to walk in a country park at 8:30-10pm on my own?

[danniegrace]

dh annoyed at this suggestion by me and said he will be really annoyed if i do it as he will worry the whole time. we have a pretty high energy dog and the best time for his longer walk is simply in the evening time, dog is with me all day but i am a carer for a relative so with them all day, dh does take dog out in the morning but he needs another walk again in the evening and i just prefer somewhere than a pavement walk or small park... i am a fully grown woman in my late 20s. i know this sounds weird but there has been absolutely no crimes there that have come up in any sort of news, at all, not even over a decade ago, its a rather open country park vs very woodlandy. would you do it?

I personally would not as where I live there is often crime around areas where there are nice walks. But I agree its shit women live in fear of doing things men would not even worry about.

Yes most attacks are people that are known. But maybe you could vary walks and times so it does not become a regular route.

It is shit as women we have to think about these issues. But in my local area there has been attacks on men near canals when they are dog walking. So it's not as simple as a gender issue. Only you will know the area and how u feel.

No I wouldn't walk alone in the dark but that's only because I have been followed in daylight hours.

Unfortunately we have to be extra careful when doing things. No one wants to hide away and not live their life, but there are some right weirdos out there.

I always think of the case of Ashling Murphy here in Ireland last year, who was murdered while out for her normal run at 4pm. She carried keys to protect herself, unfortunately he was stronger than her, she did inflict a lot of wounds on him, but sadly didn't survive her attack. She was only 23.

They are generally safe but we happened to be in Fryent Country Park the day Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman were found there, which has definitely made them feel less safe to me.

I wouldn't

I used to walk to work really early in the morning when it was still dark and part of it was through a big common. I used to run or speed walk through that bit with my heart racing and hated it everyday. If you have a choice I would stick to a busier area.

Nope . No way . But you do it if
you feel safe and could handle yourself should anything happen .

No I wouldn’t, but I probably wouldn’t walk round the streets on my own in the dark late at night either. I’d be too scared of something bad happening even though I live in an area with a low crime rate. I’ve got a family to think about and I would consider it irresponsible - deliberately putting myself in a potentially harmful situation. It’s not right that I should feel this way, but it’s sadly the world we live in.

I walk in the dark with my dog (take a torch to pick up poop). My reasoning is that even a thick rapist will target an area with more women.

I do walk in our local parks in the dark but this is in a large city. Particularly since the pandemic the parks have plenty of people in them at night, dog walkers, couples, groups of teenagers etc, so it feels fairly safe with a variety of people around.

But where you are sounds more isolated? Would there be anyone around to hear you scream if you did? It sounds more risky and I don’t think I would do it on my own.

but that was at 4pm... so really i should never go to a country park because theres definitely loads of it that is empty even at peak times! that's the thing, i am not sure the risk is actually much more

Well, you’d have to look it up but I imagine the town park is the most risky after dark, followed by residential streets, and then country parks so you have a point. Still wouldn’t do it though.

i agree doesnt seem like a country park is the ideal place for a rapist to hang about just hoping some woman comes about

I would, with a head torch. Statistically it’s so unbelievably rare for anything to happen in these situations, we just hear about the isolated incidents. We don’t hear about the multiple people a day who die or are injured on the roads, and everyone keeps driving

One incident. Very sad but very rare.

Same here. It has been awful.

If you make a regular thing out of it, it's the perfect location for an attack actually. Isolated area, quiet, no many people around to witness anything deviant.

I would do the walk but take some precautions

• rape alarm in your pocket at all times- test the batteries every week
• share your live location with your OH during the walk through what’s app / find my iPhone / whatever
• no AirPods or any noise in your ears- stay alert
• only go where you know well
• light up collar for your dog
• If you’re in the uk sadly we can’t carry pepper spray etc but if you’re somewhere where it’s legal then go nuts.

if your OH doesn’t like it then he pays for a dog walker- there’s no other time to take the dog so it’s pretty simple. 1.5 hours every day will be pricy so he might see his arse.

This.

I'm more selective about where I go in the dark, mainly about trip hazards, but also little noises like roosting pheasants can be a bit unsettling, but it's depressing how many women will significantly restrict their lives after dark, which by winter is 4pm-8pm. Local knowledge matters as there are some areas best avoided due to their nocturnal activities.

Risk assessment is also about weighing up the point of the risk. Crossing roads is risky, but we don't live life in our own blocks never crossing roads because the benefit is greater than the risk. Taking out a dog for a walk is worthwhile.

I'm less likely to have bother in places like OP is suggesting, than trying to walk through the city centre in the middle of the day and dodging aggressive drunks and drug users.

I wouldn't even consider it tbh. I would walk down a well lit road if if it was busy enough, but walking through a park in the dark is a huge risk, in my opinion, as someone else said even if the likelihood of something happening is low, the consequences are huge if it did, even my OH would avoid doing it.

Sad to say that I wouldn’t, OP. 2 women in the last 2 years in my area have been murdered while dog walking. One just last week.

Having been raped by my ex husband I refuse to give up even more of my life to the 'what if's', my own home wasn't a safe place.

I thin it depends where you live and how rural the county park is tbh. I run with my dogs at night all the time but i feel far more comfortable deep in the woods than in a park near my town because I know that it’s really unlikely there would be anyone else there in the dark and the 1 or 2 occasions I’ve met anyone in the dark they are out for a reason (also running) and not just wandering around looking for trouble.

Switching around routes and timings is sensible wherever and whenever.

I’m exactly the same. One of my favourite dog walks is in very isolated woodland but it spooks me on my own. I’ve only done it alone once and all I could think of was how stupid I was being. It’s so annoying.