Covid-19 Travel for exercise - Reasonable distance

[henchy3rd]

In Wales it is specified that you do not drive for exercise - not that it stops some people!

I live in a bit of a tourist/beauty spot, I shan’t go to the local shop or walk the wildlife walks at the weekend because it’s like the high street here on a nice day.
So I have to drive to get away from it all & find a safe area not far from here.(my secret place)

 

[Fadcode]

Very hard question to answer as it would be answered by where you live and how you are affected, for instance if I lived in a care home, I would want everyone to get out and travel, if I lived in a place that had many visitors, I would drive a good distance away to feel safe. Staying in a house is the safest as long as you dont go out at all, or have any visitors, this also means that you leave your groceries and post for 2 days in isolation, or give them a good clean.
But honestly if I go to an isolated place and dont see anyone, meet anyone, then I cant see how that would make the spreading of the virus worse in any way.

 

[John Fenna]

I can walk from my door into some great countyside and woods and do between 5 and 8 miles daily (no work at the moment due to Covid) - disease ridden tourists drive to the area but I am able to choose walks that have next to no users as the tourists only go to the "honeypot" areas ... where they can merrily share their diseases and reap the benefits of rule breaking.
I am just sorry that their selfish actions are putting the overstretched NHS under even more pressure!
If you can go where you are guaranteed to not meet another soul (including Police) at your chosen destination, have your vehicle break down or chance interacting with anyone else at all THEN I guess I am not worried about how far you drive

 

[Fadcode]

Just as a matter of interest if you see the Police at these "Honeypot" areas do you consider them to be disease ridden?

 

[punkrockcaveman]

I live in a bit of a tourist/beauty spot, I shan’t go to the local shop or walk the wildlife walks at the weekend because it’s like the high street here on a nice day.
So I have to drive to get away from it all & find a safe area not far from here.(my secret place)

That is common sense, and I applaud you for it. I have a horrible feeling that law enforcement will not see it that way

My biggest concern is that I now have friends that are scared of doing things that are perfectly legal, and are suffering mentally as a result of not getting exercise. I'm currently more fearful of losing friends to suicide than to covid.

Don't judge me for saying this but I'm scared that we are trying to preserve something that cannot be preserved.

 

[Fadcode]

I was going to run away from home, but i am not sure how far I am allowed to run....

I do find it hard with the latest Govt Ban, that is people arriving into the UK by sea,or air have to have proof they have a negative result from a test, but it doesnt come into force until next weekend, so I am wondering if there may be a rush to get back before the requirement of a negative test result comes into force.

 

[bobnewboy]

Interestingly the Angling Trust have clarified that fishing alone is allowed in England in this lockdown, see here. My local fishing lakes are at the same distance away from my house as the nearest shop (approx 3-4 miles), and since I’m generally the only person there I can’t see a safer (for all) place for me to get some mental relief from being indoors. Exercise, fishing and fresh air, if the lakes are open.

 

[Spunyarn]

More interesting and respectable points of view so thanks guys. Punkrockcaveman you need not fear being judged for your point of view, and I appreciate you sharing it.

 

[SaraR]

Here in Wales the answer is given: no driving allowed, any exercising is directly from home only.

After trialling all available loops (all on roads), we've settled on one 4 km out and back walk were cars can pass fairly easily, so less scary/annoying, for walking the dogs. Seems boring perhaps, but there's always something different to look at. In the evenings, I walk back and forth in the village until I've had enough. Not always fun, but plenty of exercise and fresh air. Would I rather go to the beach or the hills on the weekends? Sure, but that's beside the point at the moment.

One thing that people seem to not consider is that the more cars people see on the roads, the more likely they are to think it's ok for them to go for a drive too.

 

[oldtimer]

Last time I postulated that I was roundly told (and you were part of the conversation) that it was selfish because if the car broke down then I was reliant on someone else risking themselves to come and assist.

To be clear. I put my answer to the OP's question as the "do not drive" option. However, not everyone is able to get away for exercise without driving. If one has to drive, the answer should be the minimum distance but I don't see how this can be quantified. I think the OP is advocating a common sense approach by the police. For example, a drive from a London borough to Hampstead Heath may be reasonable: a drive from London to Barnard Castle would not be.

 

[Spunyarn]

Thanks for your posts oldtimer. Just to be clear I’m genuinely not advocating any particular view. My only agenda is to see what most people feel is reasonable.

Your point about this being more complex than the poll choices allow is a very valid one and I appreciate your point of view.

 

[henchy3rd]

We are all grieving for the great outdoors & life as we knew it..we’ve taken everything for granted whilst things were good.
When it’s finally over’if’. There will be a lot of us who shall cherish our friends & family & return to a a better different life.
Maybe something good will come out of it, we’ll just have to wait & see.

 

[Paul_B]

There's a few decent loops for walks from our house but all involves easily along a canal towpath. As you expect it gets busy at times and you're walking past people at a close distance. It's still outdoors though so the virus particles probably get dispersed quickly especially on the section with direct path for the wind coming off Morecambe Bay.

