Lockdown Travel advice

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Removed User 19 Nov 2020

Hi guys

I was reading a few posts on here last night to see if I could gauge the feelings about whether travel to fells and crags is allowed under the new guidance. 
Im desperate to get back to Cumbria but was unclear and the threads I read didn’t  clarify the situation for me. I would have been travelling form Stoke to Cumbria (alone) and the vague guidance didn’t mention what kind of distance is relevant to the travel required to get to my outdoor open space/ place of exercise.

Eventually  I emailed the police to see if they had any idea. Staffordshire constabulary were as vague as the guidance, only suggesting the spirit of the guidance was to avoid journeys. So I took the query to Cumbria constabulary whose response was another exert of govt guidance but one I had not seen and it quotes under travel that you could leave home and travel to “ exercise if you need to make a SHORT journey to do so”. This part was kindly highlighted in bold red letters. 

Im no expert but a 250 mile round trip may not fit that bill so that settles that ( although I’d decided against it anyway) . 
They went on to say that “ due to this advice , I would advise you not to visit Cumbria whilst these restrictions are in place”

Where I come from that reads as “ Do one”

Hope  this helps anyone planning to travel and doesn’t confuse matters further. and if I’m late to the party with this info then” sorry” 

Stu 

2
 Oceanrower 19 Nov 2020
In reply to Removed Userplodding painter:

Cumbria constabulary are wrong...

Post edited at 21:36
5
 ianstevens 19 Nov 2020
In reply to Removed Userplodding painter:

250 miles each way? Good luck doing anything else with the day (no overnight stays of course...) 

Best to keep local for now I think. Maybe... the peak? I know it’s not the same of course.

Post edited at 21:41
1
Removed User 20 Nov 2020
In reply to ianstevens:

I’ll be off to the peak this weekend , but one has to ask is Derbyshire even classed a short journey? It’s got me thinking for sure. 
though I feel the risk from a trip such as that I had planned, I see the point of the general ethos of “stay local”

Trouble is, how will we all feel if this, as expected, continues well into January.

Removed User 20 Nov 2020
In reply to Removed Userplodding painter:

Should have read as “ though I feel LITTLE risk from such a trip”

 Si dH 20 Nov 2020
In reply to Oceanrower:

> Cumbria constabulary are wrong...

Despite all the dislikes, as far I am aware you are correct. The guidance is here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-national-restrictions-from-5-november?prior...

The law itself does not mention travel.

(1) the police enforce the law, not the guidance

(2) where the police use the guidance themselves to help determine when something is a reasonable excuse for being away from home under the law, they need to use the latest version of the guidance. The version given to the OP above containing the word "short" was issued when the restrictions were first announced, but removed and replaced by the current version before the restrictions even came in.

So yes, Cumbria police appear to be wrong. What they should have said is that people are asked to exercise locally if possible, but you are allowed to travel if necessary.

Post edited at 07:13
mick taylor 20 Nov 2020
In reply to Removed Userplodding painter:

I said similar ages back: climbing has had a proud (for me anyway) history of flicking the V’s to conformity. I find it interesting that the majority of climbers are trying to find workarounds to carrying on with their hobby, using the regulations to their advantage. Once people start having great massive debates (as per another recent thread) then its obviously nowhere as clear cut as many folk think. 
I reckon climbers should hang up their boots for a month or two. 
In recent weeks I’ve heard ‘gyms are ok’, ‘restaurants are ok’, ‘churches are ok’, ‘climbing is ok’, etc etc etc. Anyone with a passion can make an argument that their ‘thing’ is totally covid responsible. Add them all up though and it’s similar to the aggregation of marginal gains.
Not sure what I would have done if I was as keen as I used to be -  think I may have climbed but not tried to justify it. 
Oh, I think your scenario is clear cut: 250 miles for a days climbing is bonkers anyway. You don’t live in the Lakes by any chance

 Blue Straggler 20 Nov 2020
In reply to mick taylor:

Well said, Mick. I've seen similar, and have had to publicly castigate good friends about this. IN my example it was regarding open water freediving in a quarry! Similar to what you say about "hanging up your boots", I told the guy (on a WhatsApp group) that I was not desperate enough for relatively shallow open water depth training in the UK in November, to start making my own interpretation of guidelines to bend them to what _I_ want and ignore the "spirit of lockdown". In fairness to the guy he was being strung along by the dive centre at the quarry in question, sending out ill-informed (and, again, frankly desperate) emails saying that THEIR interpretation of rules is that they can stay open! (an hour later they rescinded this, so that ended the discussion anyway). 

I've always thought that climbers were a practical and adaptable bunch, able to find other ways to get their kicks. The amount of posts I've seen on here (and I am in no way referring to the OP) where people are crying out that climbing is their WHOLE LIFE and they won't be able to cope without it, has been quite eye-opening. 


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