Walking alone in forests?

[Vemjs]

I was just wondering if most women are happy to walk through a Forest / big fields / nature reserves on their own for a dog walk? Or do you view this as dangerous?

Sorry it's probably not under right topic!

I'd never do that alone. Only with my DH or with my two dogs who are massive beasties and would eat anyone who came near me. Actually been in the forest before and one of my dogs got growly and charged at a bush and we discovered an army lad hiding. Turns out the army were doing some sort of training exercise so he had to leg it through the trees and find a new hiding place!!

I spend most of my days off work walking my dog (and grandson) through forests. I get more grief waking the dog in the park. The only people I encounter in forests are other dog walkers walking their happy, friendly dogs off leash.

I can’t be arsed with having to leash my well trained, obedient dog every time we meet a dog owner on the other end of a leash of a growling, snarling beast, demanding that my dog is put on a leash because theirs is “reactive”. Once or twice, per two hour walk is fine. 60 times, per walk, is intolerable. Not to mention the hysterical parents who scream and flap at their children because.... “OMG there’s a dog. Quick, come here. That dog will bite you. Get away, get away dog. I don’t like you!”🙄 The dog hasn’t left my side, is nowhere near them and is totally not interested in them. Some adult humans are weird! 😂

Give me a peaceful, relaxing time walking in the forest any day. The less idiots I come across the better.

Got to watch out for actual cannibal Shia LaBeouf. Walking alone in the woods always makes me think of this ridiculous song

I live in rural Yorkshire and always go for my daily 5 mile run anytime between 5-6 am. My large dog runs with me also! I hardly every see anyone but would not run by myself without the dog.

I wish I hadn’t read this, I walk alone all the time in my rural area. I went out yesterday and didn’t pas anyone for at least 1 hour. I was listening to podcasts and enjoying the sunshine. Now this thread has got my head in a whirl.
I associate the kind of men this thread is thinking of with cities and had some bad experiences in my youth. When I visit family and go out with friends back home (London suburbs) I walk down the middle of the road after a night out so I’m in full glare of the street lamps rather than the shadowy pavement. There I’m paranoid

I very happily walk in woods and other rural locations alone. I understand the fears of womenn who are reluctant to do this, but I think that the more frequently you do it, the less those fears will get. Conversely, each decision we make to avoid something out of fear tends towards confirming and reinforcing the fear.

I suppose that walking with a dog is something that, unconsciously, added to my sense of safety at some stage. But now it is just the sheer familiarity of the experience that makes it so unthreatening.

You are much more at risk from other hazards -- crossing the road to get to the footpath, falling and hurting yourself, cows. Especially cows. It was a cow and not a man that chased me out of a field, broke through a fence, followed me into the woods, knocked me over and broke my finger

I'll be wondering around strange places by myself like Dervla Murphy as long as my legs still work.

@FindingMeno

If it was a large and lonely woodland I would need to focus my mind to not get panicky, and I don't see the joy in that. Seen way too many horror films to go in the woods alone in the dark.

I was walking home from the pub once, middle of the night, walking along the road that on side had a big dark forested area, and then suddenly all the street lights turned off. My first thought was shit, this is the start of a horror film! Ran all the way home!

@lljkk

I'll be wondering around strange places by myself like Dervla Murphy as long as my legs still work.

Hear hear. (Although the bit in Full Tilt where she’s attacked by wolves/feral dogs still makes my blood run cold.)

@Natsku yes, I'd be the same.

@Natsku, in the village we used to live in — where I walked around peacefully at all hours of the day and night — all street lights went off at midnight, apart from the occasional one at a junction. I think this is pretty normal on light pollution/energy saving/cost grounds, but I can appreciate its alarming if you’re not expecting it.

I used to have to keep a head torch in my pocket if staying out late.

Having lived in a high crime London suburb for 15 years and been followed 3 times and grabbed once, I am always very wary of my surroundings. I wouldn’t even go for a walk with my daughter in the pram to our nearest pretty nature reserve as a man had mugged a Mum with a baby there. There were other lovely quiet parks or green short cuts home on the school run that I avoided as there were never many people around on them. I always opted for the safest most visible route rather than a more picturesque one sadly. Mugging was frequent with mothers with children and take away moped delivery drivers being targeted and mugged for cash/phones/valuables.

We have moved now to the Home Counties and I feel much safer generally on forest, river and countryside walks but still the acute awareness of monitoring who is around always stays with me and sadly I think it always will. I don’t think I could go out on my own and I hate this feeling, but that is how things are for me after my experiences.

I would but let partner know where I was going, how long I would be, have location GPS on my phone with me,.... Mostly in case I sprain ankle / have some kind of accident rather than being attacked though.

I've gone for long solo walks all my life. I'm more afraid of losing that freedom than I am of the occasional scary moment while doing it.

Assaults have generally been by a person known to me.

[quote CalaminePink]@Natsku, in the village we used to live in — where I walked around peacefully at all hours of the day and night — all street lights went off at midnight, apart from the occasional one at a junction. I think this is pretty normal on light pollution/energy saving/cost grounds, but I can appreciate its alarming if you’re not expecting it.

