Walking alone?

[goingtosleep]

I live in an area of amazing natural beauty and I love outdoors, love walking/hiking BUT I don't like going on my own.
I won't admit it easily but I'm actually afraid of going on my own, it's not really about what if i break my leg , more about feeling vulnerable as a woman on my own in a forest and any man i see could be a potential threat.
Now I'm pretty sure IABU but how to get over this? Are there any others that feel that way? And finally what's wrong with me? (I have not had any traumatic experiences in the past)

I'm sorry to the people who think the countryside is safer

Safer is not the same as 'nothing ever happens'. They are demonstrably lower risk, but yes sometimes dreadful things happen. I keep an eye, I'm alert and I vary where I walk or run so my movements would be very difficult for someone to predict. I do prefer horse riding or cycling alone to walking or running as you have more speed to get away, but I'll do all of them. I know there are risks, but I don't want to be confined by these any more than I already am.

Fortunately my OH loves long walks, but I do want to get out independently of him too.

"A lot of people go out walking alone in remote areas and are never seen or heard of again.".... stay off the MOORS 😆😆😆.

Seriously you can take a few precautions but this is all about perceived vs actual risk. I occasionally get nervous hiking in the back of beyond but am more likely to be assaulted in a city. My heart races in bad turbulence flying, but I'm more likely to die in a car crash.

I understand where you're coming from OP.
Near my home is a beautiful woodland, yet I can't bring myself to walk my dog there alone, even though he's a big protective beast and I'm a confident woman.
I prefer to walk him over the open fields.
My husband walks him in the woods and although he sometimes see's other women walking their dogs there occasionally, he understands my reluctance as they are quite isolated.

Like most women I’ve had my fair share of everyday street harassment and a few close calls but never ever in proper countryside.
I get nervy in small woods near towns and cities but out in proper countryside away from towns I just find it so unlikely that the i Cassio always male hiker or farmer I see will suddenly on a whim decide to attack me.

I understand your concerns OP. I'd recommend a book called The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker. It's all about learning to listen to and trust your innate sense of risk assessment, I found it really helpful.

I travel abroad on my own. A forest is behind my house, it's beautiful but I won't go in there alone!

I can entirely understand people being cautious in semi-rural areas, big urban parks, or isolated areas that are easily accessible from towns and cities, but to get to a wood I regularly walk through, a miscreant would have to find his way through about three miles of field paths from the nearest road and would probably have died of boredom before a potential victim came along.

Exactly the same. I was attacked one, but got off lightly. We are incredibly vulnerable out alone, I don't care what people say about how unlikely it is to be attacked. I am very spooked if I find myself in an isolated area.