Yet if you live in a crowded city, where is there local that you can exercise in splendid isolation?
Brian, thatâs why [as I argued earlier in this topic] some city/town folk might need to drive a reasonable distance [say 2-10 miles?] to exercise their kids, pets and themselves safely
Iâm now arguing the other point, i.e. that they donât need to drive 50-150 miles to find a suitable place.
True, but if they are not in the habit of rambling or hiking, they may have no knowledge of suitable places that they may pass en route to places that they do know about. Like if I decided that I want a breath of unpolluted country air, the nearest free to roam open space is Earlswood Lakes, about six miles for me but an average of ten for a Brummy (its a big place!) Driving there I pass several public footpaths marked on the map, I may or may not see the signs as I pass, but if I do, what do I know about them? Are they passable, are they a mudbath? Better stick with what I know. See what I mean?
1 Like
Noooooooooo Brian. Research them. Try them all. Document them. Make a website of them.
That is EXACTLY what I did in Lockdown 1.0, which I am now continuing with in Lockdown 3.0. I hardly knew any of my local footpaths or their merits and characteristics. So I set about finding out.
Macclesfield isnât the size of Birmingham, Iâll grant you, but neither is it a hamlet nestling in prime walking country. I live in the middle of a large council estate in the town, and the challenge has been to discover and learn about all the public rights of way. Many of them are lesser known walkways within the urban area, while others on the edge of town a surprisingly beautiful and pleasing routes that I can barely fathom I was unaware of in my previous 50 years in Macclesfield!
So have a go at what I did Brian. Pore over the maps, head out in your boots and give these hitherto unfamiliar paths a try. Discard the bad ones, make a note of the good ones, and see if you can chain them together to make satisfying circular routes.
Welcome to my world of âLockdown Walksâ!
1 Like
Latest update in the two-women-fined-for-walking-5-miles-from-home saga âŚ
[BBC News]
Chief Constable Rachel Swann said the fines âhave been withdrawn and we have notified the women directly, apologising for any concern causedâ
âAny concern causedâ is typical corporate-speak. The women were interviewed and their distress at being surrounded by loads of cops being nasty was widely broadcast by the media. The Chief Constable knows that full well.
1 Like
Theyâll have made enough for a nice holiday from selling their story to the other papers. Enough to reduce their distress to manageable levels.
1 Like
But I wasnât really talking about me, Tom, I was trying to illustrate as I see it the mindset of people who havenât been exploring all their lives.
Always the cynic, Andy. You might be right about selling their story â but then many of us would also want to make the best of a bad experience and get our version of events into the public domain. Iâm less bothered about those two women than the police striking the right balance.
One has to feel sorry for police officers âon the groundâ trying to enforce what a spokesman for the police federation on Radio 4 this morning called âwoolly lawâ. He said there have been 64 or 65 changes to the lockdown laws since they were first introduced.
And are we seeing [yet again] one law for the establishment and another law for the rest of us when a government spokesman said that PM Boris Johnson did not break the lockdown guidelines by going to a park 7 miles away from Downing Street to cycle his bike and âThe PM has exercised within the Covid rules and any suggestion to the contrary is wrongâ?
Having dealt with the press on sufficient occasions in my mis-spent earlier life, that never happens, the editorial spin of the newspaper always wins.
The BBC was used for max exposure, so I doubt the ladies are getting very rich. When I first saw the article I wondered whether it was set up to catch Derbyshire police⌠oh and didnt they fall into the trap if it was. Anyway, I have little sympathy for them - on account of their previous conduct they should have known better and issued a verbal warning. BTW, I have friends in that area and pass Foremarks Reservoir en route to their house. I wouldnât want to walk the narrow lanes to get there with the amount of traffic they carry.
Here thatâs about 2 minutes research followed an inevitably muddy slog. I honestly donât know why we have footpaths in the vicinity of where I live - they lead to nowhere and to link them up you have to walk the country lanes and risk life and limb with motorists whizzing by. More road walk than footpaths. Oh that England had the same right to roam laws as Scotland. I could then research all the fields that had suitable margins around them and plan to walk there. 
