"We were sick of lockdown – so cycled from Land’s End to John o’Groats"

[Paulatic]

Not across all nations.

I can’t recall England or Scotland being locked down in September. I hope not because i was away up by Moray then.
Wales locked down on 7th September a little detective work could tell you @ marianuk was in Edinburgh on the 11th September.
I think thou does protest too much and I find it hard to believe how a self contained predominantly outdoor activity is going to be the catalyst for massive increase in infection rates.

[Syd]

Not across all nations.

I can’t recall England or Scotland being locked down in September. I hope not because i was away up by Moray then.
Wales locked down on 7th September a little detective work could tell you @ marianuk was in Edinburgh on the 11th September.
I think thou does protest too much and I find it hard to believe how a self contained predominantly outdoor activity is going to be the catalyst for massive increase in infection rates.

I have not stated anywhere that there was a lockdown in September however restrictions to travel etc have been to some extent in place since March. These have varied by region and severity.

In some of the more remote areas of travel during a LEJOG it does not require a ‘massive increase’ to overwhelm local services.

The headline for the story is also very irresponsible to publish, especially now.

[Paulatic]

Not across all nations.

I can’t recall England or Scotland being locked down in September. I hope not because i was away up by Moray then.
Wales locked down on 7th September a little detective work could tell you @ marianuk was in Edinburgh on the 11th September.
I think thou does protest too much and I find it hard to believe how a self contained predominantly outdoor activity is going to be the catalyst for massive increase in infection rates.

I have not stated anywhere that there was a lockdown in September however restrictions to travel etc have been to some extent in place since March. These have varied by region and severity.

In some of the more remote areas of travel during a LEJOG it does not require a ‘massive increase’ to overwhelm local services.

The headline for the story is also very irresponsible to publish, especially now.

Well I doubt I’d be alone in thinking you were replying to

It was in September when the restrictions had been lifted..

with "not across all nations"
Yes we are all aware of different restrictions but this new restriction on what should be published and what we are allowed to read is a new one on me.

[Syd]

I can’t recall England or Scotland being locked down in September. I hope not because i was away up by Moray then.
Wales locked down on 7th September a little detective work could tell you @ marianuk was in Edinburgh on the 11th September.
I think thou does protest too much and I find it hard to believe how a self contained predominantly outdoor activity is going to be the catalyst for massive increase in infection rates.

I have not stated anywhere that there was a lockdown in September however restrictions to travel etc have been to some extent in place since March. These have varied by region and severity.

In some of the more remote areas of travel during a LEJOG it does not require a ‘massive increase’ to overwhelm local services.

The headline for the story is also very irresponsible to publish, especially now.

Well I doubt I’d be alone in thinking you were replying to

It was in September when the restrictions had been lifted..

with "not across all nations"
Yes we are all aware of different restrictions but this new restriction on what should be published and what we are allowed to read is a new one on me.

I know, and fully understand, people are getting weary of the restrictions.

The Dominic Cummings story earlier this year led to a spate of disobedience against guidance. Newspapers publishing stories like this, with the headline they chose, will possibly have a similar, though smaller scale, effect.

Unfortunately it does not take much to encourage people to flout the rules despite the potential consequences.It is for this reason I maintain the timing of the story, and particularly the headline, is irresponsible journalism.

[Cyril Haearn]

Right there Syd, I bet lots of people read about it without realising it happened a while ago

[Psamathe]

Not across all nations.

I can’t recall England or Scotland being locked down in September. I hope not because i was away up by Moray then.
Wales locked down on 7th September a little detective work could tell you @ marianuk was in Edinburgh on the 11th September.
I think thou does protest too much and I find it hard to believe how a self contained predominantly outdoor activity is going to be the catalyst for massive increase in infection rates.

I have not stated anywhere that there was a lockdown in September however restrictions to travel etc have been to some extent in place since March. These have varied by region and severity......

I agree with your concern about pandemic spread but wonder if most of the problem (at least in England) comes from Johnson's "messaging". Taxpayer subsidy to go out to restaurants, direction to "go back into the office" (meaning many on public transport), pubs open, etc.. Our BBC TV local magazine program (18:30) was full of holiday makers through the summer with hotel and tourism businesses appearing all the time saying how people should visit. etc. Message coming out from those telling us what to do was pretty clear.

(Not wanting to turn this into another C-19 thread).

Ian

[Paulatic]

Right there Syd, I bet lots of people read about it without realising it happened a while ago

Anyone reading it will read

So it was far from ideal that we chose September

[Jdsk]

SNAP!

Syd has raised an important point about risk and burden to others which we've discussed elsewhere and which I wouldn't downplay.

But any uncertainty about the date should have ended with the quoted phrase. Of course that only applies to people who read the article.

Jonathan

[Syd]

SNAP!

Syd has raised an important point about risk and burden to others which we've discussed elsewhere and which I wouldn't downplay.

