to find this man creepy on my walk?

As previous posters have said, Trust your instincts and YANBU to run away if something doesn’t feel right.
I live in a rural village and our local woods have been subject to a spate of sexual assaults recently and police have advised that we don’t walk in the woods alone. I used to always walk the dog through the woods alone on isolated tracks but sadly I’m not sure how safe I would feel doing this again.

If you felt scared you were right to leave. But people do go out walking without dogs, they have just as much right to as dog owners and it isn't weird - when I'm out walking my dog I see just as many people without dogs out for a walk as those with dogs.

He is a man so he has to be up to no good

@Sunshinenrain gay sex with strangers in usually wooded remote areas

OP I would say always trust your instincts. DH would love for us to move to the country, but this is one of the reasons I don't want to - as a woman we can't just go walking in isolated places without the fear of (usually) a man potentially attacking us. Even if it never happens, there is still the fear. I know we probably have more chance being attacked in a city, but in an isolated forest there would be no-one around to call for help to. But I'm sure women who grew up in rural areas have a different mind set, and would be apprehensive about living in an urban place.

OP, out of interest, why have you moved somewhere so remote?

No your not, trust your instincts and stay clear of there

There are a lot of men who like to go for walks. That does not make them a pervert.

Has anyone here said that's the case? I don't think anyone had said solo men out for a walk are dangerous either, they are just reserving the right to treat any solo man they encounter, in a remote setting, with a degree of caution because in the worst case scenario there would be no one to come to their aid.

The OP described how infrequently she had seen anyone on her usual dog walking route and that all the people she had seen were walking dogs, this man was on his own and OP found his behaviour strange so she left. None of us, including the OP, knows if he was dangerous but she decided not to stick around and find out.

Just as soon as we either solve male violence against women or the dangerous men start wearing some sort of identifying marker we'll dispense with cautious behaviour. God knows it can't come soon enough for women whose lives seem to be a constant risk assessment.

Viewing some men with suspicion helps women take action to protect themselves and I refuse to gaslight them by saying they are paranoid or dramatic by being cautious. Any man jumping in with NAMALT is not a good guy, if you prioritise being seen as a good guy over women's safety then you're (general you rather than personal you) an arsehole.

I would have done the same thing but I’m so angry about it. I hate that I have to change what I would love to do, for the fear of male violence.

Oh come on. I was replying to the “any man walking without a dog is dangerous”.

I would hope in all aspects of your life that you remove yourself if you feel it’s unsafe.

There are a lot of men who like to go for walks. That does not make them a pervert.

That is horrible. 😔

I live rurally and do not go walking alone in country / rural areas, when I’m alone I stick to our local town. It’s really sad because I love those sorts of walks and it’s one of the reasons we moved out of London. But I’ve been followed / flashed at / mugged too many times to ever feel okay in isolated places. I only go for country / forest walks with dh or as a family.

He could have been frightened of the dog. My son (16 and 6ft3) is, after some bad experiences.

*strong gut instinct

Oo I'm remember one creep thing that happened to me on a walk.

I was on holiday in Spain. I love walks. I normally make sure I only walk by myself in the daytime.

However I went out walking on a Spanish country road, and I got a little bit lost, so by the time I got on the correct road back to the city, it started getting dark. All of a sudden it was really dark.

I was walking on this tiny country road that only had room for one car to past. No one else was around. It was quiet so about one car would pass every 20 minutes.

A car drove past me, I saw it was two men, I was in full glare of his headlights. I saw them drive past me a good bit down the road. Them I glanced back, and I saw the headlights coming back towards me.

He had turned the car around and was heading back towards me.

All of a sudden I felt a strong but instinct to hide. And I honestly thought I heard my dead grannya voice saying "Ann you have to hide quickly, he is a bad man".

He was a good bit away from so I could run and hide. I ran further up the road and jumped and hid under a bush in the opposite side of the road, to the one i had been walking on".

The car came back and stopped exactly where he had seen me on the other side of the road. He got out and walked around looking for me for a good ten minutes. It was scary. I was lying under a bush. Then he drove off.

I would have ran/immediately walked quickly away from that situation too. Unfortunately it's just not worth taking any chances even if there was absolutely no threat. It does sound odd that he changed direction like that despite the fact it could of been for innocent reasons it's enough to cause some alarm. Iv always refused to be alone in a taxi especially on nights out, just in case! Friends thought I was being OTT but I'm not willing to take chances it's just that simple and I don't care how silly I come across to people.

If he just walked past I wouldn't have given it a second thought but the fact he stopped, observed you then went back on himself, deeper in the forest where you were going to walk. You 100% did right. It's scary being a woman.

Listen to your gut. That most definitely sounds like a close call to me. My DH hates me taking dog out alone in the countryside, it is dangerous.

Men can walk when they like and where they like but they don't get to complete a risk assessment on my behalf and I reserve the right to remove myself from any situation if, for any reason at all, I consider a random man to be dodgy. If random man's feelings are hurt by my walking away then tough shit.

But the context is different. Men get murdered as part of gang warfare or a drunken night out. Also women get murdered by people they know because they are WITH people they know and generally do not put themselves in situations where they are likely to get attacked by a stranger.

if women spent as much time alone with strangers as they do with their husbands then the stats might be different, and chilling.

plus, if you’re a man who has an urge to hurt a woman, where would you go? Straight to the woods and wait.

I'm a woman, I don't own a dog and I like walking. I walk in forests, on moors, beaches and in towns - alone and without a dog. It wouldn't have occurred to me that walking without a dog was viewed as creepy!

No one can possibly know what this man's intentions were for turning back ahead of you, except for the man himself. Could have been nefarious or innocent. But it's better you are now questioning whether you were being dramatic than wishing you had listened to your gut.

I’m the same as you OP and would have felt and acted in the same way.

One day I got sick of looking over my shoulder and not wanting to walk at night so I bought myself a German shepherd. Problem solved 😄

It's all well and good for your DH to comment, but men rarely get attacked, do they???

Actually they do. Attacked and murdered by strangers more frequently than women but very very rarely in isolated woodland settings.

Nobody is saying men can’t go for a solo walk in an isolated setting without a dog but it is not irrational for a lone woman to be wary upon encountering them.

For goodness sake. Men can’t even go on a walk without a dog? This is crazy

^
Until they stop randomly attacking women, we can be as suspicious as we like, and ought to be!!