On 28th March I wrote this:

“The government should be encouraging us to exercise as much as possible, preferably outdoors, while maintaining social distance, in order not to over-burden the very NHS which they are supporting (morally, at least). It doesn't matter how many times a day, nor how far people may need to drive, so long as it's within a stated distance from home and it doesn't involve getting less than two metres from anyone other than family members or partners. The "instructions" could have been 'Exercise as much as you can, but no road travel more than five miles from home unless it's for essential reasons’.”

Well, now we can drive from home to exercise more than once, sit on beaches and social-distance queue for ice-creams. As from Monday June 1st we can do this in a group of six, so long as we keep two metres (from each other, or other groups ?). But In England there is not, nor has been, a stated limit on how far we might travel in order to do so, only vague imprecations of what might constitute ‘local’. At the start of lockdown the UK’s police forces were left to interpret the ‘rules’ on ‘travel to exercise’ as best they could, leading to inconsistencies and, in a few cases, over-reactions.

Once full lockdown was eased in England, the result has been crowding at well-known beauty spots and, in some cases, packed beaches resembling bank holidays. The English police’s role has been reduced to dawn raids on campervans in order that overnighters might ‘move on’ to the next hotspot. Most toilets and all cafes and restaurants are still closed, with only too predictable results and without economic benefit to locals. The weather is set fair for an early summer heatwave, and it will only get worse. But there’s still no limit on how far families can travel in England, for exercise or otherwise.

In Wales, however, it’s different. Their version of lockdown easing has, finally, set a limit on travel to meet people (including exercise, or ice creams), and it’s five miles. Though it can be interpreted “a little locally”, for example in very rural areas, it means that driving from the English border (or anywhere else in the UK) to the Welsh coast, hills or mountains is still not permitted. So the beaches of the Gower and Pembrokeshire will remain sparsely dotted while Brighton’s and Bournemouth’s become more and more rammed. It’s now acknowledged that the risk of virus transmission is much lower in the outdoors, but if Brighton’s crowds were limited to its own residents, social distancing might still be possible there and at other English resorts.

Instead of going from ‘stay local though we haven’t defined what it means’ to ‘go anywhere in England so long as it’s today’, we could have had gradual increasing of the ‘travel to exercise’ distance limit in increments of five or ten miles. By now we might have been at fifteen or twenty, enough for a proper day’s walk on routes selected to avoid farmyards and gardens. On my lockdown walks (still from home) I’ve seen many ’please sod off’ notices and some illegally obstructed stiles, even on the Pennine Way. It all could have been so different.

Iain

How long is a permitted excersize walk walking on your own and staying away from others you may meet. 2, 5, 15 miles maybe. I did a walk from Billing, approx. 12 miles round trip, I didn't have to travel by car to get to the start point either. That was just before the lock down. Keep safe guys, and see you on the other side. Stevecee x

Lockdown will have two very unlwelcome effects
One is that paths will get very overgrown and there will be little funding for LAs to deal with this.
So on your exercise walks please try get around and take secateurs. If you have a treking pole good ones can be used to beat back nettles and the like. Lightweight ones may break.
Carry on doing this once restrictions are lifted
The second effect will to reduce the membership of all rambling clubs. I remember this from the foot and mouth. So if you can get some folks to join the LDWA or any other walking club to join, that would be good.

I had been eying up the Northampton Round, a nice 51mile route, but its 10 miles from home. I think it now appears that it's unacceptable to travel in order to exercise, and I don't fancy walking 10 miles each way, to then do a 51miles! So that's now on hold, and i'm plotting routes starting and finishing from home. And logging them on Strava, so that anyone enquiring can be shown that it is my one form of exercise, and that I haven't travelled in order to do it. One of the issues though, on long walks is the food and drink. Without pubs, cafes etc, it means carrying almost all the food and drink requirement for the whole walk. I do have a water filtration device for flowing water, and I believe churchyards have water on tap? I guess if I take a full load of water in the backpack, it will get lighter as the day goes on... Regarding social isolation, on my 27mile jog/walk on Sunday I passed only 30 people, mostly couples, and mostly in town, very few in the countryside on footpaths and bridleways.