But any uncertainty about the date should have ended with the quoted phrase. Of course that only applies to people who read the article.

Jonathan

I’ve already have communication today from 5 people, one seventh of my team at work, who speed read the news via an RSS feed, and, as non cyclists, simply stopped at the headline. Each, as a result , has been asking about current guidance and how that impacts work and they can and cannot do.

These are, generally, sensible people.

[pwa]

The silly headline makes it look like lockdown flouting when, in fact, it seems to have been legal and responsible enjoyment of a bit of freedom after a period of lockdown and before second wave lockdowns brought in travel restrictions. It looks a lot like our own tour of Wales (late July / early August) which was entirely legal and just involved sensible precautions such as social distancing and care with hygiene.

I'm not bothered by the advert. At least it is a decent bike. And having done LEJOG long ago on a sub-standard bike that kept popping spokes, I'd say folk would be best advised to at least make sure their steed is up to the job.

[L+1]

There’s mention of a train journey from London to Penzance to get to the start but nothing about getting home from John o’ Groats. If this was also by train, this is currently against Scotrail guidelines- essential travel only - and was at the time of this trip. Space is severely limited on all Scotrail services due to social distancing requirements.
Although most on here will think of the Far North Line as a useful element of a End to End cycle, it’s real purpose is public transport, in an area where there are very few other transport possibilities.
It does sound like a great trip and it’s a nice write up - but in my opinion, inappropriate for The Guardian to encourage its readership to consider travelling to remote areas, in effect because they are bored. Made more significant by the upbeat tone of the article.

The current health emergency will still be with us next year, perhaps longer, when even more folk are tired of their surroundings and looking for a change of scene.

Travellers touring round the country, whether by bike or car must increase the risk to health of residents of rural areas. The more venues visited, the greater the risk of exposure and transmission.

[pwa]

When we were touring around Wales and the border (legally and properly) in July / August we felt that our chances of catching Covid or passing it on were slim. In one hotel our meal was left by the waiter on a tray on a table some distance from us for us to collect so that he didn't need to come close, for example. The actual cycling was as safe as any activity I can think of. And we didn't use any public transport. The small businesses we used were all very grateful that we had come to spend money with them. And when we got home we did not hear of any surge in Covid cases in the places we visited.

I don't agree with the notion that we should protect remote communities by not visiting them, because when you think about it the implication is that you should stick to higher population density places where you and your family are more likely to catch Covid and more likely to pass it on. It makes more sense for us to avoid places where there are lots of other people.

[Syd]

.I don't agree with the notion that we should protect remote communities by not visiting them, because when you think about it the implication is that you should stick to higher population density places where you and your family are more likely to catch Covid and more likely to pass it on. It makes more sense for us to avoid places where there are lots of other people.

I received an urgent request for assistance from Scottish Government to a remote part of the country to supply a member of staff to set up medical equipment that had been rushed to the area as part if the Covid response.

These remote areas are fragile and must be protected.

[Bonefishblues]

.I don't agree with the notion that we should protect remote communities by not visiting them, because when you think about it the implication is that you should stick to higher population density places where you and your family are more likely to catch Covid and more likely to pass it on. It makes more sense for us to avoid places where there are lots of other people.

I received an urgent request for assistance from Scottish Government to a remote part of the country to supply a member of staff to set up medical equipment that had been rushed to the area as part if the Covid response.

These remote areas are fragile and must be protected.

I think that they can be protected if the regime we all know well by now is observed though. A couple of self-supporting (in the main, reading the article) travellers like this are in themselves likely to be low risk in terms of infection, and tbh are unlikely to result in an influx of individuals copy-catting, I'd have thought.

[mjr]

Travellers touring round the country, whether by bike or car must increase the risk to health of residents of rural areas. The more venues visited, the greater the risk of exposure and transmission.

Maybe, but of the two, by bike will be lower risk of transmission because you won't get as far from where you caught it and you won't have brewed up a nice car cabin full of contaminated air when you stop, plus there's also the lower general risk to health of residents.

Like pwa, when I was on my (very short!) summer tour this year in July/August, we tried only to visit businesses that were taking it seriously and because it was all new and uncertain, they were being very cautious, with lots of space, lots of screens, clear usage instructions, one way systems, masks, visors, contactless ordering/check-in/collection/payment, and so on. We also rode from home and back, not using trains like usual. We survived uninfected and I didn't hear of outbreaks anywhere we'd stopped along the way, plus we hopefully made life a bit easier for a number of small businesses and their workers' jobs a bit more secure.

It's now that it's become much more difficult, with cold/wet/windy weather meaning many outdoor venues are closed and yet more have closed their outdoor spaces, basically forcing people to gather indoors, then we had the vaccine news last week seem to make some lower their guards, on top of the uncertainty whether this is the best mix of restrictions. I'll be surprised if England's lockdown lasts only 4 weeks.

Back to the article: an enjoyable read but an irresponsibly misleading headline.