Where is the risk in going out for country walks?

[OatMilkAddict]

I've been very careful to limit social interaction (apart from food shopping once per week for me and elderly family members isolating elsewhere), but I have been out walking for an hour or two most days since lockdown.
I head on foot to secluded woods and fields where I only rarely see people (and give them a wide berth if I do). I don't touch a thing while I'm out, nor sit down or brush against anything. As soon as I get home, I remove my shoes and wash my hands, phone and keys.
Without being goady, I am curious to hear from the most vehement "stay at home" advocates precisely how my daily walk is going to get me (or anyone else) sick, because I literally don't understand where the risk is!

I'm pleased they are being more forceful. The first few days of lockdown Keswick market square was packed with people who thought it was just another name for a holiday! Every time they touch something a door, a gate, a style that it a possible method of transfer! If they get ill suddenly Keswick has a very basic hospital and they would have to be taken 30 miles to Carlisle. People are just not thinking!

Because everyone is doing it OP. We are inundated where I live (very rural). Loads if people bringing their dogs, and their viruses, with them.

Because everyone is doing it OP. We are inundated where I live (very rural).

And therein lies the problem, I think. I don't doubt what you say for a minute but there are aso rural places where this is not happening. Where the public footpaths around the villages are empty (my own) and where people do not appear to be coming in droves because there is so much countryside around me and the towns are not so big that the space is not inundated. It seems such a shame for that space not to be used for people to get some fresh air and exercise their lungs - much as I like having it to myself.

In addition, driving through the village to access the paths makes sense for some people because the only shop is in the village centre and walking past it risks breaking distancing guidelines. The other day the queue for the shop snaked down the street, because there are limits on how many can go in and the queue is spaced 2m apart. I could imagine trying to get a dog or toddler along those pavements is riskier than just driving them a mile to the other side and walking from there.

We are inundated where I live (very rural). Loads if people bringing their dogs, and their viruses, with them.

This is where prejudice and discrimination come from. You are demonising people as ‘bringing their viruses with them.’ and using terms like ‘inundated’.

It is not ‘us’ and ‘them’. We are all in it together. You only need to say that it is not advisable for people to be driving long distances to exercise.

the police cannot fine you for walking for more than an hour (and how would they know anyway?)

True in the UK for the moment.

Here in France they would know. You have to carry a form with you every time you leave the house and the form must include the time you left. It also has your address so they would also know if you have gone more than the allowed 1km for exercise or if you have gone to a supermarket which isn't the closest.

Cumbria has a lot of cases (already quite high before the recent weekends) so the day trippers will potentially have picked up cv there and taken it back home. And mingling with others from all over the place multiplied risk ... that's why everyone needs to stay local . It's not country folk being NIMBY, it's protecting idiots from themselves.

Errol I think many of us can see the very real dangers of allowing people to drive around and mix with other communities, apart from the "it's not illegal" brigade who seem to place points of principle ahead of endangering lives.

Spot on, Errol. More cases of the virus is many rural areas will mean more deaths because there's no fast or easy access, or in some cases, any at all, to any sort of advanced healthcare. I mean, people were flocking in campervans and caravans to islands like that Jura that have no hospitals. 'I'm booorreeed!' v. 'I'm dead'.

But the Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has advised: "I would have thought for most people a walk of up to an hour, a run of 30 minutes or a cycle ride of between that, depending on their level of fitness, is appropriate."

This is where the times stuck in my mind.

appropriate != "strict threshold everyone must stick to"

'Most people', as judged by ...hm, well, I don't want to be unkind....

If you are lucky enough to have chosen the kind of time and area where the risk to you personally, and others not in a position to cross your path, is low, then perhaps you could, you know, just think outside the box for a second about the millions of other people for whom this doesn't apply and won't be applying for a good while. And just be happy with the low risk you've taken and refrain from musing online about why they can't do just the same as you can. People including, but not limited to: NHS and care workers. Supermarket workers. Food producers. Delivery drivers and cyclists. People having to isolate because of a vulnerable family member. People on lockdown in France, Italy, Spain etc.
A lot of these are not facing decisions about whether they can or can't choose to head on foot to secluded woods and fields and not infect strangers out of their houses/workplaces. I'm sure their hourly decisions or choices are not even in the same league as whether to risk a walk or be a little bit bored.

Yes @Ormally - I AM lucky. I know that. Feel very grateful for many things in my life right now and know that my current situation is far better than that of many, many people.
But that doesn't mean I should sit at home in penance. We all have to get through this in the best way possible for ourselves, our families, our friends, our neighbours and our communities.

Yes, that's true. So from my point of view, I'm trying not to rub it in with people who haven't won the toss with the luckier side of the coin right now, and I'm not really looking for lots of people to validate behaviour that may turn out to be low risk to myself or my immediate situation. Each to his or her own.