Where on earth did this 1 hour 'rule' come from?

[YappityYapYap]

Just having a rant here, sorry. Ok so I have followed all the guidelines to a tee. I regularly look up the government guidelines (well maybe once a week) and I stick to them. So here is what has annoyed me today.

I hadn't left the house in 5 weeks. I was working from home then I got furloughed. DH is working from home and he does the shopping alone. Because he's working at home, when he finishes at 4pm, he likes to take DS for a walk. So I don't take DS on one, I leave that to DH. I get that time to clean and whatever. I take DS in the garden and we get plenty of exercise there through the day while DH works. Today though, because I hadn't left the house for so long, I decided to take DS for a walk. I took him out for just short of 2 hours then came home. Once we were home, DH said he'd take DS into the garden for a while since he'd had a walk already. So I joined them and my next door neighbour (over the wall) was like I saw you went out, do you feel better for it? I was like yes I do thanks. Then she made a comment and said you better watch if you do it again that you don't get stopped because you're only meant to go for 1 hour. I just sort of looked at her and said ah ok, I'll bare that in mind.

I cannot find any 'rule' that says you can only go out for a walk for 1 hour!! It's made up isn't it? I get on really well with my neighbour but I did overhear her on the phone the other day telling her friend she thinks China did this all on purpose so I'm taking what she says with a pinch of salt now!

I'm not really fond of walking regularly. I have a nice routine going with DS on weekdays where we get up quite early, have breakfast, get dressed, play games then spend the rest of the day in the garden looking for insects and just having fun. DH likes a walk so he has that routine with DS. However, I would probably like to get out once a week and do what I did today and have a big long walk with DS, just to blow the cobwebs off and be in the outside world and see different faces. It's a bit awkward though if my neighbour comments on how long I was away for though!

There is no rule. It’s in people’s imaginations.

I believe Michael Gove mentioned it as an example - but it’s definitely not anywhere in any of the guidance. Lots of people have totally got it wrong on this front. You’re fine.

Gove, I think, suggested a half hour run or one hour cycle ride would be considered reasonable exercise so I suspect that is where it came from. It's not defined anywhere in law.

It was "guidance" from Michael Gove a few weeks ago.

Personally I think it's fair enough, but it's not law, and people can do what they like within the law.

So your neighbour can put her nose back where it belongs.

Made up by rabid Mumsnetters.

I am sick of people saying it is an hour. I went out for longer than that today and saw 2 people and they were significantly further away than 2 metres. It is common sense and am annoyed at constantly hearing it is one hour.

Because Michael fucking Gove thinks that just because he can't walk for longer than an hour, no one else can manage it.
Your neighbour sounds cray-cray.

There’s no rule, Gove mentioned it in one of his briefings. MN & others latched on to that as The Law and resolved to keep their timers at the ready while they curtain twitch.

Yes, it’s what Gove said would be reasonable.

My friend has been doing a 20 mile walk for five days to raise money for charity, she's out about seven hours.

There isn’t a rule!

You can leave home to exercise ONCE per day. The government webpage says nothing about a time limit and neither did Boris when he told the nation lockdown was happening.

The following I have copied from the www.gov.uk webpage

You should only leave the house for very limited purposes:

shopping for basic necessities, for example food and medicine, which must be as infrequent as possible
one form of exercise a day, for example a run, walk, or cycle - alone or with members of your household
any medical need, including to donate blood, avoid or escape risk of injury or harm, or to provide care or to help a vulnerable person
travelling for work purposes, but only where you cannot work from home

Definitely not a rule. But seems to have been grabbed on as gospel. It's all about being reasonable and managing any risk. I often walk for 1.5 hours. I want to hit 10-12k steps everyday for general health and it takes me that long.

Once a day also isn't a rule. Only guidance. As highlighted by the guidance document the police published last week. It's all about is it reasonable for you to have left the house to exercise (or any other reason).

It's weird because i heard on grapevine 1 hour but cannot find any goverment guidelines written online anywhere mentioning 1hour. So strange

I personally think people shouldn't be neighbourhood police unless really necessary ie domestic violence clearly being heard or loads of different visitors entering property etc.

Who's got the time to be spying whether neighbour takes more than hour, supermarket queues can takr more than that

I think this was a rule in another European country some time back, but have NEVER seen/read it being a factual rule in the UK. if you see your neighbour, ask her where she read her 'fact'?

Your neighbour is a idiot and so is anyone else who takes the 1 hour literally its guidance that's it .
I'm a bit shocked at the not leaving the house in 5 weeks . You should definitely get out there for walks and ignore your nosey neighbour.

It was something Michael Gove suggested when interviewed by Andrew Marr back in March.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/an-hours-walk-should-do-says-michael-gove-9hq2qjsqb

However neither the law

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/350/regulation/6/made

Nor the police guidance specifies a reasonable amount of time.

www.college.police.uk/What-we-do/COVID-19/Documents/What-constitutes-a-reasonable-excuse.pdf

The 1 hour rule exists here in France, but only for exercise, also we are only meant to go 1km away from our house.

I've been out for about 90min every day - that's how long 10,000 steps takes me and it a nice even loop from home. I usually see two, maybe three other people.

It’s come from people’s minds.

Gove said something like ‘walking for about an hour and running for about 30 minutes’. But they were simply just suggestions, at no time was it law.

Your neighbour needs to keep her beak out.

Yeah 5 weeks is extreme I know. I guess I was spending so much time in the garden and fell into a routine of DH doing DS's walk each day that it never occurred to me until this week just how long it had been. I'm not much of a walker! I was when DS was a baby, we walked every day just to walk but now that he's 3, the walking I tended to do before the lockdown was purpose walking like walking to the park and walking to the shop sort of thing. With no purpose, I didn't really see any need to walk but my god, see today, that walk was great! I think that's why we ended up being 2 hours. We just doddled about for ages.

I would like to do it every week and I'm not doing anything wrong I don't think. It's not really in my remit to go for a short walk everyday. I'm more of a save it and go all out type of person!

There is no 1 hour rule. I have 2 large dogs; our daily walk is between 2-2.5 hours. I think your neighbour must be confusing an example given by one of the ministers with an actual rule. (Mind you, if she thought China has done this on purpose, she's confused a lot more than that!)

I’ve just seen a Facebook post of ‘out for our daily allowance’

It was one of the European countries, France I think.

At one point NHS very clearly said "one hour" as a guideline.
I can't find it, but I don't think I hallucinated that written in black and white.

Screenshot from The Sun.