New covid restrictions

[PeteR]

Update - asked not to travel to or from the central belt from friday for 16 days.
It will be interesting to see how that is interpreted.

I try not to comment on these things, as political affiliations can easily surface........but I find this sort of pronouncement daft and annoying. Either ban travel or don't ban travel.....a "pretty please" not to travel (in my view open an invitation to local vigilantes spying a car they don't recognise to get up to no good) does nothing for anyone. Back to the same old same old as we were with the initial lockdown and all the ambiguity over guidance v regulation.

[Dave Hewitt]

Update - asked not to travel to or from the central belt from friday for 16 days.

That's not what being said - the idea is that one shouldn't stray beyond one's own health board region. Hence for me (in Stirling), I'm fine for the Ochils (hooray) and things such as Ledi and Vorlich/Stuc all the way to Crianlarich - I haven't properly studied the map as yet but I think it pretty much coincides with the Stirling council area in that direction. But I can't go trundling off up the A9 to Drumochter or wherever, and I can't go across to Arrochar, not that I was intending to. Similarly Greater Glasgow people shouldn't be heading to Stuc/Vorlich etc - and people in the Lothians are limited to the Pentlands and a few other smallish hill groups. (All this seems particularly harsh on the folk in East Lothian which is largely rural and a world away from the big conurbations.)

It will be interesting to see how that is interpreted.

Indeed.

[Dave Hewitt]

Have now seen a health board map for Forth Valley - other maps for other regions will be available.
https://nhsforthvalley.com/about-us/
Looks like Stirling folk can legitimately get as far as Tyndrum and Killin and a bit west of the former. However the Lawers hills are out - as I knew from the council boundary - but things up Glen Lochay west of Killin are OK. It also struck me between posting my previous comment and digging out the map that the Ochils for Forth Valley people are only OK up to the main watershed, and this appears to be the case - hence I shouldn't climb Ben Cleuch from Blackford but I'm fine to go at it from the usual Hillfoots direction. Suspect that Blairdenon from the top of the Sheriffmuir road and Innerdownie etc from Glensherup are also things I'm not supposed to do, but again getting at these hills from the south is fine.

[Giant Stoneater]

Update - asked not to travel to or from the central belt from friday for 16 days.

That's not what being said - the idea is that one shouldn't stray beyond one's own health board region. Hence for me (in Stirling), I'm fine for the Ochils (hooray) and things such as Ledi and Vorlich/Stuc all the way to Crianlarich - I haven't properly studied the map as yet but I think it pretty much coincides with the Stirling council area in that direction. But I can't go trundling off up the A9 to Drumochter or wherever, and I can't go across to Arrochar, not that I was intending to. Similarly Greater Glasgow people shouldn't be heading to Stuc/Vorlich etc - and people in the Lothians are limited to the Pentlands and a few other smallish hill groups. (All this seems particularly harsh on the folk in East Lothian which is largely rural and a world away from the big conurbations.)

It will be interesting to see how that is interpreted.

Indeed.

You are being asked not to stray beyond ones health region and not travel if in one of the restricted regions,but with no law in place it is open to ones judgement whither you comply or not,it leads to the same confusion as earlier in the year,some travel,some don't.

[Kendrum]

We don't live in a police state thankfully. It's not unreasonable for the FM to tell us not to travel beyond our health region in a global health emergency with rising local cases. We surely should be able to manage this without us trying to wiggle rules in our favour. We should be able to comply with today's recommendations without laws having to be put in place.

I fail to see where the confusion is.

[Essan]

We don't live in a police state thankfully. It's not unreasonable for the FM to tell us not to travel beyond our health region in a global health emergency with rising local cases. We surely should be able to manage this without us trying to wiggle rules in our favour. We should be able to comply with today's recommendations without laws having to be put in place.

I fail to see where the confusion is.

The assumption is that most people have a sense of social responsibilty

The reality is that a significant minority do not

Laws are are only needed because too many people are Arrogant, Selfish and Stupid.

