During foot and mouth such ignorance prevailed. Only one local authority in the UK had the expertise to not need such a blanket ban.

Who is actually authorised to supervise Covid Regulations, other than the police.

Every petty official seems to think it is their duty to do something.

Stop whining.. The mountains will still be there when this is over, which will only be when the morons mass gathering in these outdoor spaces realise they are being dumbass stupid.

It seems commonsense is a rare commodity these days, replaced by knee jerk ill informed opinions and actions. I suppose excersice is far safer taken in the local park with hordes of others than a short drive and a walk on the hills with few folk about or none at all in some cases? There's plenty of space out there without everyone going to the same places.
Why are rural communities so fragile? I don't think there's much chance of them coming into close contact with any walkers

So I take it old people don’t live in towns and cities! So it’s best to keep hordes of people bottled up in the “ghettoes” and save all the frail who have the privilege to live in the National parks who basically if they are that frail they should be inside shielding.
Time to change the propaganda and just admit it the residents are just using it has an excuse to keep the riff raff out because unless you have a business that needs tourism then locals never want visitors regardless of if this is going on or not.

Many residents in the area are in the most vulnerable group at risk if they contract Covid-19" 
(Yorkshire NP trying to keep the public out elsewhere in these pages)

To those National Park "bosses" and those in the Brecon Beacons l'd say: - it's a pandemic - many residents in ALL areas are in the most vulnerable groups.

I realise that travel is now all but forbidden in a national lockdown and I fully agree.
However, the constant message from some in the NPs (not all) throughout this emergency - no matter what local and national guidelines have been - is "the hills aren't open"
It's a different story when the tills are open.

The public - yes, those who have bankrolled the tourist industry in NPs every year up to now and who pay for the National Parks in their taxes are getting just a bit tired of the monologue.

It could even be argued that, at a time of national crisis such as this, where people cannot work properly, have lost jobs, and mental and physical health are further compromised, access to the National Parks is even more important - so long as it adheres to GOVERNMENT restrictions (not ad hoc rules made up by unelected NP CEOs and others)

Those rules, at the time of writing, allow that if you are indeed lucky enough to live in, or very close to a National Park then you have every right within the restrictions (the law) to travel a short distance for exercise.

Maybe National Park leaders should be spending this time liaising with the Government as to how to enable this safely instead of continuously alienating the public.
They tend not to want the considerable funding that comes from public coffers to stay away.

Many may remember this tone when things return to normal.
There are many beautiful places in Britain - not so far away, less expensive and, by the sound of it, a damn sight more welcoming.

At present, travel is, quite rightly, barred save for valid exceptions.
But credit the vast majority of people with responsibility and common sense.
Rest assured, the minority that don't seem to possess these are no more likely to listen to you than they are to the government.

Start telling the rest of us - the vast majority - what you've been doing to get us back again safely when things are ok, and spare us the constant lectures and obstruction.

Bear in mind, the way the economy could go, you might have the place to yourselves for longer than you might like.

Wow, such selfish self-centered morons.

Firstly, rural communities ares like the Lake District do not have huge hospitals and the ones we do have are stretched to the limit. Hospitals in area are usually based upon and operated around the size of the local population.

Secondly, the NHS, the police, ambulance, fire brigade and VOLUNTEERS of Mountain rescue are all stretched and have other priorities at the moment. What they don't need is to be dealing with unnecessary incidents such as those idiots that crash their car on the way to the NP or end up lost or having an accident on a mountain.

Thirdly , the virus is moved by people. The advice is for EVERYONE to just stay at home and not make unnecessary journeys and where ever possible to avoid interaction with people outside of your family/bubble.

The rules apply to everyone, without exception the sooner people just do as they are asked then the sooner we can all get back to normal.

Just as an example only last Sunday whilst I was walking up the road where I live a car drove past with someone driving dressed for walking with a rucksack on his front seat. ten minutes later he came back and pulled up nest to me and my wife and asked if we were local?(in his East Lancashire accent) he then proceeded to ask me if I knew where Green Crag was and could I show him on his map. Without warning he got out of his car and certainly got within 2 Metres of me. The road he needed to drive up was covered in snow and ice, the hill was covered in low cloud and there are no clear paths across the featureless route he planned to take. I advised him there were better options. The point however, was he had already come into close contact(uninvited) with 2 people, I have no idea of who he was, he was at least 1.5 Hours drive from home and if he had a bump on the way here or going home or needed help whilst out on the fells or a trip to hospital, then how many other people would he potentially come into contact with? We also don't know whether he stopped for fuel or coffee on the way.

Alternatively he could just have stayed at home where he was supposed to be.

If you read what I've written you'd have seen that I agree with the travel restrictions.
What's at issue here is the entitlement of unelected bureaucrats to close access land and rights of way whenever they decide.
"Selfish and self-centered morons?".....Obviously that must apply to the BMC too does it?
By the way I never got round to mentioning that small minority who live within the NP's and who, judging by their comments about visitors in these pages, appear to think the NP's were set up as their private estates.

Disgraceful decision by the National Park Authority.

It really stands out at the moment how easy it is for people to resort to name calling and being abusive if someone doesn’t have the same opinion. I’m sorry but just because someone doesn’t share your views it does not give you the right to call them idiots, selfish, self-centred morons...etc etc they may feel the same about you but what do you actually achieve by abusing the faceless masses whilst hiding behind screen.
Too many keyboard warriors about at the moment with too much time on their hands. If it annoys you that much switch off and read a book because the World will continue to turn and all more better without people spouting toxic hatred.

You're right of course Smileitwillsoonbeover.
Some regrets about my own part in this thread. My opinions are sincerely held, but admit tone too adversarial.
I guess feelings are running high at the moment, but I trust we're all after the same outcomes.

The solution for me? If ever again inclined to join in the bits UNDER Grough articles, (which when I think about it, is often like tilting at windmills anyway) try to keep it positive rather than critical.
The news about Capt Tom rather put it in perspective for me too.
RIP

The National Parks appear to have become the unelected arbiters of our personal freedoms. Maybe now is the time to save on their expensive public funding? Their partisan support for some notional rural “nimby” ethics has no part to play in our society today. Those of us who toil in the dust laden steel factories, exhausted by 12 hour shifts in deafening mills, NEED the wide open green spaces and hills of the National Parks. It isn’t just covid in our crowded ten foot terraces which is killing us, it’s mental stresses, a lack of fitness and exercise. It is an unalienable right we have access to ‘nature’ ; we have campaigned, trespassed, been fined and jailed enough in our quests for access to the hills. If anything in this covid mess, the National Parks should be promoting our accesss. After all, the virus spreads the least in the open air. And it’s open air we want.