Would this freak you out?

Dogs won’t put off a potential threat, especially as many dogs that are walked without a muzzle are friendly enough with strangers.

I am the same age and would avoid that area for the time being in case someone has noted your routine. I would inform friends/family about what’s happening. Always keep people updated on your plans for the day. I know my friends/family would call me if I felt unsafe, or would accompany me or collect me. There’s apps you can get that automatically share your location or call the police in one click. Also be open to taking photos and recording if you think something is off.

I’ve dealt with a man following me before. I took photos, I got support from random people nearby, I called the police, I went into public places to try and get rid of him. But if you’re essentially in the middle of nowhere you might have to rely on self defence alone. Which is why I wouldn’t feel comfortable continuing to walk there alone.

Not all people are going to cause you harm but I’ve definitely caught the attention of random weird men when just walking to the train station. They noted my routine and would follow me in their cars and shout things at me. I’ve never spoken to them before so they were just spurred on by my
presence, which is shit

A friend of mine used to date an army staff sergeant. I remember him giving me safety advice and telling me that even he (a big, burly bloke that you do not want to meet in a dark alley) would only wear headphones on one side when out and about and that there were circumstances where he would take that out too. His attitude is was avoiding a fight is better than winning it. And with his build and military training I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t lose a fight.

This.

Oh and recently I was walking a short cut from my way to see a friend. I do like a walk sometimes rather than taking a car!

I walked somewhere I’ve walked before, a wooded area behind a main road and near a park. A young man came up to me and started chatting and then complimenting me. Luckily I listened to my gut kept the convo short and left quickly afterwards and won’t walk there again.

Another friend of mine moved about a year ago from a south east London suburb and she has a big dog and partly because she felt unsafe walking him on the nearby common which also has a wooded area.

I was in an area I don’t often go to a month ago (Brent Cross). Boyfriend lives not far and dropped me at shopping centre and I didn’t take my car as the AA had to come and replace a battery. He went home to check this was all ok and I stayed shopping and told him I’d get the tube back.

When crossing the road and I think near an under/over pass bridge just under it I saw a man with pants down who I thought was just weeing, however when I looked it looked as if he’d been wanking and I hurried off quickly as he turned to look at me!

I then got to the tube station and for some reason there were no tubes so I got a bus to boyfriend’s house. At the bus stop a man kept on looking at md and then when I got on the bus sat next to me and tried to talk to me and touch me. I screamed at him to get off me pervert and he did and moved. This was all on a Sunday. Told boyfriend and he said this has happened a lot there recently and they sometimes target eg young Jewish teenage girls (or other culture/religion) there. But because in the past it’s a fairly Jewish area (from what I could see it is) and the shopping centre is safe for them to hang out he thinks this is why some men hang around there.

He told me next time to alert police re the flasher which I’m going to try to do.

I had EarPods in too. But no dog!

@SpidersAreShitheads totally agree with what you've said.

Up until about 10 years ago, I just complied with the usual advice to 'stay safe' without thinking anything about it; notifying people when I left/arrived anywhere, kept an alarm on me if i was out late, sticking to busy main roads whilst running etc etc, but now I am absolutely raging that I and every other bloody woman have had to have this fed to us, parrot fashion since we were born!! I've done it to my own DD! It's a bloody outrage that I and every other woman have to adhere to this mantra and I'm sick of it.

And you have a VERY misogynistic 'friend'!

I’d be spooked but doubt anyone would attack me with my GS and Staffie. However I wouldn’t have air pods in. For running I tend to put one earphone in, (I know it’s not the best sound experience) or use bone conducting ones. That way I can hear what’s going on around me but obviously not as much as no music - but that sucks imo.

Listen to that feeling. "The Gift of Fear" (a book I keep meaning to read). Have a look into those personal safety apps you can get. There's one that looks really good that tracks your location, speed and movements, asks if you're ok if you stop for a while or if you speed up rapidly, etc., and you set up what you want it to do in case of emergency. Wish I could remember what it's called!! I'll come back and give the name if I remember it.

What kind of dog do you have? I'd be going out with my dog from now on, and no earphones.

Definitely listen to your instinct! Someone else has already mentioned it, but read 'The Gift of Fear' by Gavin De Becker, we get these feelings for a reason and shouldn't ignore them

I would feel too unsettled now to walk alone there. Better to be safe than sorry.

I'm not sure about listening to your gut in this situation. Nothing has changed except that you are now feeling nervous. Any possible dangers haven't increased.

It's different from trusting you gut when you are in a new situation.

There is always a tiny risk when you are out on your own somewhere secluded. Earphones will increase that risk.

I will walk and bike in the countryside on my own happily but would be less comfortable walking around an urban park. I suppose my thought process would be that a predator would be more likely to go somewhere which is secluded but also close to houses.

I'd probably carry on but I would take precautions. I'd personally be loathe to give up Using headphones but I can see it would be safer not to have them. I'd have a phone and maybe an AirTag on me.

The only time I was shit scared out in the woods, beyond fear, I discovered the culprit: a goat (escapee 😆). The only times I've ever encountered flashers etc have been in built up areas. Woodland and wild places feel safe to me in a way a children's play park at dusk in a residential area would naturally feel dangerous. Sometimes the intuition radar is serving us well, other times not so well. In the Gift of Fear the author gives an example of this. So although I would certainly not dismiss OPs fears, I would also not advise her to forever avoid the park. As others have said, hearing the world around you is essential for many reasons. Walk accompanied for a while to allay the ick feel but aim to go back to your run. It's a public place that every one has a right to access.

