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!

It is not written down in the guidelines, but the PM and health ministers when asked for clarity have said at more than one of the briefings time outside for exercise should be minimised and said 1 hour maximum.

Can anyone post where the law says that you can't drive for exercise

The closest is part 14 here

And even that doesn't specifically ban driving for exercise. It says 'do not travel unnecessarily' and stay local. If someone lived in a very busy place, or had a dangerous road to get to an open space, or the example on another thread where the poster wanted to drive her disabled DH less than a mile so he could walk around on a flat area not the steep hill on which they lived, that he couldn't manage it would still be reasonable to drive a short distance to get somewhere more appropriate to exercise in most people's opinion.

The important thing when deciding what to do based on 'advice' published on the internet is to consider the reliability of what is written.

Regulations and words published on government websites are checked for accuracy. Not quite as reliable, but still quite reasonable, would be something like an official advice website, like citizens advice, going down the scale, you'd have quality media like the BBC, The Guardian or The Times, where it would either be clear that it is their opinion and you should check an official source, or they directly quote the government to illustrate the information they are trying to get across.

Then you have the tabloids who write all sorts of rubbish and use lots of words like could, may etc, to indicate a caveat that the truth could be nothing of the sort and below all that you have public forums where anonymous posters can write exactly what they like whether it is true or not.

I could write 'My name is Michael Gove and you can take one hour of exercise per day no more, no less' and no-one would have any clue as to whether that was true or not and would be very unwise to take that statement as fact.

Right, so according to all of those refusing to do anything unless it's the law, we can all drive off to nice bits of countryside to go for a walk? Because, it's not against the law right?

Careful OP you might relax and enjoy yourself. If this should happen, remember to birch yourself thoroughly on return.

I’m convinced that the stay at home brigade is actually a coping mechanism. People are dealing with the stress of lockdown by convincing themselves every social interact will kill people.

by convincing themselves every social interact will kill people.

Social interaction IS killing people.

Not if you stay 2m away it isnt.

Look, people going for deserted country walks aren't spreading this. Key workers who work in close proximity to eachother and people who have the virus, then go to the supermarket or on public transport are spreading this. Not that we can do anything about that.

Key workers who work in close proximity to eachother and people who have the virus, then go to the supermarket or on public transport are spreading this

Then we should close it all down. Not one of us can expect another person to risk their lives for our benefit when we can't even be bothered to stay at home

Well we need key workers. But people who are working in hospitals, using public transport, goong to the shops, going home to their kids who then go to school are far more likely to spread the virus than someone walking on their own in the open air.

Well we need key workers.

So you're happy to make others risk their lives for your benefit but won't stay at home for their benefit?

Look, people going for deserted country walks aren't spreading this

But country walks are not deserted anymore. The police are having to use road checks to stop cars going into the countryside. The fire brigade are placing concrete blocks across paths and minor roads. If someone lives in the countryside then fair enough but the rules and advice apply to all. The advice from the government yesterday was only to be out for an hour to exercise.

Key workers who work in close proximity to eachother and people who have the virus, then go to the supermarket or on public transport are spreading this. Not that we can do anything about that.

Yes this is essential work. Going for a hours long walks in the countryside to exercise is not essential. Being in a car to get to the countryside is not exercise or essential

Not saying you're circumstances mean you're not taking the advice seriously. I dont know what kind of area you live in. But the rules and the advice means EVERYONE needs to comply. Urban or rural

Yes 2 metres but if everyone wants to go to the same countryside place for non essential exercise, use gate handles, climb fences, walk on small trails or paths . What then?

There is quite a lot of ‘the countryside’. It’s fairly big. Yes obviously if everyone is walking on the same footpath it’ll be unsafely crowded, but there is enough of outside to go around if everyone stays local and uses a bit of common sense.

So it's ok to drive to a quiet bit of countryside then, because that's not against the law, only against advice and lots of people on here don't care diddly squat about the advice, so great, let's all drive to the countryside.

If its crowded you don't walk there

Going for an hours walk IS essential for some to keep themselves well. And given the new powers afforded to drs for the detention of people with mental illness - such as changes to section 3, changes to how many drs are needed to say yes for a detention, the removal of tribunals during a detention etc, I don’t begrudge anyone at all for keeping themselves mentally well.

No it's not ok to drive to a quiet bit of the countryside.

Last weekend all those folk that drove to Snowdonia and the south coast beaches and other beauty spots all thought they were going somewhere quiet. Except they ended up heaving with people.

Walk local and stay local.

Driving 200 miles to go for a nice walk in the Lakes, not reasonable. Driving 1 mile to go for a nice walk somewhere quiet locally because you live on a road without pavements and can’t safely walk there from your house, reasonable. Surely?

@Flaxmeadow country walks are deserted around here. I saw no one on my walk this morning, as is usual, and I could have walked for hours, and I still wouldn't have seen anyone. It's the countryside; it's sparsely populated, I can walk for hours and not even see a house, let alone people. It's an agricultural area too, used by local people, and there aren't many of them as the local population is small. (but I did see plenty of livestock.)
The government may have said one hours' exercise, but they are contradicting their own legislation. The whole point is the police cannot fine you for walking for more than an hour (and how would they know anyway?), or for walking more than once a day because you would not be committing an offence. Read the legislation for yourself.
I find this blind attachment to 'the rules' with no regard to circumstances quite alarming. I am sure there are a few mumsnet stasi who would quite happily sit in their windows with guns and shoot those they thought weren't complying. Whatever happened to common sense? Or is it that some people can't imagine areas of this country where there is simply no one around?

I find this blind attachment to 'the rules' with no regard to circumstances quite alarming

I find the wilful ignoring of government rules and advice even more alarming.

It's not about individual circumstances. It's about the rules and advice applying to everyone. Wherever you might live

But the rules are phrased loosely in recognition that people live in different places in different circumstances and what’s appropriate for one person in one place isn’t going to be appropriate for another. We need to use our common sense, not insist that everyone must exercise within 500m of their house even if they’re the only inhabitant of a remote island.

Spot on goldenombre

But country walks are not deserted anymore.

They are where I am.

But the rules are phrased loosely in recognition that people live in different places in different circumstances and what’s appropriate for one person in one place isn’t going to be appropriate for another

But different rules and advice for different areas and people would be unworkable.

As I understand it. We can walk for exercise near where we live. That we should try to do this for no more than an 'hour'. This is my interpretation of the advice ATM. Wherever we might live

But country walks are not deserted anymore.

They are where I am.

Yep, they are here too. On the sunnier days I have seen maybe half a dozen people out - spread around 10 fields. Today, with some hail falling and temperatures lower, not a soul.

But different rules and advice for different areas and people would be unworkable.

Yes. Which is why the guidance is ‘try to exercise locally where possible’, which is reasonable, and not whatever extra-restrictive thing people are claiming it is now. There’s no law against driving to exercise - for some people driving to exercise locally probably would involve driving, for many of us it wouldn’t.