1 Like
Which is why a lot of people think itâs safer to drive a few miles to exercise in a park [Boris does!] especially if with kids and/or dogs.
Even in my small village it seems all drivers [except me and a couple of other Old Duffers] including lorries and vans drive well above the 20mph speed limit despite the village main road and lanes being narrow, twisting and with loads of blind entrances and on-street parking. I feel safer in the local woods than walking outside my house
1 Like
I donât know if your address on QRZ.com is out of date Gerald, but Iâve just looked at the OS 1:25000 for the area around your postcode, and it seems the possibilities are many. On the OS Map app, there are scores of user-submitted routes around your home QTH, but I prefer to devise my own. I may try and create one for you to have a go at - but itâs more fun doing it yourself.
I am well aware that some paths turn out to be rubbish - but thatâs part of the iterative process, changing little sections of a circular route until it becomes as near âperfectâ as itâs going to get. Weâre going out for a 15km circular today. For me, it will be the third time in four days, and hopefully the final iteration / refinement to make the perfect walk, which will be added to my website later (Lockdown walk #22).
There are very few worthwhile walks from my doorstep - I should know, Iâve lived here since for almost 30 years! What you see on a map does not translate to a practical route in practice. The land around here is mainly arable and the paths are in poor condition in winter - worse this year for obvious reasons. There are more possibilities with a short drive and indeed a few quite pleasant walks, but they do need a trip out in the car. I think if 7 miles is acceptable (thank you Boris), I will get out more and in doing so hopefully avoid both the mud and the crowds.
1 Like
Lotâs going on here today (work stuff) so I havenât checked exactly what Bozoâs crime is. Is it travelling 7 miles with his protection officers then riding a bike or riding 7 miles on his bike then riding round the park or something else?
Iâve lived in this house for 30 years, and within 5 miles of here for almost 70 years.
Tomâs experience resonates with me, even though I havenât spent any time on research, just investigating paths Iâve noticed whilst out walking.
Last week, I was walking along a section of road with a footpath on one side only. A couple were coming towards me, so I crossed the road and stood in a gateway while they passed. At the gateway, I noticed an obvious narrow path leading into the field beside the gate, so of course, I had to follow it! After about 200 metres, amongst trees, I found an open boggy area, with a large pond, bullrushes etc. This within 15 mins walk from home, on the edge of town - I didnât know it existed.
Following one of several obvious routes from the pond brought me onto a new housing estate, from which there were several routes home.
Gerald may be unlucky in this respect, but Tom and I canât be the only ones for whom such interesting possibilities exist, just for the finding.
1 Like
Since we got the time-share dog, we (me and Mrs. FMF) have found many routes/paths. Of course the law is better up here but itâs amazing the number of well-trod routes there are around the estates and open land/woods. Iâve found out more about my neighbourhood in the last 4-5 years than the previous 15.
My area is heavily developed suburbs one side and farmland the other so itâs more rural than the neighbourhoods for many of you.
Remember that Gerald lives in a relatively flat area that is also clay country that runs to mud and dries slowly. I also live in clay country but much more hilly so while my local(ish) explorations can be utter quagmires they tend to drain fairly quickly. My worst problems are encounters with trail bikers! My great fortune is that after a half mile of pavement bashing I come to a ford crossing the Cole, where I can leave the road and ramble a rough path through a half mile of overgrown woodland (in the Shire park) to another ford, where the path continues through abandoned fields for another half mile leading to another main road, cross that and another paved path runs sandwiched between the Cole and a maintained wild flower meadow for almost another half mile to another main road. If I wish to continue, crossing and then following a lane another quarter mile brings me to a canal which could take me to Stratford on Avon or back towards Birmingham. It also leads to a good pub! This is terrific walking but it stales after a while because of a lack of further options meaning that you must retrace your steps - after all, it is (unbelievably) in a major city but with almost no sight of houses. OTOH where else within walking distance could I watch kingfishers doing their thing? Its a birdwatchers paradise, there are a couple of badger setts, there is plenty to keep a botanist or entemologist happy, plenty of overgrown archaeology, and not too many people. I just wish that there was more like it in this sea of roads and houses.
2 Likes
Hover boots or rocket shorts, thatâs the solution Gerald.