[MountainTrail]

The travel restrictions are sketchy and can be interpreted in whichever way one chooses , they have worded it as ‘ advised ‘ not to travel outwith

After being in proper lockdown from March to July , I have no intention to returning to that
I fully intend to carry on as normal
My job takes me all over the Central belt and beyond so the new restrictions make zero sense

I will be hillwalking wherever and whenever I like in the weeks to come
Simple as that

[iain_atkinson_1986]

I will be hillwalking wherever and whenever I like in the weeks to come
Simple as that

Completely disregarding deer management/stalking?

[MountainTrail]

I will be hillwalking wherever and whenever I like in the weeks to come
Simple as that

Completely disregarding deer management/stalking?

The places where I will be visiting will have none of those activities ongoing

[iain_atkinson_1986]

I will be hillwalking wherever and whenever I like in the weeks to come
Simple as that

Completely disregarding deer management/stalking?

The places where I will be visiting will have none of those activities ongoing

Where?!

I've emailed half the estate managers in the Highlands and they all seem to be out just now (late rut, apparently). Though that might just be them discouraging folk from swamping the hills.

[gman]

Here's the new guidelines:
https://www.gov.scot/news/new-moves-to-stop-covid-19-spread/

"Restrictions on licensed premises will come into force from 18:00 on Friday 9 October, with all other restrictions applying from 00:01 Saturday 10 October.

Nationwide (excepting central belt areas):

Hospitality (food and drink): all premises may only open indoors between 6am and 6pm, with no sales of alcohol
Hospitality (food and drink): premises may open outdoors until 10pm, with sales of alcohol (where licensed)
Takeaways (including from pubs and restaurants) can continue
Evening meals may be served in accommodation for residents only but no alcohol can be served
Current meeting rules, maximum of six people from two households, continue to apply
Specific life events, such as weddings and funerals, may continue with alcohol being served, with current meeting rules for these events (20 person limit in regulated premises only)

Central belt area:

All licensed premises will be required to close, with the exception of takeaway services
Cafés (unlicensed premises) which don’t have an alcohol licence will be able to open between 6am and 6pm
Takeaways (including from pubs and restaurants) can continue
Evening meals may be served in accommodation for residents only but no alcohol can be served
Specific life events, such as weddings and funerals, may continue with alcohol, with current meeting rules for these events (20 person limit in regulated premises only)
No group exercise classes for indoor gyms and sports courts, pools with an exemption for under 18s
No adult (18+) contact sports or training, except professional sports, indoor or outdoor
No outdoor live events
Snooker/pool halls, indoor bowling, casinos and bingo halls are to close
Public transport use should be minimised as much as possible, such as for education and work, where it cannot be done from home
Current meeting rules, maximum of six people from two households, continue to apply

Additionally, from this weekend, shops across Scotland are asked to return to two metres physical distancing and reintroduce the mitigations they put in place earlier in the pandemic, including one-way systems."


These measures are based on a paper which pinpoints the hospitality sector as being linked to the recent rise in infections:
https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/advice-and-guidance/2020/10/coronavirus-covid-19-evidence-paper---october-2020/documents/coronavirus-covid-19-evidence-paper-october-2020/coronavirus-covid-19-evidence-paper-october-2020/govscot%3Adocument/Coronavirus%2BCOVID-19%2529%2B-%2Bevidence%2Bpaper%2B-%2B7%2BOctober%2B2020-.pdf

"39.Looking at these factors, any indoor setting where the public mixes freely with
members of different households and people of different age groups carries a
number of risks. Hospitality therefore presents one of the highest risks. "

[MountainTrail]

The places where I will be visiting will have none of those activities ongoing[/quote]

Where?!

I've emailed half the estate managers in the Highlands and they all seem to be out just now (late rut, apparently). Though that might just be them discouraging folk from swamping the hills.

