How far from your house is still in your local area?

So poor Chris Witty asks us to make sure we only leave the house if it is really essential, and there is Boris Johnson totally ignoring him. He knows that whatever he does people will make excuses for him, as they did for Dominic Cummings.
Totally undermining his own chief medical officer, why would he expect anyone else to follow the guidelines, which are there for our own and each other's safety.
Surely he should be setting a good example, not encouraging other people to stretch the guidelines to breaking point.

Ps Everyone knows going outside is to save our sanity and not just to “exercise”

On the governments website it says you can drive to access an open space.
If cycling 7 miles helps Boris clear his head in these horrific times then good for him. He needs it, whatever we think of him .

I think that Boris has now set an example that we can travel many miles when exercising. I understood that he went to the park to exercise and cycle which sounds like he drove there and then cycled around the park. He has plenty of green spaces near him and could easily have left the house on his bike and cycled say through green park on onto Hyde Park He would then not need to drive. As for Carries mother coming to No 10 to look after the baby, is that allowed and I am sure that others will do this now. He is always saying stay home but doesn't follow the rule himself.

Where is it stated that you can’t drive to exercise win?

Depends on where you live as to what is local. 7 miles within a council area is local to my mind.

It is the biggest question on social media, how far can we travel and can we drive to exercise. The answer to the second question is No. Straight forward. but the answer to the first question is so muddled. Local is within you own town, village or whatever. If it is a 7 miles round trip walking in other words exercising in one go then it is fine. If it is walking to work then it is fine. But if it is socialising then it is not. Officially he was exercising so within the rules, but considering he and the advisors are trying to get us all to stay at home unless we are going out on an essential journey, I think he acted badly.

Boris was bashed for being overweight and apparently brought COVID on himself because of this according to some. He admitted this publicly and is trying to do something about it and he still gets crucified by the whiners.

So many people seem to expect the rules for the whole population to account for their individual needs and lifestyle.

If they said people must stay within one mile of their home some GN members would be marooned. We don’t have the dodgy local mayors to authorise leaving home. Who is supposed to give this permission? Our overstretched police, Dodgy Dave the local councillor?

My relative in France looks after horses and animals that need to be fed and watered. She had a terrible time getting written permission and, being miles from anywhere, ran out of printer ink, having to print off pages every day asking to be allowed outside. Despite being in a fairly remote area a police vehicle appeared to chastise her when she went to feed/water/check the animals. Should she have obeyed the rules and neglected the animals? Then the same people would be screaming animal cruelty!

I’m not a fan of Johnson but I struggle to see he’d done anything wrong. Even if he drove there to cycle. He’d have been more at risk shopping at his local supermarket.

I drove to a local lake for my walk yesterday. Sick of walking round a housing estate trying to avoid people. Had a lovely walk in the fresh air, really lifted my spirits and only saw a handful of people

This is all getting very muddled.
Did he cycle there for 7 miles or did he travel the 7 miles some other way and then cycle there.
I don't think we know the answer to this yet and it makes a huge difference in terms of if its reasonable to be cross with him or not.
You may still want to be cross with Boris for other things but don't muddy the waters.

Our local, 6 miles away, NT grounds are open for bookings, and I will definitely go for a walk with OH on Friday, whilst my cleaner comes for two hours. I am sure that is the safest option, that, or cancel the cleaner who is legitimately allowed to work.

It still seems to be one law for him, (Boris) and one law for the rest of us .............THAT is the argument......not the fact he cycled 7 miles whilst others are being fined for going from their homes for exercise or shopping .............and until there is one law for EVERYBODY it will still be a bone of contention. Now I see Carrie's mother is allowed in for child care ......again, ok ....maybe support bubble allowed for childcare ....but I would imagine if the rest of us moved Granny in for childcare there would be complaints....

Bringing it back to and building on the OP, doesn't this just show that none of us really know what the local area is. It doesn't matter if it was Johnson or anyone else. It just shows how vague the rules are. Shouldn't the government be more precise when they set the rules for exercise. You can exercise in your local area is totally open to interpretation.

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Local is not defined in the Coronavirus legislation England. Lockdown means stay indoors and everyone should apply reasonable common sense when venturing out for any of the permitted reasons, of which there are probably too many. Personally I think the PM set a bad example by exercising 7 miles away from his home when he had closer places to choose, but at least he did not go as far as Barnard Castle.

If Boris cycled from home to Olympic Park, cycled there then cycled home then that is O.K. Not O.K. If he drove to his exercise. As a youngish, fir cyclist that bike ride I’d quite modest. A friend of mine sees a regular bike ride as around 50 miles . What is he to do, go round and round his local area 10 times or have a decent, satisfying ride ? For people exercising from home, if they are reasonably fit could easily be several miles from home at some point. Surely that is O.K if you are thePrime Minister or Joe Public ?

Maybe our PM needed the space of the park to blow the cobwebs away. He has the weight of our country upon his shoulders and needs a break! Does it really matter whether he went by car or cycled there? And of course he should have bodyguards. That doesn’t mean to say they were less than 2 metres away. Just let the man have a respite from his very demanding job.

For goodness sake seven miles is not far on a bike! What do you want him to do, pedal round in ever decreasing circles. He is at least making an effort to stay healthy and keep his weight down. Plenty about him to criticise besides this! Let’s all stop judging and nitpicking! I for one wouldn’t want his job.

ISHMA it’s my understanding that if you live alone, you can have a support bubble. Ie. A household that you treat as if you live with them. So, if your support is your friend and husband, you don’t need to keep a distance etc. That said, if you feel very vulnerable health wise, you don’t have to have a support bubble, if you can manage on your own....or you can choose how much contact you have with them..So it’s up to you, to decide on your contact level with your friend ...and decide when and how you want to see her/them. No one else can really decide that for you. I would do what feels comfortable. Hope that helps...although it’s digressing from the original topic for this post...?

Local as defined in government literature, is clearly stated as the village, town or part of the city you live in. However, Im sure if they were pushed to it, they would find some loophole to justify Boris’s actions. They contradict themselves frequently. Why are some pay to enter gardens open for instance? Just for people that can walk to them? And why is it ok to cycle a number of miles, but seemingly not to drive it? Actually although the pressure is there from the scientists, I don’t think many in government including Boris, are convinced about much of the advice....and they equally and within reason do their own thing.

There is no way to specify a distance for each person. Common sense tells us to keep away from others especially indoors.

A seven mile bike ride is not excessive it only takes around 20 to 30 mins

Theoddbird
Cycling is better for social distancing anyway

Sadly not always the case. I went out for a local walk yesterday. Twice in the space of a few minutes cyclists whizzed by my within touching distance. Both were hyperventilating and neither were wearing face coverings.

You can go a reasonable distance cycling even if you aren't on a racer, especially if you have been cycling for a while like Boris has. I am bodily ancient with quite bad muscle wastage but I have started to regularly do 7 miles round trip with a good break in the middle to recover in under an hour. I should imagine a healthier person could double that. I can't see anything in the Government Guidance that limits exercise to an hour.

My local big supermarket is 7 1/2 miles away. I go there for my click and collect. A cycle ride that distance would be local exercise if cycling. Boris is an avid cycler...I doubt it took him very long. Cycling is better for social distancing anyway.