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The Lockdown in the UK

Dave123

10+ Posts
I asked Steve where he would go if we could travel in the UK. He said Lyme Regis, a 15 minute drive away. We can't go there now because we cannot do any non-essential travel in a car. I would go to the coast of southern Wales (which was the next trip I had planned).

What constitutes a reasonable excuse to leave the place where you live [England only]
National Police Chiefs' Council/College of Policing (9 April 2020 ?)

Regulation 6 of the The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 states no person may leave the place where they live without a reasonable excuse ...

Exercise: Likely to be reasonable ...

* Driving to countryside and walking (where far more time is spent walking than driving).



Sorted ?! ;)
 
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This has been discussed a lot on a Twitter. From your link it looks like they have updated the rules. Last week it said you can only drive to exercise if you cannot exercise by walking from your house. Our elderly neighbors drive to a flat area where they can walk (we are on a bit of a hill) but we don’t need to drive to another area to exercise.

Still there is the issue of parking. All national trust car parks are closed. Also car parks are closed in our seaside town. Why are these closed if we can drive to go walking?

But, it does look like we can drive out now. We will give it a try. Thanks!
 
But, it does look like we can drive out now. We will give it a try. Thanks!

The Police/NPCC guidelines seem reasonable to me - we've found by driving 10-15 mins, to nearby villages, that we usually encounter fewer people whilst walking, than we would by staying locally (probably because we live in a well-populated suburb of a city). So in this case the hazard is arguably reduced by not exercising in the immediate locality.

Maybe this partly explains why the decline in Covid-19 cases/deaths is taking so long ?:

BBC News - Coronavirus lockdown breakers: 'We got a dirty look and I called it to an end' 3 May 2020

A number of hospitalised but recovering Covid-19 patients have said "I wished I'd taken it more seriously" - it might be interesting to know which activities they thought had led to the infection.
 
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We are being very cautious. We are in the edge of a village on the edge of a small market town, so not a populated area. We no longer walk on the footpath that goes around town because it is busier now with everyone in town walking there. We would love to walk along the Lyme Regis promenade but probably won’t because it will have more people than we are used to. But, understanding now that we can drive somewhere, we will head out more into the countryside to do a different walk.

I looked into all of this a couple of weeks ago and it clearly said you could only drive to exercise if none was available without driving.

As far as travel goes, we will see if the UK starts to allow travel within the country. And if European countries allow visitors at some point. I could see countrnot allowing Brits to enter because we have so many cases/deaths here.
 
I received an email from Dorset Council today saying we CANNOT drive to exercise!

We’re asking Dorset residents to take their daily exercise from home. Use local roads, paths and open spaces and please don’t travel to your favourite parks, beaches or beauty spots. The majority of car parks will be closed and Dorset Police will be checking that people are travelling for essential reasons only.

So it looks like the local council can override the police recommendations. This wouldn't happen if the government was less vague about all this. There is a briefing scheduled for Sunday night where they say they will tell us how we are going to head out of lockdown and people speculate that they will allow people to go out as many times a day as they want for exercise and to allow picnicing !! and sitting on benches !! Meanwhile Britain is having the best spring weather in years.
 
An update on the UK lockdown (and I will move this thread to the UK forum). A few weeks ago the government started to loosen the lockdown. We could drive to exercise, we could drive to a beach or beauty spot and sit out or picnic. We could meet up with one friend in an outdoor public place if we socially distanced. No overnight stays. No going in another person’s house.

Garden Centres, which are hugely popular in the UK, opened with social distancing. I went to our local one on Friday and it was just the normal amount of annoying.

A lot of people headed for our Dorset beaches. At first Dorset Council kept all beach car parks and facilities closed but after a week they had to open them because people were parking along the roads and in neighbourhoods.

Last week we went for a drive for the first time since mid-March! Up until then it was just once a week into town for groceries. We drove out to two of our favourite beaches. They were not crowded.

That all changed this weekend when it seems like everyone headed to the beach at Durdle Door. Crowds on the beach. Three youths injured from jumping off the arch into the sea. Two other injuries. Three helicopters for rescue.


Starting Monday, tomorrow, groups up to six can meet up in public places or in their gardens. Our neighbours started this early.

I am happy to see the lockdown ending but it has been shocking to see how busy it got here. Can’t blame people for wanting to get out.

In mid-June all shops can open. In July hairdressers and dentist go back to work. I have my appointments booked. Not sure about restaurants and pubs, or vacation rentals and hotels.
 
In mid-June all shops can open. In July hairdressers and dentist go back to work. I have my appointments booked.

Fingers crossed. When this first came out, it read as a "not before" sort of guideline, but it's been noticeable that the government's rhetoric about the the equivalent rules for re-opening of schools shifted quite soon to "must be on..." and those who questioned or criticised their timing and implementation came in for a lot of negative reaction from the powers that be. And we wait to see what the statistics tell us about the impact (if any).
 
Shops are opening tomorrow in England! Our town market was open on Saturday but was not busy and only half the number of stalls.

Restaurants, pubs and hairdressers are still closed but they are still saying July 4 for them.

We drove to Lyme Regis the other day and there were a lot of people visiting. Not too crowded.

The UK now has a 14 day quarantine for anyone arriving, even returning residents. No one says how long this will last.
 
Pubs, restaurants, hotels, camping, holiday rentals, and hairdressers all opening on Saturday. We’ve had some problems with large crowds on some beaches. Last week we had two very hot days (80F - hot for here) and people flocked to the beaches. We didn’t but I was tempted. Our local beach wasn’t overrun. There have been raves and street parties. Everyone is letting loose after being locked down.

We can travel within the UK starting Saturday and can travel to Europe. The 14 day quarantine will most likely be removed for Brits returning from most European countries. The details will be announced tomorrow.

Some of the online sites for booking holiday rentals in the UK had a huge volume of bookings.

The problem with traveling in the UK now is that we are heading into the usual summer travel season (mid July to end of August) and things will be crowded. Our area (West Dorset) will be crowded. Perhaps even more than usual because some may be reluctant to fly somewhere.

I’ve looked at a few cottage rental sites and am tempted to book a few days in Wales or Cornwall (or Ireland) but we haven’t decided yet. We would go to a hiking destination so would be avoiding crowded places. Ireland would be interesting because it might be much less crowded because Americans are not traveling there.

Part of me wants to get out there, but the other part wants to be cautious.

The Guardian - Holiday bookings for England surge in wake of Boris Johnson's green light
The prime minister’s announcement leads to ‘a frenzy of booking’ for cottages and campsites as people are urged to book quickly to find accommodation
 

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