UK Lockdown 3.0a

I was enjoying this topic so much that I wanted to continue the thread.

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The risk is never exactly zero whatever we do. I could stay in my house 24/7 for the next month [and endure whatever mental and physical ill-effects] and still be at risk if I donā€™t de-virus the home deliveries properly. At my age, my biggest risk is going to my local supermarket, not walking in my local countryside alone or socially-distanced from others.

It seems those two women took the necessary precautions to minimize the risk and believed in good faith that they were within government guidelines. At most, the police officer should have said, in his opinion, they were not local enough, and given them a warning. Most other locals interviewed including the local MP disagreed with him, hence Derbyshire Policeā€™s rowing back and saying their fines are being ā€˜reviewedā€™.

If we are going to moralise about peopleā€™s actions during the lockdown, we should focus on those who knowingly flout the rules like the superspreaders attending those three illegal raves in Essex a few weeks ago ā€“ Essex hospitals are now in overload.

Take care everyone,
73 Andy

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I was just wondering if they had to return to the place to get the photos for the BBC or were they supplied by the police.

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The photos are clearly staged.

That photo was in the Daily Heil yesterday and thereā€™s lots of pictures of the women involved in the other papers today. Forgive me for being cynical but I have never seen such ā€œglamourpussā€ style women out walking in the UK countryside ever. Maybe down city centre streets on the way to a pub or club but never in the countryside sporting full-on Instagram makeup. So it does seem to me they ensured they appeared suitable material in these photos just in case there were some reality TV producers looking for talent for a new reality TV programā€¦ The Only Way is Derbyshire Lockdowns.

You have clearly missed The Housewives of Cheshire on TV. Round here we dress up to go for a walk (apart from Tom).

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Andy, you obviously donā€™t go walking in the right places.

My wife just said, those other photos could have been lifted off their Facebook pages.

Richard, you may be right. In the photo in The Independent, they are wearing different clothes, the snow is gone and the background is different but they are still holding Starbucks coffee cups.

I can remember a very warm and sunny Black Hill GM/SS-253 back in October 2012 and a lady in her late 30s early 40s came up the hill for a walk in the afternoon sun. It was T-shirt WX and the higher bands were full of West Coast US stations, South Africans and lots more. Said lady was also only wearing a T-shirt on top and whilst I donā€™t think I can get away with a sweetheart neckline as a pair hairy moobs is not a flattering look, said lady could. I was torn between chasing DX on 15m and explaining SOTA to this lady. She won partly due to the neckline and a very pleasing display and her pretty face (no obvious makeup either). I did my best trying to look at her face whilst talking and listening but I guess it was obvious what I was paying most attention to. I suppose she knew what to expect wearing somewhat revealing clothes and talking to simpletons like me.

EDIT Pic St. Loup in the S. of France had plenty of pretty ladies on the walk to the summit. But that was the S. of France where they donā€™t have fat people.

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Ooh, I dunno though.

When it comes to ā€œglamourā€ I have twice seen young ladies in bikinis and boots walking on Snowdon, and once came across a pair of YLs walking the Cornish coastal footpath topless. As for being in a caving area when people are kitting up or unkitting - well, the less said the better!

As for the two young ladies in question, well, I wouldnā€™t sully my eyes with the ā€œDaily Heilā€ but the photo on the BBC website shows them in perfectly normal outdoor gear, though I personally would never go walking in wellies!

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Thereā€™s wellies and wellies. Triple Munro completist mate got some for a birthday present for walks with his XYL. She doesnā€™t go hillwalking with him and he needed something for the lanes rather than his normal hill boots. His were over Ā£150 and he thought expensive wellies were daft till he tried them. They have a proper Vibram style sole, are warm, fit properly and have a calf adjustment to hold the tops around your calf. He said theyā€™re better than his boots for non-hill walks, lighter and keep your trouser cuffs clean.

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Meanwhile, back in 2010ā€¦ Skiddaw G/LD-004 activation:

On reaching the trig, Paul decided that it would be wise to use it to support his pole in the strong wind despite the fact that this meant that he would have to brave the weather. I decided to retreat to the summit shelter and set up my pole against the stone wall which I have done on many occasions when we have operated in poor weather conditionsā€¦

It was 09:04z when we set off back across the summit plateau. Conditions seemed to be marginally better or had we just got used to being out in the wind and rain? Soon we were meeting others intent on topping out Skiddaw and half way down a little below the cloudbase we got into a discussion with a young lady about which was summit on the horizon was Scafell Pike. We were both so amazed that she was wearing a skirt and tights rather than trousers that neither of us noted what she was wearing on her feet!

Seems itā€™s not a new phenomena. :grinning:

There are some situations where they are the perfect choice of footwear. There are modern designs that are far better than the old-style ones as Andy has mentioned.

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Good thing that you have never seen a bloke in a kilt.

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You should minimise time spent outside your home, but you can leave your home to exercise. This should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area.

I believe, however small the distance travelled, driving from one county to another for exercise is not within the government guidlelines to ā€œstay in your local areaā€.

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It seems the police overstepped their brief here. It is possible that the women drove out to somewhere unnecessarily, as they could have perfectly well exercised from home - that we do not know. However, if the quote ā€œclassed as a picnicā€ referring to their takeaway coffees is true, then that officer is wrong - as the Government guidance does not define ā€˜picnicā€™. And if any takeaway food eaten outdoors is a picnic, then the officers will find much more lawbreaking to keep them busy on the high streets of our town and city centres - which is probably where they should be anyway!

That said - Marianne and I did a 14km circular walk from our front door this morning. It did involve a takeaway coffee, plus I had a satsuma in my pocket. Maybe a small number of people NEED to drive to access open space for exercise, but Iā€™m confident the vast majority do not.

I read today that the government has made an exception for angling, which is now classed as exercise :thinking:. Perhaps the RSGB needs to get on the case for SOTA.
73 Matt

Since a good third of my mountaineering experience was in Scotland I am well familiar with blokes in kilts on the hill and Iā€™ll bet that Gerald is, too - its not hairy knees that bother me, its those little fancy daggers in their socks!

Interesting, Iā€™ll look into that.

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i personally think that was rather short-sighted.

This will now have participants in every minority interest group lobbying to be classed as ā€˜exerciseā€™. If angling is exercise, then so is SOTA, model aircraft flying and photography. And probably picnics.

It is analogous to the Government announcing that every school student without all-day access to the internet and a device can be categorised as ā€˜vulnerableā€™. Next thing, primary schools that were closed a couple of days earlier to stop the virus from spreading, were suddenly dealing with 28 students in a class again!