Last week I went walking and camping in the north west of Scotland with friends and did something I have always wanted to do, spent the night on the summit of A’Mhaighdean. Magic!
In doing so, some of our small party left Glasgow, where the coronavirus travel restrictions still applied (see here). I believe we had a reasonable excuse for doing so, the trip was important for our physical and mental well-being – added to which the weather forecast was good and we wanted to be able to enjoy the best Scotland has to offer before the midgie season starts in earnest! The point of going public about what we did is to show that its quite possible to travel over most of Scotland by car for the purposes of outdoor recreation without posing any risk of spreading Covid-19 – and to defend the right to do so.
Having kept away from people in Glasgow – no cafes or pubs for me – and with all the party having had both doses of the vaccine, the risk of having Covid-19 were very low. But I took advantage of the local testing centres set up on Glasgow’s Southside to take a PCR test and then, on the morning of travel, took a Lateral Flow test. Both results were negative and I could have shown the police if challenged. In truth though, anyone who had been as careful about contact with others could have taken neither vaccines nor tests and posed as little risk.
We got to Dundonnell and back with spare fuel in the tank, so had no contact with service stations. We were self-sufficient in food for the week and did not go into any shops. Not that there were any in the area we stayed. We kept away from settlements and had no contact with local people, even though I believe there were safe ways we could have supported the local economy.
Our only contact was with other walkers. We met a few on An Teallach and doing the round of the Fisherfield Six but none, surprisingly, beyond the car parks in two days out and about around the Fannichs. In all cases it was easy to maintain our physical distance.
After three days backpacking, we camped 100m below the A832 between Braemore Junction and Dundonnell, five miles from the nearest habitation. While other people were stopping off overnight along the road, in four evenings we saw nobody and after about 8pm there was no traffic. Other people who had camped here had left no trace and neither did we. The Covid crisis has made the right to camp by the roadside more important than ever before, its even safer than staying in a campsite or in self-catering accommodation.
Midway through the week we heard the announcement that the Scottish Government was going to move the City of Glasgow to Level 2 Restrictions from the Saturday (see here) after claiming that Covid cases, which were down slightly, were now under control. The same claim had been used three weeks earlier to justify not imposing travel restrictions on East Renfrewshire. But cases there have continued to rise and the rate is still higher than the recent peak in Glasgow. As the First Minister admitted to the Scottish Parliament “if we looked at just the raw numbers, it could be argued that some of these areas should be in Level 3″.
Nicola Sturgeon’s statement has important implications because the Scottish Government has not amended the recent regulations (see here) that restrict people’s right to travel out of Level 3 areas for outdoor recreation. Instead, they have loosened the criteria used to determine which local authorities should be placed at what level, so this becomes a matter of “judgement” which does not appear susceptible to any rational challenge. Wherever you live, therefore, if cases rise in future you could well find your right to travel for outdoor recreation once again restricted.
Unfortunately, neither the bodies that have a duty to promote enjoyment of the countryside (Naturescot and our two National Park Authorities), nor our politicians, nor the organisations that represent recreational interests have challenged the legal basis for these restrictions. Under international law, restrictions on human rights, which includes the right to freedom of movement, must be proportionate. As this post has, I hope, shown, there is absolutely no justification for the Scottish Government’s continued restrictions on people’s rights to travel by car for outdoor recreation. Its time for a bit of solidarity across Scotland among those who enjoy outdoor recreation and that the Scottish Government was forced either to justify publicly its restrictions or to amend the law.
What do you expect when not one single member of the cabinet is a keen Hillwalker, Fisherman, Mountain biker, Birdwatcher, or Cross-country Skier.
Outdoor recreation is our biggest single activity yet is unrepresented in our Government.
Seems like you’d need to wear a frock and state you are sexually confused for Saint Nicola to pay attention to your cause.
I’m still waiting for the chance to camp out up there . Failed a previous attempt due to unpleasant weather.
Thanks for highlighting this, Nick. I feel the restrictions on movement are just another part of the confusing array of rules we have to follow. Add to this local restrictions and a plethora of different interpretations by individuals and organisations, and you end up spending most of your time worrying about it instead of just getting out and enjoying Scotland. It shouldn’t be this way!
I hate to think how much public money is being wasted on inconclusive lateral flow tests. Their main use seems to be free virtue signalling.
The travel restriction at Tier 3 level is now out of sync with the other restrictions and should be scrapped. The whole of Scotland has now enjoyed the freedom to travel anywhere and If an area is moved back into Tier 3 then I believe the travel restriction will be ignored by the majority and will be almost impossible to enforce.
Back in March I made two day trips to Arran (which is within my local authority area) and on one occasion I was asked by the Calmac ticket office staff if my journey was essential. For the same reason you stated I looked her straight in the eye and said an emphatic ‘Yes! A day in the fresh mountain air was enough to recharge my mental batteries for another two or three weeks.
For a baseline when considering if your journey is “essential”.
Way back at the start of all this, the First Minister took time off from threatening us with the police for going outside to travel to the SEC with a camera crew to announce that the Nightingale hospital on the site was operational. She and the accompanying media presumably considered this an “essential” journey which justified the supposed risk of making it at the height of the initial wave of cases.
This is just one example of how it has been “business as usual” for the Scottish political / media bubble throughout. We should feel free to follow their actions, not their words.
The culture of fear over Covid being rampantly transmissible in the outdoor and over-bearing, ill-thought out restrictions, regulations and use of law to impose, enforce and threaten citizens has been characteristic of Covid protection. Sure, Covid has and is horrific in its pernicious effect on the population but the WHO has no reports of cross-infection from outdoor recreation. (https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-staying-active)
This fear-factor is more than likely been made worse by what I understand is a diktat (from whom or where in Scottish Government has yet to be seen) preventing National representative organisations from lobbying ministers to re-think their approach on the basis that public money is used by the organisations and thus these organisations must tow theGovt’s. line.
This fear has fed into some sports clubs and social-media based groupings where, if an individual sought to challenge what was happening, they were threatened with exclusion from the ‘group’ yet. That culture within individual organisations do not mirror what is actually happening and has happened.
Throughout the months, I met a number of club groupings on hills way outside their Level of travel (I was either in my Level / area or able to take advantage of my Professional status to move into other areas) – they simply went out as individuals without the activity being officially promoted through their club and, like Nick, had little or no contact with any community.
The outdoor recreation community has been disproportionately blocked from sensible activity yet time after time, article after article demonstrably show that outdoor recreation – from local parks to the more wilder hilltops and coastal coves – has a profound effect on stabilising and promoting mental health.
…and, without delving into the detail, we only have to look at some of the bizarre reactions by Police Scotland and their counterparts in England to see how nonsensical and confusing the UK-wide and Home Nation versions of Covid restrictions have become: yet not one law has been amended nor repealed and layer on layer of law remains in place way beyond what is legitimate.