UKC

I'm hoping to get up to the Lake District for a few days next week. Wander around, stay away from people, bivvy, clear my head.

Normally I would get the train to give myself some flexibility regarding routes and timing. But the current situation with covid means that I haven't used public transport for a while, and I'm wondering how wise this option is. Whats the UKC hive's experience of train travel at the moment? Are people generally being responsible, or is it mixed?

Alternatively, does anyone have suggestions for safe and legal multi-day/overnight car parking for the west/central Lake District?

(Manchester based)

There are single-figure virus cases across the Lake District fringe at present and these are mostly badly-behaved young farmers at private partys. To all intents and purposes the virus has passed, and our local pubs are very close to almost normal apart from residual rules and regulations. Tourist pubs are not as relaxed.

Don't know about trains, but as far as leaving a car is concerned, Honister slate mine which is run by kind locals might be a place to politely ask if you can leave your car there. They are usually very accommodating.

DC

I live in the Lakes, used the train and bus to get home recently via Penrith. Train had max 10 people in the carriage, bus empty. Seemed a very civilised way to travel!

Not quite true, the latest available data up to August 16th had 49 new cases in Cumbria and Eden has only just been removed from the watch list. Allerdale was the worst area but that is probably related to a party of 30+ people (possibly your badly behaved young farmers?)

Local pubs should and hopefully are still abiding by the guidance or they will be the cause of the next spike, tourist pubs being fuller are more obviously following the guidance.

Covid is definitely not gone in Cumbria and with schools reopening in less than two weeks now we don’t want that impression being given to people. It’s a lot better than it was but both Carlisle and Whitehaven hospitals still have people on their wards who are being ventilated. 
Don’t know about buses and trains but Newlands Pass was blocked today by idiots parking, the Police should be busy ticketing them now, another 3 abandoned tents collected from the side of Buttermere and 12 bags of assorted crap some of it literally that. Not been a bad day though!

The trains are quiet at the moment.  You are unlikely to need to sit anywhere near someone else.  It's more about whether you want to sit for several hours with a mask on.

Today's figures would contradict what you say: 18 cases in Cumbria according to these data.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=47574f7a6e454dc6a42c...

The local pubs are not creating any infection and they have been operating with well-behaved customers for a considerable time. Tourist pubs may be more risky.

There are 70 patients across the whole country being ventilated and many of these are not due to covid, so the numbers being ventilated in Cumbria will be miniscule.

DC

I travelled from Bristol to Penzance on the train a few weeks ago. It's not overly fun wearing a mask for several hours, however people have been pretty well behaved in terms of socially distancing from what I could see.

It's worth taking a spare mask to wear for going into any shops during your trip and for the journey home as mine smelt a bit by the end of my cycle touring trip!

Well who knows, I just go on the data sent to me by the LEA which they in turn get from Cumbria NHS so I can plan how to safely reopen and they say 49 new cases in the week up to August 16th. Are you sure those 18 aren’t actual hospital cases, I have been told Whitehaven has 9 at the moment but they have been transferred from Carlisle, how many are ventilated I have no idea. What I am pretty sure about nationally is that the reason cases are increasing is because people keep saying Covid is over let’s just crack on.
As long as pubs keep following the guidance and everyone behaves responsibly then yes the risks are minimised but please do not say the virus has passed, it hasn’t, and all it takes is one person in an area to contract it and then if pubs aren’t following the right guidance we have a spike. 

All of them, at all times? How can you possibly know that? Is there some special mechanism that means "native" Cumbrians with Coronavirus aren't infectious, unlike filthy tourists? Showing your usual bias there, I think.

Indeed, a visit to a selection of local pubs in Maryport, Whitehaven, Workington, Millom or Barrow tonight might rather dispel the myth of good behaviour! And they will definitely be populated by native Cumbrians not tourists!