OP, definitely listen to your gut! I used to walk my two small dogs in woodland about half a mile away from my house, I've been followed twice and another time I walked past some bushes and a random man was stood inside them just in view. It scared the life out of me! Another time, in a different walking place (on the canal), I was walking towards a bridge and I saw a man walking towards me far in the distance and I had this overwhelming feeling telling me to turn around. Then I thought "No, you're being silly" but as he got closer it became so strong that I couldn't ignore my instincts and so I turned on my heel and walked back quickly to somewhere more public. I now walk my dogs residentially, unless I go to the woods with my husband to walk them. A disgrace that women can't even walk their dogs in safety....

Those recommending The Gift of Fear as the evidence you should trust your gut instinct are possibly sending a bit of a mixed up message. It’s extremely useful to trust your intuition when it comes to feeling wary of a person’s behaviour. Your instincts can give you a very definite sense that someone is a wrong ‘un. The book is not really talking about trusting instincts that are uncomfortable feelings about possible imaginary scenarios with no actual other people in sight.

I think The Gift of Fear does talk about feeling uncomfortable as a sign that your subconscious is picking up on things though, whether that be in a scenario with a potentially dangerous individual or whether it can be applied in situations like the OP described I can't remember as it's a while since I read it. But I would say it does apply since it's talking about how we pick up on things in our environment without consciously realising it.

Take your dog with you and see how it behaves. I don't know what I would do if I were you, tbh I'm not 100% sure you were being watched by some evil human but there might be something that your brain picks on.
I never wear Aipods when go running in the fields tho.

You can carry an aerosol though! Body spray, hairspray, etc. There's no laws against that yet. In the Edwardian era women used their hatpins against men who assaulted them, then they brought in laws restricting the length of said hatpins so the men didn't get hurt. Shouldn't have been creeps then. 🙄

Agree with most of what has been said above.
Vary your route, change routine and go with a friend, dog etc. but for god's sake don't carry Mace/pepper spray in the UK 😬 it's against the law and an offence under the Firearms Act!

*But I wouldn't never go back based on what has happened to you

I think in a specific situation it's best not to take any chances - so if you felt watched/followed or had been approached then I would phone someone to talk to and leave immediately - no problem. But I wouldn't never go back. Stopping doing things out of an anxiety that has no definite grounding is a very bad idea IMO. Obviously be aware of your surroundings but don't let baseless fear rule your life.

No one has been assaulted there and there haven't been any reports of women being approached. You have felt this a few times now and nothing has come of it. I would put it down to anxiety and do a few things to make yourself feel safer ie no airpods, carry an alarm, have a phone etc

Get rid of the AirPods. The number of people I see running with them in, completely oblivious to the world around them. We get numpties near us running along the main road with AirPods in (avoiding running along the perfectly good path 50m away in the woods) who are clueless about the cars around them.

About hearing things in the woods - you are aware that all sorts of things can make sounds? Deer are surprisingly ungraceful, even squirrels and pigeons sound like an entire human being crashing around in the undergrowth. Usually, unless there are other clear clues someone is stalking you through the woods, a ‘feeling of being watched’ is just a sense of paranoia.

Those recommending The Gift of Fear as the evidence you should trust your gut instinct are possibly sending a bit of a mixed up message. It’s extremely useful to trust your intuition when it comes to feeling wary of a person’s behaviour. Your instincts can give you a very definite sense that someone is a wrong ‘un. The book is not really talking about trusting instincts that are uncomfortable feelings about possible imaginary scenarios with no actual other people in sight.

What it comes down to though for the OP is that she is doing something she is supposed to enjoy (running) and she is not enjoying it because of an unsettled feeling she can’t put her finger on. The fact is that she is no more likely to be attacked in this particular place than she is in another place, but if she’s not enjoying running there then maybe she should run somewhere else. Without her AirPods. 🙄

I had a similar gut feeling when out running through fields near us. I stopped wearing headphones but as I have a big GSD with me kept running there. Then I heard someone's phone ping in the woods at the edge of the fields. I just stopped running there altogether as I couldn't relax.

There are really beautiful woodland areas near me where I used to walk my dog but I don't anymore. I had that freaked out feeling once and although I persevered a few times after that it was never the same. I'm happy to accept that feeling may have been due to an overactive imagination but I could no longer enjoy the walk and there was no point frightening myself so I stopped going there.

I have long since learned to listen to my gut and only walk in areas where I feel quite comfortable. I prefer open fields where I have good visibility.
I second the suggestions for not wearing airpods and carrying an alarm and at night a really powerful torch is useful for temporarily 'blinding' someone.

When I was out at night as a teenager I used to walk down the middle of the road away from walls and hedges, although this was in the 80's when there were fewer cars on the road and electric cars weren't a thing so you could still hear cars coming. I also used to carry a travel size can of hairspray up my sleeve, my hair styling at the time would have been my defence against charges of carrying an offensive weapon! It shocks me that I've had to think about these things for decades now.

Read a book called the Gift of Fear. It’s very enlightening.

Stay safe OP.

Always always listen to your gut instinct!

Trust your gut if you feel something is not right I felt paranoid years ago when I had the same feeling. I was supposed to be going to Sharm el Sheikh on holiday with my three children but cancelled at the last minute. I had a very bad feeling that something awful was going to happen and family members dismissed it. It turns out a woman was raped in the same hotel that we staying in and at the same time we should have been there.