Today (bbc online news 28th March) is that "People should prepare to fight coronavirus like they would prepare for surgery by staying fit and healthy, say medics" from the Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC). "CPOC is encouraging people to take brisk exercise, stop smoking, maintain good nutrition and mental health ... to reduce their chances of becoming severely ill from the virus and over-burdening the NHS".

The government should be encouraging us to exercise as much as possible, preferably outdoors, while maintaining social distance, in order not to over-burden the very NHS which they are supporting (morally, at least). It doesn't matter how many times a day, nor how far people may need to drive, so long as it's within a stated distance from home and it doesn't involve getting less than two metres from anyone other than family members or partners. The "instructions" could have been 'Exercise as much as you can, but no road travel more than five miles from home unless it's for essential reasons'. That might have been enforceable via vehicle number plates. Instead, different police forces are interpreting the 'law' in different ways. (In Ireland the stated distance is just 2.5kms.)

In the absence of properly thought through legislation on not just exercise but reasons to travel, the result is liable to be repeated infringements followed by full lockdown - the very opposite of what the government's own medical advisers are telling them is not only good for us but also supports the NHS.

There are lots of issues here. Some people are being very irresposible but most seem not to be. Exercise is very important for health and prolonged idleness would shove heart disease, diabetes and depression to levels which would challenge the NHS as much as this virus.
People should be encouraged to make use of all this time many of us suddenly have to step up exercise not cut it back.
In cities it can be hard to keep a safe distance. Exercise might times might have to be allocated to different groups, say by age. It is easier for authorities to impose blanket bans but this would be wrong.
If people are keeping safe distances and washing their hands often they should be allowed to walk and run as much as they like.
My experience is that fewer people are going out and mostly trying very hard to keep the distance
People could write to their MPs and Councillors to while away the time

The '23rd March Update on Coronavirus' top of page spinner says this:

'The Prime Minister has provided instructions about exercise. Full details can be found at www.gov.uk/coronavirus'.
'We hope that everybody in the LDWA understands the seriousness that the United Kingdom finds itself in and urges all members to be responsible.'

Unfortunately, the government's 'instructions about exercise', like other aspects of its lockdown policy, lack clarity. The gov.uk/coronavirus website says:

'You should only leave the house for one of four reasons:
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, or to provide care or to help a vulnerable person.
Travelling to and from work, but only where this absolutely cannot be done from home.'

Today I combined the first two of these by walking from my home village into Skipton and back (eight miles total) on the Leeds-Liverpool canal towpath. I'm pleased to say that almost all of the several people on the towpath were considerate in keeping distance, and awareness of Social Distancing was obvious. But the main road alongside the canal was as busy as usual with a combination of transport/services vehicles and private cars. The road runs beyond Skipton to the Yorkshire Dales, Lancashire and the Lake District - could they all be going to and from work ?

The country-wide semi-lockdown was introduced after weekend scenes of exceptional crowding in Snowdonia and crowds at many of the Dales honeypots, Scarborough and other coastal towns. Most if not all of those people would have travelled by car (in contrast, the Skipton-Carlisle trains were almost empty, and Skipton's bus station was today deserted). Some LDWA members are asking if the government's "instructions" on exercise permit driving to a walk's relatively remote start place, from where there may be less chance of encountering other people than when starting from nearer home. Many dog-walkers habitually drive to a car park or lay-by within a few miles of home.

With beautiful spring weather and Easter approaching, my guess is that many families will take to their cars again in order to exercise in line with government policy, that is ’a run, walk or cycle - alone or with members of your household’. If everyone goes to the local park, it will be difficult to maintain social distance. Skipton is on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and, though it may not become as busy as a few days ago - the first dry weekend after five months of rain - I fear the Park will be packed again.

According to today’s news (25th March) a quarter of the world’s population are under lockdown. Without clarity and enforcement of gov.uk’s “instructions” on exercise (and much else), total lockdown - confinement to home for all but 'essential workers', ‘permission to travel’ documents, evidence of virus test results - we’re next.