However, to me avoid people we travel typically about 5 miles by car possibly up to 10 miles. The longer distance my partner travels twice a day taking our child to be school. Unfortunately it's taken a whole term length and we're still not moved house to where the school is. Once we've made the move it's a quieter area during lockdown. Plus more open routes from the door. It's why we're moving there, because it's a better location to face a lockdown in.

During 2020 there's been a lot more demand for houses locally outside the small city here and the towns. Even our current small town is better than the city of Lancaster. However there's many small to medium sized villages around here that are more popular now. People are moving to houses with gardens, like us, and to more rural villages, like us. It's an effect of the pandemic lockdown.

However, in our case we've moved somewhere where public transport via train into the city our employers are based is easy and quick. We're a matter of minutes from the train station and 21 minutes train journey into city. COVID friendly house but work friendly and as low pollution commute as I can manage.

I digress! My point being that in modern times with this pandemic, which might only be the first of them, we're planning ahead. We're moving to where we can reduce our risks of infection by exercising with fewer people around. We're moving to where the infection rates are usually lower than average and low for the area. We're moving to where we have the space to me sit in a garden with country views. Where we have space for a home gym. Where the local primary school has a good leader in the head teacher and which has an aim to stay open if at all possible. Also, better home learning capabilities and better communication with parents.

I'm not a prepper by any means but COVID is forcing people to think like a prepper. IMHO the exercise travel distance question really does depend on what safe opportunities you have near you. Where we are it's 5 to 10 miles. Where we're moving to its 0 miles. If you can why wouldn't you? I just wish the UK had room for everyone to do this and everyone had the means to do this too.

 

[santaman2000]

McDonalds and similar fast food chains originally had no indoor seating (or any seating for that matter) They were built entirely on the concept of take away. Today they’re still heavily reliant on drive thru. It’s the local businesses that will suffer from this.

Is McDonald's open for such business ?
Cafes and restaurants are closed, afaik, takeaway ??

 

[John Fenna]

Just as a matter of interest if you see the Police at these "Honeypot" areas do you consider them to be disease ridden?

See Police? Around here? You have to be kidding!
In the most unlikely event of seeing an officer around here I consider them to be just more hard working essential workers being put at risk by Covid rule breakers!

 

[mikehill]

Seems they made a mistake .. again

Covid: Fines reviewed after women 'surrounded by police'

Two women were fined £200 after driving five miles to walk around Foremark Reservoir, Derbyshire.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Rules/laws were a little less vague regarding distances you could travel for exercise during the lockdowns in France. You couldn't go further than 1km (0.62 miles) from your home to jog or walk the dog nor remain outside for more than an hour. Everytime you stepped out of the front door, you had to have a either a printed official form (or a virtual one on a smartphone), declaring why you were out of doors.......there were about half a dozen legitimate reasons authorized. There was a 135 Euros fine if you were caught without such a form. Public parks & gardens were closed, beaches banned & forest walks a no-no if you were more than a km from your home.
As usual, it's one size fits all.......whether you're in an over-populated town or in complete isolation in a rural setting, the restriction applies to everyone. I live in a rurual area & I'm used to walking 10 km a day with my mutt so it was extremely difficult reducing 'our' walkies' time & distance & although I'm pretty isolated & haven't seen a representative of the law since this whole coronacircus started & nor do I ever meet/cross anyone on our walks .....I did more or less comply with the limited exercise restrictions.

Personally I don't think one should take the car to satisfy a need for greenery. The whole idea of a lockdown is to reduce the movement of people to a minimum. Unfortunately, if such restrictions aren't clarified but left to the discretion of the public, each will create their own scenario, convinced their behaviour is justified.
I also have a tendency to believe that people who live in regions/towns/areas of high infection rates should not be allowed to travel to those of no or low infection rates.....for any reason. (I also think it would make more sense if international borders were closed & nationals abroad not repatriated in times of a pandemic but that's a different topic)

I fear the vaccine(s) won't be the panacea governments & indeed a large part of the population(s) were hoping for & we're set for continued restrictions & repeated lockdowns for some time to come.

 

[TLM]

Hmmm... lets think about it. I at least assume that the reason for restrictions is the need to minimize personal contact. So far it looks like droplets/aerosols are the main way of contracting WuhanV and contact on surfaces much less important. So far I have not seen much actual research on the subject but lots of speculation.

Setting very small defined limits on the distance is probably counterproductive (an example: limiting people in their village actually creates more possible contacts than letting them roam a bit farther or, heaven forbid, drive somewhere isolated.)

On the third hand if people drive so far that they have to take fuel on the way creates possible contacts and spreading.

After all that strenuous activity of analyzing I quite arbitrarily choose 20 km radius.

 

[Wander]

...WuhanV...

Out of interest, why did you refer to it as that?

 

[TLM]

Out of interest, why did you refer to it as that?

Because that seems to be the term the Chinese are very intent on eradicating. Just to remember where it originates.