[/quote]

In all the time I have hillwalked , every estate manager I have met has been chatty and polite and interested to point me in the right direction as to walking routes . I don’t see that changing anytime soon

[iain_atkinson_1986]

The places where I will be visiting will have none of those activities ongoing

Where?!

I've emailed half the estate managers in the Highlands and they all seem to be out just now (late rut, apparently). Though that might just be them discouraging folk from swamping the hills.

In all the time I have hillwalked , every estate manager I have met has been chatty and polite and interested to point me in the right direction as to walking routes . I don’t see that changing anytime soon

Nor I. Though I tend to start walking before stalking parties get going so like to check in advance rather than wreck a shoot. I wouldn't think to walk "wherever and whenever I want" in the Scottish hills in any October let alone in 2020.

[Sunset tripper]

Update - asked not to travel to or from the central belt from friday for 16 days.

That's not what being said - the idea is that one shouldn't stray beyond one's own health board region. Hence for me (in Stirling), I'm fine for the Ochils (hooray) and things such as Ledi and Vorlich/Stuc all the way to Crianlarich - I haven't properly studied the map as yet but I think it pretty much coincides with the Stirling council area in that direction. But I can't go trundling off up the A9 to Drumochter or wherever, and I can't go across to Arrochar, not that I was intending to. Similarly Greater Glasgow people shouldn't be heading to Stuc/Vorlich etc - and people in the Lothians are limited to the Pentlands and a few other smallish hill groups. (All this seems particularly harsh on the folk in East Lothian which is largely rural and a world away from the big conurbations.)

Yes, of course you are right. I'm in Inverness and was looking at it from my perspective.
I doubt if many will heed the advice this time.
No word or any statements from MRT or Mountaineering Scotland or any others either, following these new announcements as far as I can see.

[Dave Hewitt]

Yes, of course you are right. I'm in Inverness and was looking at it from my perspective.
I doubt if many will heed the advice this time.

I'm not sure if the sort of reverse applies - whether you in the Highland health board region are being advised not to visit any of the five problematic health board regions. You'd clearly be OK climbing hills in NHS Tayside or Grampian etc.

I've been looking at maps since last posting, and it's all a bit weird/quirky in terms of stuff round here. As an NHS Forth Valley resident, from Friday 6pm I'm not supposed to stray outwith the area, and in terms of Ochils that means eight of the nine Donald summits are OK - the exception is Innerdownie, as the boundary (assuming it matches the council boundary, which I think it does) comes just NE of Whitewisp. Blairdenon at the other end is fine however - the boundary runs along the crest then swings N to the Sheriffmuir road well beyond the standard starting-points. The middle summits are all fine too - I'd forgotten (despite having previously once looked it up for something) that the council boundary runs well to the N of Ben Cleuch before cutting back in to meet the crest on the Maddy Moss stretch. But technically I couldn't start from Blackford even though by the time I got halfway up the hill I'd be back in the NHS Forth Valley area.

Anyway, if Friday is reasonable weather I'm going to do an Innerdownie-ish thing from Glensherup before the restrictions kick in. After that I'll stay within the advised area for a couple of weeks, which hardly leaves me short of options given that it allows most of the Ochils and all sorts of bigger stuff as far as Tyndrum. There's also the amusing situation that the pointy Meall Garbh top on the Tarmachan ridge is OK, but the main summit just a km along the ridge is not (plus any FVHB resident would need to avoid the high road too and start nearer to Killin).

Others aren't so lucky - I have a friend who lives in Muckhart, which is about 2km from the health board boundary and the quieter areas thereabouts are in the bits where local residents are being advised not to go to. Is all a bit silly.

No word or any statements from MRT or Mountaineering Scotland or any others either, following these new announcements as far as I can see.

Probably the only issue there is if someone gets rescued from a hill in the wrong health board area then there might be a certain amount of Twitter/Facebook shaming. It's not (yet) illegal, so they presumably wouldn't get charged as per those Crianlarich punters back in the spring.