Do you feel safe walking alone?

[toomanycushionshere]

I live in a village, fairly close to some lovely walks across fields. But I never use them on my own! I automatically assume that it would be an unsafe thing to do, even though I’ve never encountered anything or anyone untoward.

I’m sure I’m not the only woman who won’t walk in the country / woods etc alone, but I wish I felt braver and wasn’t missing out. Those of you who do, do you just take your chances or do you take precautions (alarm etc)?

I do 95% of the time. I feel much far safer walking on my own late at night down the unlit canal path that crosses next to the woods, than I do taking a taxi on my own late at night. I don't drive, so I'm fairly used to walking alone to get where I need to be.

There is that 5% where I get an off feeling or a sudden noise/movement sends my imagination spiraling... It was far worse when walking with then-small children as I'd been worrying about their safety rather than walking on my own.

I do have a dog and walk fields alone, but I am cautious and certainly avoid woods. I do have an alarm, my dog is certainly not going to put anyone off.

Yes I do. When I've been raped or tried to be raped, it was by people I've been with. I've never been attacked by a stranger.

I like walking in my local woods by myself but I never listen to music so I can hear other people approaching. I always tell my husband where I am entering the woods and let him know when I’m back in case anything happened, he would have an idea where I would have been.

I’m so sorry that this has happened to you.

I love walking on my own, I go to the forest and can walk for hours. It's so calming and peaceful.

Happy to walk at night but always on lit roads and usually past places with cctv or the kebab vans who I always say hi to. My theory is if anything does happen to me then hopefully they'd remember me or I'd be caught on the cctv.

Last year 6 women were killed by strangers in the uk

Of the 590 people killed , around 150-200 were women

To live close to 2 females being murdered in random attacks is statistically unusual

What exactly is it that is causing you this irrational fear, which is limiting your life so radically?

Where I lived, it would have been a deeply eccentric decision by someone with a desire to harm to walk potentially miles from the nearest place where a car could be left, and hang around on field paths where no one might pass for days.

Virtually the only two people I ever saw on my daytime walks were a woman who fostered greyhounds, who were a bit twitchy around other dogs, and a fell runner who liked training runs across varied terrain. Neither would have been an obvious target -- one was surrounded by large dogs, the other could have snapped most assailants in half.

If you're an opportunistic rapist or mugger, there are better places to do it.

Generally yes, but I live in London and there's usually a lot of people around. When I was younger and went out at night I would walk alone for 5 or ten minutes getting off the nightbus in the small hours or in Central London where it would still be pretty busy. If I am out late alone for any reason I'll stick to busy streets, just common sense, and I'd avoid walking alone anywhere unfamiliar where I'd have to be checking a map.

I don't think twice about walking alone in the countryside - the physical and mental health benefits I get from it far outweigh any risks.

I will walk in the countryside on my own in the day but i wouldnt walk down some particular bits of town.

I do understand the statistics about most attacks being people you know, but then i also know many women take all sorts of precautions about their safety so i dont know if the statistics for random attacks would be higher if they werent taking all these precautions.

I feel quite safe a regularly walk alone.

I would never walk alone after dark anywhere and wouldn't walk in woods or fields on my own at any time.

I live rurally and run on my own, and have done for ages. I don’t feel 100% safe in the woods, but I still do it because I don’t have anyone to run with outside of my running club and that’s only once a week. If I have to go when it’s dark I run on a canal towpath, not sure why but I always feel safe there. There are a few other places where there are other runners, dog walkers, cyclists etc and I like the feeling of not being totally on my own.

I’m afraid of random men, stray dogs and hunters - I live in a country where there are hunting accidents every year and I’m always careful to stay away from the hunt. We also have wolves although there have only been a few sightings in this region, I always wonder what I’d do if I saw one!

I do. My caveat would be that most of the places I run are either fairly well trodden, such as a long footpath that used to be an old railway and goes through quite a nice woodland area ( it would be quite stupid to attack someone as not completely unlikely that another walker or cyclist would come along while you were doing it) or where they are more remote, they’re very open terrain so i can see people coming.

Yes, I walk alone every single day for 5-6 hours at a time, often in very isolated areas. I'm a dog walker and don't take anything with me for protection except my phone.

I wouldn't go in the dark but that's because I'm worried about falling or getting injured.

I'll happily walk around cities on my own at night. Not sure I would wander around in the countryside at night but mainly because I wouldn't want to get lost or injured.

I've lived alone in rural Hampshire/Berkshire/Wiltshire for 33 years, with walks all around. Woods, fields, lanes, canal towpath, common. I walk and run all over by myself and have never had an issue. I know most of the local dog walkers by sight, and don't feel any unease.

The countryside is too muddy for the drug dealers to risk their shiney BMWs, and would-be rapists are much more likely to hang around night clubs. Where I live now, a stranger would stand out like a sore thumb.

I'd hate to feel constrained by fear. That must be horrible OP. 🙁

Can you borrow a dog for walking? Very few people will try it on if you have a dog with you. Too scared of getting their ankles nipped.

I've never had any issues walking alone. I'm city based and I've never been out in a rural area on my own at night. I expect I'd feel less safe rurally as there would be fewer lights and general passers by.

I regularly walk alone on fairly quiet paths and never feel 100% safe. I refuse to let that stop me though

I do. You are probably safer in a less populated area. There have been studies done on the "bystander effect" that shows that in busy areas people are less likely to intervene to help someone in trouble. So you may feel safer in a crowd, but you actually are more at risk.

Yes, I walk (& kayak & cycle & run) all the time, in UK & elsewhere.

I drew the line at walking around African towns, cities & villages after dark. No streetlights! No mob to chase down bad guy if you were assaulted. Unpaved rough verges & pothole-filled roads you can easily trip on.

The natives have to deal with all of it while walking or cycling after dark and in heavy rain of course (at times). I'm spoilt.

Thanks for your views everyone. It’s definitely looking like it’s attached to how risk adverse we are generally. But you grow up having to keep yourself safe from men (as most of us do) it’s difficult to switch it off 🤷‍♀️

I never think about it. If I want to go somewhere, I go.

Yes I walk miles on my own in the countryside, even after dark with a head torch and I’ve never once felt unsafe. Im
nor naturally risk averse in general though, and I prefer my own company to anyone else’s so walking on my own suits me.