Walkhighlands

Was trying to think on the positive side
1. Less CO2 emissions
2. No Eurovision Song Contest (though as a nation we seem to have set ourselves up for nul points in how to deal with pandemics).
3. Maybe the gamies will stop shooting the hen harriers et al and just let them eat the grouse this year. Unless, mysteriously, not meeting other people doesn't apply to shooting parties
4. No Jehovah's Witnesses (actually this is becoming sorted by us getting too deaf to hear the door bell unless we are expecting it.)
5 There must be more besides my grand-daughter not having to get up for school until 9 am and their dogs getting decent walks for once.

lamondo wrote:My view on recent develoments, accounting for the NHS advice, is that a straightforward climb, not to far a distance, is an acceptable activity just now, albeit taking into account social distancing.

If it's safe and close, sure. But if you're contributing to folk flocking to popular spots, or taking any risks...

I live just outside Glasgow, and my go to hill for a decent stretch of the legs/dog walk has long been Meikle Bin in the Kilsyth hills. I was swithering last night though, because it's a popular wee walk at the best of times, never mind the, um, worst of times.

Eventually thought that if I got up proper early, and started walking about 7am I'd have met very few folk by the time I got back to the car (about) 2 hours later. Acceptable social distancing, in my view.

Anyhoo, I was ready to leave the hoose when for some obscure reason the MRT advice from earlier in the week that they couldn't guarantee to be able to rescue folk at the moment popped into my head. Meikle Bin is hardly a mountain, but I'm just as capable of twisting my ankle there as anywhere else, so sense prevailed and I went to the park - which given the hour was genuinely deserted.

More importantly, the MRT advice has changed rather since the last update!!!

https://www.scottishmountainrescue.org/scottish-government-statement-for-the-outdoor-community/

One of the Mountain Rescue teams on twitter was advising to stay at home. It’s not a reflection on our competence or fitness. The Emergency Services look like they are going to be under the cosh. Anyone on the islands needing assisted ventilation will need to be flown to a mainland hospital. This is in addition to the normal run of events, births, heart attacks etc. Imagine you are out on your walk and you fall and break your arm/ leg. Possibly bang your head. Emergency services and maybe even volunteers from Mountain Rescue services get sent out to collect you. That diversion into semi remote areas might cost someone’s life because these services won’t be available fir that time. Additionally, I’m not sure that casualty is going to be a good place to be if you are trying to avoid the virus.

From your link Wee Black Dug

Scottish Government Statement for the outdoor community
22nd March, 2020

Please read this statement below from Sottish Government.

All travelling to the hills stops now for all of us.
There will be plenty of help needed in your own communities in the coming weeks and we need to look after ours.

We look forward to welcoming you back when Scottish Government says it is safe to return.

I've tweeted to the to both visordown and Motor Cycle News asking them to please re-check government advice on non-essential travel by motorcycle.

All this is a real bummer. But I guess we now have a global emergency on our hands. Our NHS will very shortly be in crises and I think we all have a responsibility to follow government guidelines and limit our movements accordingly.

Myself, I'm itching to get out in the hills. Had a very pleasant walk out to Hart Hill from the Devil's Beef Tub on Friday. But possibly, other than the hills behind Largs where I live, that might be it for this year. I've also got a new BMW R1250R sitting in my garage - I'm itching to get out on that too.

Months without hills is now really sinking in. I've hardly been out this year much with the awful weather but I have face the fact I'll not be going to the lakes or the dales for the foreseeable future.
I am in a little quandary about the Cleveland hills however, they are about 45mins drive away so just how local is local? I'm perfectly happy to get up really early to avoid people but the last thing I want to be is irresponsible. Any thoughts welcome.

Yup that’s exactly my thoughts. According to the current government advice there should be no non-essential travel and we are to maintain social-distancing. However, going for a spin on one’s motorcycle, as long as one does not interact with others, is fine. We now have Scottish government advice telling us not to travel to the hills. It would be nice if our politicians would think things through, that administrations would co-ordinate, rather than spreading confusion as currently seems to be the case.

Gareth Harper wrote:Yup that’s exactly my thoughts. According to the current government advice there should be no non-essential travel and we are to maintain social-distancing. However, going for a spin on one’s motorcycle, as long as one does not interact with others, is fine. We now have Scottish government advice telling us not to travel to the hills. It would be nice if our politicians would think things through, that administrations would co-ordinate, rather than spreading confusion as currently seems to be the case.

I posted the link, rather than cutting and pasting, to highlight it was the MRT that was saying:

"All travelling to the hills stops now for all of us.
There will be plenty of help needed in your own communities in the coming weeks and we need to look after ours.
We look forward to welcoming you back when Scottish Government says it is safe to return."

The politician's bit came after that.

For 6 Easters now, we've travelled to Scotland at Easter for our "Pirate Kids" canoeing adventures. Up until about a week ago, I thought we might still make it somehow, as we really do end up in the middle of nowhere (last year we didn't see another person for a whole 7 days, something I would have thought impossible but if you plan a daft enough route...).

