Just as well all the administrations are joined up on this one.
In Wales we have only been able to exercise from our doorstep. That for me, and thousands of others, mean we are all forced into crowded spaces, where there is wilderness just beyond walking distance…
In a year of lockdown, the busiest, most densely populated place I visit is the local park, shoulder to shoulder with humanity and their dogs… It makes a supermarket trip look like a visit to the Arctic. At least the coffee shops, beer takeaway, cafes are doing well with the extra footfall.
The good news is that GW has now lifted stay at home, and changed to stay local.
I have 3 summits within what I consider local distance, so expect SOTA is up for grabs again in GW?
I’d rather do that than yet another picnic on the crowded beach in Penarth 
I’m a little bit late to the party on this thread but here’s my take on it:-
Taken from the Governments website:-
“Step 2 - not before 12 April”
"Self-contained accommodation such as campsites and holiday lets, where indoor facilities are not shared with other households, can also reopen.
I have also received an email from The Caravan & Motorhome Club (which is my usual accommodation because I take my caravan with me when I travel to SOTA summits), stating that they will be opening their sites from 12th April.
I believe that the “stay at home” rule is due to be lifted on 29th March.
With the above in mind, assuming that the Government don’t suddenly decide to delay this progression to step 2 (it does say “no earlier than”), I would assume that travelling to any summit within England is far game from April 12th onwards?
Obviously Scotland & Wales will have their own rules (I don’t have a clue what their rules are).
What would be considered “local” under current rules is a little vague & open to a certain amount of debate.
I will refrain from getting involved in said debate, only to say that my nearest SOTA summit is 30 minutes drive away & I don’t think that I could reasonably argue that to be “staying local” when I have several open spaces within 10 minutes drive from me.
At the moment, the travelling restrictions from the 12th April seem very unclear to me. Although holidays in England will be allowed once again, travelling should still be kept to a minimum. This really doesn’t make sense. I am hoping that by the 12th April that any travelling restrictions in place then will be made clear.
Jimmy M0HGY
G - Association Manager
I made the same comments in an email to a GM activator discussing the relaxations in GM that in very few cases, have the words been clear and that the spirit of the rules had to be applied which can lead to different interpretations.
“Spirit” itself is a fuzzy and ill-defined word in this context, its a word that appears either when something is difficult to define or when an authority is too lazy to be precise. Guess which it is in this case! 
The COVID-19 Response document says that from 12th April
- The majority of outdoor settings and attractions can also reopen, including outdoor hospitality, zoos, theme parks, drive-in cinemas and drive-in performances events. The rules on social contact outdoors will apply in these settings.
which similarly makes little sense if travel should be minimised.
If the intent is to allow places to open then travel must be allowed!
Exactly the problem. The rules seem a little contradictory & I don’t think anybody fully understands what we can & cannot do.
As M0VCM said, if outdoor attractions (including caravan parks) can open then presumably travel must be allowed. I’m pretty sure that they don’t expect people to travel half way across the country & then sit inside in their caravan for a week!
I’m possibly a little old school in so much that I believe in using common sense…
Would I go to a busy crowded beach…No, I absolutely wouldn’t.
That said, I believe the risks of getting/passing on Covid while sleeping alone in my own caravan in the middle of a large empty field & climbing a couple of SOTA summits during the day are pretty small.
Working purely on common sense, if I am allowed to take my caravan from one side of the country to another & visit a crowded theme park, then I think a couple of SOTA activations on sparsely populated summits is within the “spirit of the rules” laid down by the Government,
As you said, hopefully there will be some form of clarification…though I suspect that there won’t be.
… time to re-read Catch 22 …
Why? Do you want Crab Apple cheeks? 
the problem is when people try to understand and make sense of rules dished out by the government, when they themselves seldom know what’s what. At least my golf course opens on March 29th and I just happen to have a week off booked, purely coincidental 
I am planning to walk from home to The Cloud G/SP-015 on Saturday or Sunday this weekend. This is to check out parts of a longer route at the end of the month - details to be posted in a separate thread shortly. It will also collect me another good lot of steps in my “March the Month” campaign. 2m HT only.
It is contradictory but the government has a difficult task trying to reconcile several conflicting needs: to get these businesses and the economy off their knees ASAP but not send a message that people will think the pandemic is over.
The vast majority of the population do not have campsites, holiday lets, etc locally and even if they do, would not pay good money to stay a few miles from home. The government knows this. Everyone has cabin fever, wants to go on holiday – to go somewhere different. And we are crazy to think people won’t be travelling around the country from the 12th April [or some later date gov.uk specifies].
It’s a risk the government has to take and hope the R number doesn’t shoot up.
It would appear the requirement to “travel no further than you need to reach to a safe, non-crowded place” in Scotland has already been lifted. I must have missed that on the news.
Never mind 12th April-I predict that when the Stay at Home rule ends on the 29th March, there will be a rush to the coast, hills & countryside in England, as well as a rush to meet up with others- for example I’m counting the days to when I can meet two of my grandchildren for the first time in 14 months. This exhortation to minimise travel will be largely ignored, I think, after all, the road map says people SHOULD minimise travel, not MUST ie it is advisory, not compulsory. I agree that the road map is vague, confusing & open to interpretation.
Using grassroots sports as a yardstick: If you can play golf, tennis, fishing and football with no restrictions on whether you are home or away, then the good old “Boris Johnson Common Sense” which he keeps referring to dictates you should be able to legally activate SOTA within your own country.
Phil
I don’t think the SOTA organisation should be deciding what is legal or not. The only thing which matters is the official guidance/laws.
For what it’s worth my suggestion is at a certain date SOTA could say logs etc for SOTA activity in England can now be submitted. It could also advise that all SOTA activity should comply with the official guidance - leaving it to the activators to decide what that means.
Enforcement will no doubt vary across the country as it did last year, with some police forces taking a stricter line than others. The guidance is vague, deliberately so I think because when they make it too specific it is easier to find loopholes.
It must be an individual responsibility to comply with the rules. SOTA shouldn’t be seen to be encouraging law-breaking of course and it isn’t but once the stay at home rules are lifted I think the submission of SOTA logs etc should be acceptable with the onus very much down to individuals to comply with the law.
The Ramblers Association say groups of up to 6 can walk together from 29th March and are starting their own organised walks from 12th April. These walks are for local groups so by definition they should comply with the rules. SOTA being a generally individual or small group activity should be acceptable from the 29th March but if you want to wait a couple of weeks to the 12th April then that is only a couple of weeks later.
Indeed… when did Ramblers Association guidance get legal status?
I completely agree with you there.
I never said that these decisions were easy for the Government. I also wouldn’t want to be the person who had to make those decisions knowing that it will literally be life or death for some people.
Or the SOTA MT?
73,
Rod
I’m not sure what point you are making. 
The Ramblers are quoting directly from the rules. For example, from 29th March groups of 6 from different households can gather so they can go for a walk together. But we are not going to be given anything specific about SOTA and interpretation is going to vary across the country of what is acceptable or not. It must therefore be for individuals to decide if their activity is within the guidance.
I may have read things wrong but I got the impression the MT were being asked to decide when it was legal to carry out activations on the hills. They should in my view avoid doing this. Someone who gets a fine might quote such advice in their defence should they decide to contest the fine in court.
The line taken so far not to encourage rule breaking is spot on but once people are allowed out the onus is on them to follow the rules.