Fellwalking During Lockdown 3
What you can do under this new lockdown depends on which part of the UK you live in.
Fell walking, climbing, hill walking, hiking, mountaineering, bouldering, etc are all considered exercise you can do in all the UK.
There is a general theme though wherever you are – stay local, start/finish exercise from your home, only with your household/social bubble, and no overnight wild camping. And no trips to second homes, boat, caravan, climbing hut, bothy, or whatever accommodation you may have available.
And each of us must make a personal informed decision as to what we do. And please bear in mind that local enforcement officers, such as police or council officers, may have their own interpretation that differs from yours – in such cases apologise and follow their instructions.
The police have issued notices to people driving to a car park and then walking:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-55560814
There are cases of the police taking action against those the mountain rescue services have helped out:
Police issue penalties to Glen Coe walkers after rescuer injured in incident
Lakeland team warns police may attend rescues to check for lockdown breaches
Lakeland rescuers issue 'stay at home' plea as area enters tier-four lockdown
The police should follow the ‘Four Es’ too
https://www.polfed.org/news/latest-news/2020/guidance-issued-on-new-police-powers/
England
The guidance states you can exercise and must stay within your local area. Note not council area – and I would suggest local area is probably up to 10 miles. And you ‘should’ limit exercise to once a day – a bit of wriggle room as it does not say ‘must’ so possibly more than once a day – perhaps though this is to allow dog walking?
The regulations neither stipulate exercise once a day nor a time limit. The guidance does however say that outdoors exercise should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area. But there is no definition as to what is local.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home#exercising
Wild camping? Guidance says no overnight stays away from home unless reasonably necessary such as work related.
Are there any exceptions? What is reasonably necessary? If the outdoors is your work, then yes. For example, overnight stays away from home are allowed under the ‘require accommodation for work related purposes’. However, we must also consider the ‘work from home if you possibly can’ clause. In my assessment this means not all videos are a wild camp – you must look at garden gear reviews and camps for example.
Non-essential businesses must close. TV and film production is exempt so I would suggest professional YouTubers can continue to film. But what is a professional YouTuber? If you have under 10,000 subscribers I would suggest that it would be very difficult to persuade an enforcement officer you are a professional film maker thus you can undertake a wild camping trip and film such.
The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 3) and (All Tiers) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2021
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/8/pdfs/uksi_20210008_en.pdf
Scotland
The above is guidance for England. In Scotland the exercise limits are in law:
Look at Paragraph 4 (f) of the new Regs and the examples of reasonable excuse:
(t)undertake exercise or recreation—
(i)outdoors,
(ii)that starts and ends at the same place, which place must be—
(aa)in the local government area in which that person lives, or
(bb)within 5 miles of such local government area, and
(iii)is either undertaken—
(aa)alone,
(bb)with members of that person’s household,
In other words, day trips only. In my opinion you can drive anywhere in your council area or five miles from it to start the walk. There appears no time limits in law or guidance, but I would suggest not starting before 06:00 hrs and back home by 22:00 hrs.
Have a look for yourself:
The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 10) Regulations 2021
Wales
In Wales the guidance allows unlimited exercise but no overnights away from home ie no wild camping. However the guidance states exercise should start ad finish at home. Note should and nit must, which to me allows a short drive to the countryside to exercise.
https://gov.wales/alert-level-4-frequently-asked-questions#section-58322
Northern Ireland
Guidance is not as detailed as other nations in the UK but follows similar pattern ie exercise locally.