper walkers like us!

Mumof3girlygirls · 18/01/2021 18:13

I'm sorry but yes you are being extremely unreasonable. And you sound like you feel you have entitlement to be walking where others do not.

tommyhoundmum · 18/01/2021 18:17

It's because they have nothing else to do.

bigmumsymcgraw · 18/01/2021 18:20

Most places are the same What else is there to do? Think yourself lucky that you do live in a scenic area in a village. Nobody is walking near you to piss you off

CountessFrog · 18/01/2021 18:33

Imagine if you were an ice skater. You skated three times a week.

Suddenly thousands of others turned up and started skating on your rink because they had nothing else to do. The ice broke and the rogue ‘skaters’ (in shiny new boots) got in the way.

Worse still, imagine if they gave you dirty looks for skating past them within 3 metres.

It’s a bit like that !

GeordieGreigsButtButtZoom · 18/01/2021 18:39

@CountessFrog

Imagine if you were an ice skater. You skated three times a week.

Suddenly thousands of others turned up and started skating on your rink because they had nothing else to do. The ice broke and the rogue ‘skaters’ (in shiny new boots) got in the way.

Worse still, imagine if they gave you dirty looks for skating past them within 3 metres.

It’s a bit like that !

Yes, but if every other recreational activity outside the house had been outlawed apart from ice skating, I wouldn't wonder where they had come from. Nor would I have suddenly been stumped as to what else they might have been doing before.
mumof2exhausted · 18/01/2021 18:39

Because there is literally nothing else to do. Cannot believe you are actually asking such a thick question.

I am working from home and also home schooling kids. I go for a walk with the baby each day for my sanity.

DagenhamRoundhouse · 18/01/2021 18:41

Gyms are horrible. I used to attend one in the early 00's and I remember the dried sweat on the machines and the posey women loving themselves. Ugh.

CountessFrog · 18/01/2021 18:43

No, it would be quite obvious why they were skating.

😂

Fembot123 · 18/01/2021 18:56

@DagenhamRoundhouse

Gyms are horrible. I used to attend one in the early 00's and I remember the dried sweat on the machines and the posey women loving themselves. Ugh.
I use the leisure centre gym, so many different people and a real camaraderie plus no posers ☺️
caspersmagicaljourney · 18/01/2021 18:59

Well, apart from WFH or essential food shopping, there's nothing else left is there?🤔

waterlego · 18/01/2021 19:25

‘Gyms are horrible’, says someone who hasn’t set foot in one for 20 years 😂

As you might imagine, they’ve probably changed a bit since you last went. And not all gyms are created equal. There’s one near me full of beautiful youngsters wearing Gymshark and Instaggraming all over the shop. Then there’s David Lloyd for the middle aged middle class. The local council gym is great. Cheap, cheerful and friendly and plenty of cleaning stuff supplied so we can all wipe down the equipment after use.