I used to have to keep a head torch in my pocket if staying out late.[/quote]
I realised after that night that it was just a street light timer thing to save on costs but it was bloody scary that first time I witnessed it. I also recently found out that they switch off the lights along the path in the forest. That's fun to experience on a Halloween night walk... But at least I had a torch with me anyway because the lights are really dim anyway and I wanted to go off path.

I moved to the sticks from London and always walk with my dog through the fields and woods on my own. I sometimes bump into the same dog walkers and I feel safe.
When I lived in London I lived near a heath and would never walk on my own through it. I was attacked when I was 18 walking home from a night out and it has stayed with me forever. Been living in the sticks for over 9 years and I have just recently started driving my car without my doors locks.
Living here I feel a lot safer expecially with my dog. I find myself watching my dog like a hawk as we have had lots of dog napping in my area which is a different thread all together

Always did it until we discovered that a) dogs would piss off together to hunt and b) they’d motorbike round and injure themselves. It never occurred to me that it was dodgy until I was looking for the dogs at midnight with a torch! I still felt pretty safe despite being alone.

I walked on my own all over the Home Counties: Epping Forest, the Chilterns, bits of the London Loop, along canals and rivers in Hertfordshire, commons in the Croydon area. Never had any problems. The only issue for me is if you fell or got lost and needed help. On the other hand, you learn self-reliance and forward planning.

I live in a town but like to go walking on my own in isolated places in the countryside sometimes during the day time, (don't have a dog). I don't wear headphones and always have a general awareness of who's around me.

In terms of rationalising the risks, whilst young men are more at risk of violence by strangers, and women are more likely to be attacked or assaulted by someone they know, I would also assume it's women who are the majority of victims of rape and sexual assault by strangers, street harassment, flashing and so forth, so that's what I'm nervous of in isolated, rural places. The times I have been harassed and groped, it's been in the daytime on public transport in cities. Obviously horrible incidents, but also a 'reassurance' that it wouldn't escalate into something more serious because there were lots of people around, and the police would be relatively easy to get hold of. My worry is meeting men like that in more isolated situations, so I'm always aware but try to not let it stop me enjoying the countryside.

I did have a mini freak out in a Norwegian forest a couple of years ago on my own. It was a day's hike through a cleared, marked route through a beautiful forest. Hadn't seen anyone all day, looked behind me and there was a man catching up with me. I felt absolute terror - suddenly horribly conscious that I was on my own in the middle of nowhere and that my well-being was 100% dependent on this man being a good guy. So I stopped, stepped off the track and pretended to look for something in my bag (got my keys between my fingers), so that he could walk ahead of me. He nodded, smiled, wished me a good afternoon and kept on walking. I think he was actually very conscious to reassure me he wasn't a threat. I kept on walking but with him in my sights in case he ducked off the track into the woods.

Not a chance.

Always did it until we discovered that a) dogs would piss off together to hunt and b) they’d motorbike round and injure themselves. It never occurred to me that it was dodgy until I was looking for the dogs at midnight with a torch! I still felt pretty safe despite being alone.

Sorry, but couldn’t help myself laughing at the idea of dogs escaping to hunt, motorbike around and hurt themselves in the process

It would be good if there was a women in rural/ green spaces campaign. We have a small bit of land and that has footpaths through it - we’ve had two instances this month of single male walkers going off path, one snooping in our buildings and the other seemed to be trying to set up camp. In both instances I said they were trespassing (nice but firm) and in both instances I got told to fuck off, who was I anyway, they couldn’t give a shit etc. One was old and posh and the other maybe late 30s and middle class. Really horrid experiences and made me quite frightened, also to get police involved as one said “well I know where to complain to” (aka knows where I live). Makes me feel ashamed/ scared as either too much of a coward to get police involved or else sitting duck. I really doubt either would’ve given the same response to a bloke.

I regularly walk through forests alone but I live in rural Scotland.

Do people really think their dog will protect them? Presumably they have not been in a situation where they were being attacked to know how the dog will respond to the attacker

You never know for sure (unless they’ve been trained to defend you) but a large dog that barks is a good deterrent.

I walk a large, male GS who is always on a lead because although he’s lovely with people he’s unpredictable with dogs. He doesn’t like dogs getting in his face and hates bull breeds as he’s been attacked twice. If a dog runs at him he’ll bark loudly and lunge. That deters most dogs (and humans) from getting close.

A couple of times he’s taken a dislike to random men when I’ve walked him. One man stared at us for a long time, unnervingly. Either dog sensed my unease or saw the man’s staring as a threat, but he went on the defensive, barking and lunging towards the stranger (he couldn’t get to the man thanks to the lead but the man hurried away).

Another time a man walked very close to us on a wide path, no idea why, but he sort of walked next to us whilst looking straight ahead and kept pace with us. Dog started off curious, trying to sniff him, then suddenly saw him as a threat; he went stiff and barked at him, wouldn’t stop barking. I stood still holding dog to let the man get ahead. The man walked slowly and kept glancing over his shoulder at us, and every time he looked back GS barked and strained, hackles up. We took another route home that day!

Do people really think their dog will protect them?
Exactly the opposite. I know our dog would not protect us at all. She’d roll over to be tickled. We walk in the woods for her pleasure, so probably would use them less if we didn’t have her.