Walkhighlands

jmarkb wrote:Thanks - I was struggling to find the right link!

I bookmarked it because I could never find it again

jmarkb wrote:Travel in or out of Scotland for non-essential reasons is currently against the law: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-travel-and-transport/#travelbetween

So it's asymmetric - there is only a Scottish law re crossing the border northwards, not an English law for southwards.

Guess us located in the south will just have to wait patiently until Scotland catches up.

gman wrote:The current law allowing exercise/recreation starting & ending at a point within 5 miles of your LA area still applies. Nothing is set in stone, but the plan from 26 April would be:

travel within all of mainland Scotland permitted (subject to other restrictions that remain in place)

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-timetable-for-easing-restrictions/pages/timetable/

The plan appears to be to move all of mainland Scotland to level 3 on that date, but the law for exercise/recreation in level 3 areas is currently the same as level 4. It's assumed that this will be changed closer to the date, but the phrase "subject to other restrictions..." could mean that nothing actually changes until you're in level 2, whenever that is.

I think the subject to other restrictions is things like numbers of people/households allowed to meet, hospitality and accommodation etc rather than restrictions on actual travel.

Thanks all. It's only another 3 weeks (hopefully), so not that much longer to wait.

(I've definitely been making use of the 5 mile rule to get to West Linton, Carlops, Gorebridge, North Queensferry etc.!)

I think Sunsettripper will be proved right and a lot more people will burst on to the hills come April and likewise I hope it all goes well, but I do fear an increase in litter and dog fouling which I've noticed while I've been stuck local. A reminder from the relevant authorities might not go amiss.

Sunsettripper wrote this on page 1- "Also, just recently, under pressure from members who disagreed with folk solo wild camping in local hills, Mountaineering Scotland interpreted this type of recreation should be off limits and changed their advice.".
But this is what I'm seeing on the mountaineeringscotland website- "Responsible wild camping is permitted although the current advice is to stay at home".
I tried to find government info on hillwalking/wild camping within your council area for the Easter weekend (I live in Highland) but could find nothing specific, just "Mainland Scotland is in lockdown with guidance to stay at home, except for essential purposes". A different webpage says "By law in a level 4 area, you can only leave your home for an essential purpose". Clear as mud!
A lot of the govt. website covid links are not working just now. PS I'm aware that the stay at home thing changes on Monday.

Aye, I'm interpreting monday's easing as wild camping in my LA+5 miles is acceptable.

The changes come in tomorrow (Friday), not Monday.

The law on moving outside the LA area is the same for level 3 as it is for level 4 - you can't do it except for essential reasons and the 5 mile rule on exercise. So still a travel ban. But the Scottish Government has flagged up pretty strongly that that will change for level 3 and travel will be allowed. I'm certainly planning on being able to get into some high hills after 26th April.

At present we can't go to England, because that is outside the LA area, but I'm assuming that travel across the border will be allowed when we can leave the LA area i.e. 26th April. I think it's the case that we are not specifically banned from going into England, just from leaving Scotland. So when we can leave our LA area we can travel into England.

Malky seems to be correct, I'm now finding a gov page (on the news tab) that says- "People across Scotland can make non-essential journeys in their local authority area from Friday 2 April when a requirement to Stay Local will replace the Stay at Home rule.".

Alex W wrote:I think it's the case that we are not specifically banned from going into England, just from leaving Scotland. So when we can leave our LA area we can travel into England.

There's a separate part of the law covering the 'common travel area' ie England, Wales, Ireland etc, if this doesn't change on 26 April you could be free to leave your LA area for travel within Scotland but not to England.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2020/344/schedule/7A

gman wrote:There's a separate part of the law covering the 'common travel area' ie England, Wales, Ireland etc, if this doesn't change on 26 April you could be free to leave your LA area for travel within Scotland but not to England.

There are no provisional dates for the relaxation of this in the current timetable (https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-timetable-for-easing-restrictions/pages/travel/). It just says:

"Currently non-essential travel between Scotland and the rest of the UK and the wider
Common Travel Area (CTA) (i.e. the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of
Man) is prohibited as a measure to reduce the risk of importation of the virus. Travel within
the UK and the wider CTA is important to many families and to the tourism sector. We will
keep that ban under review, taking account of trends in prevalence and the restrictions in
place in the other CTA countries and the confidence we can take from that about the risks of
travel resulting in importation of the virus, with a review to relaxing the ban – or targeting it
only on travel to and from particular areas in the rest of the CTA – when it becomes safe to do
so."

AyrshireAlps wrote:Aye, I'm interpreting monday's easing as wild camping in my LA+5 miles is acceptable.

Personally I think responsible local solo wild camping is within the law, the guidance and the spirit right now even before the change tomorrow.

Mountaineering Scotland changed their advice and decide it wasn't OK last week. This is from their website today.


Also from their website today.


I'm not sure why MS feel the need to get involved here.

They didn't get involved and say people have been free to travel the length of their LA area the last 3 months when it has been perfectly legal to do so. Instead they referred people to the vague guidance from the scottish government.

A new update today on the MS website today saying they think wild camping is fine from tomorrow. So back to the same advice as a week ago.

The way I read it - and I have to admit it isn't as clear as you would hope - is that until the 26th we are still limited to our Local Authority with a 5mile allowance into another LA.

I am not convinced the 'excercise is essential travel' arguemet allows us to travel the length / breadth of the country to go into the hills. But if I am wrong, I am happy for someone to point me in the right direction