As I read more and more about the situation, I realised things would have to change. For a day or two, I thought we might be able to rethink locations, risk and timings, and do something without impacting the local situation. But I came to realise this was probably impossible, and a few days ago, cancelled the trip. I was a bit gutted. Then I sat back and thought about it a bit. I'm having to cancel a long anticipated trip, but I will still get there at some point in the future. If we went, and somehow either carried the dreaded virus, or had an incident no matter how cautious we were, and this impacted the locals because we just wanted a holiday, how wrong is that!? Its just a holiday.

If we act sensibly now, and each stay local to home, I hope we'll still be able to make great use of our own local outdoors. Social distancing needs to become more seriously observed by some I've observed, but I've just been out for a wild camp overnighter (in Surrey) by canoe where we saw almost nobody, and kept a distance from each other. We chose a safe, familiar route, and had a great time in our local outdoors just a 4 miles from home. Each of us will hopefully have somewhere close to get outside without it being thronged by others; look at the map and try somewhere new. And for those who live in the hills, keep it safe, but make the most of your location sensibly, you lucky things.

If we don't observe the correct social distancing, and throng to our outdoor venues, be it parks or mountains en masse, then we will force lock down upon ourselves. Then I'll go quietly mad sat in my small 1 bed flat in town, desperately reading WH trip reports and canoeing blogs to keep (almost) sane whilst working from home.

I posted the link, rather than cutting and pasting, to highlight it was the MRT that was saying:

Whoops, sorry see what you mean.

Wandererssolo wrote:The paper from Imperial College is a bit of an eye opener since it suggests a rough ride for an extended period

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf

Looking at Figure 3A it is difficult to see how household quarantine can be avoided after the three or five months of suppression measures. The delayed peak with no household quarantine looks as tall as the "do nothing" peak, albeit a bit narrower. Maybe the increased ICU capacity and retrained staff by September will make things more manageable.

johnkaysleftleg wrote:Months without hills is now really sinking in. I've hardly been out this year much with the awful weather but I have face the fact I'll not be going to the lakes or the dales for the foreseeable future.
I am in a little quandary about the Cleveland hills however, they are about 45mins drive away so just how local is local? I'm perfectly happy to get up really early to avoid people but the last thing I want to be is irresponsible. Any thoughts welcome.

Hi JK. I went to the Howgills this morning. Plan formed before I'd seen the reports of yesterday's flocking to the popular peaks and beaches, but still (I thought) formed responsibly and carefully. It might not have been very local but it was remote, off-piste and quite early in the day: I saw no-one on the way there and back, and no-one - even in the far distance - in 9 miles of walking. I even picked a route with virtually no gates/stiles to touch. Having talked about it with a good few friends since though, I'd say that the general opinion - even among those usually sympathetic - is 100% against doing anything at all, other than perhaps walks from your doorstep. I did no harm to anyone today but now I won't be doing anything else much for a while that isn't extremely local; if you do, I'd suggest perhaps keeping it under your hat...!

johnkaysleftleg wrote:Months without hills is now really sinking in. I've hardly been out this year much with the awful weather but I have face the fact I'll not be going to the lakes or the dales for the foreseeable future.
I am in a little quandary about the Cleveland hills however, they are about 45mins drive away so just how local is local? I'm perfectly happy to get up really early to avoid people but the last thing I want to be is irresponsible. Any thoughts welcome.

After double checking Gov't and local websites, we drove to Swaledale yesterday and completed a walk I had planned that would take us away from other people and up onto the moors. It worked a treat for us, in 6 hours we only saw a handful of other people who were near enough to shout a greeting to, although we did get an early start walking (8.30am). There were a couple of local dog walkers within 10 mins of us starting and the next folk we saw was about 4 hours later. Everyone gave others space. We even wore gloves all day to avoid touching gates and stiles. We visited a friend in Reeth and had a longish catch-up, with her standing in her doorway and us about 5m away - funny, but serious as well.
When we did return to the car, there was a lot of traffic on the main road, Reeth car parking was crowded, and there were lots of motorbikes flying through. We observed that local shops were mostly still open to those who were sanitised and prepared to be served at a distance. Cafes were doing take-away food instead of sit-in.
We were happy that we had complied with Gov't orders and especially the wishes of the local community, but if things get worse, we'll leave it for now. The Dales will still be there for a long time.
If anyone is thinking of walking in the countryside, please check Gov't websites, local Council websites and local Community websites first. They give the latest advice about who they want (or don't want) visiting their locality.

https://twitter.com/SkyeMRT/status/1241816237375619073

Skye MRT from yesterday.
but hits home.
All of those involved live locally within small, often vulnerable, communities and have family and friends here.

I reckon that the comments from the Glencoe MRT cover it pretty well:
Glencoe MRT said people who found themselves lost or stuck in the mountains should consider waiting until the following morning, or improved weather conditions, to be helped.
It said "walking wounded" might have to get themselves off the hills and to safety.
The team said it would respond to incidents involving serious injuries, but with the "bare minimum" of members.

In other words chaps you're on your own. While Glencoe tell it like it is I reckon that the other teams in Scotland are thinking along the same lines. So if you're on any hill, local or otherwise, tak tent!

You have been warned by the best in the business.