Do you walk alone at night?

[FeetupTvon]

I love walking for fitness and relaxation.
Now the nights are drawing in I’m wondering if I should use the treadmill at the gym instead.
Obviously I want to continue going for walks but don’t want to feel unsafe as that defeats the object of walking being for mindfulness.
Just want to know how common/uncommon walking alone in the dark is.

Yes, the same. I’m not observing a curfew just because it’s dark at 19:30.

I don’t walk in the dark without a destination, but I do enjoy the walk when I’m out anyway (most evenings) if the weather is dry.

I don't give walking in the dark another thought.

Yes, how would get home from work or pick children up from nursery - it dark so early in the winter!!

Yes because I am adult and it is what adults do

Yes. I always have done. I walk alone in big cities, country lanes, skeevy areas full of dodgy characters and drunks, beaches, fields and prairies, main roads and back roads.

I would not walk alone through woodlands at night unless it's unavoidable; I have done it (including in the Amazon forest) but the hazard ratio's a bit high.

I have had unpleasant experiences during my nocturnal ambulation! I just reckon I'm not going to cut myself off from half of what the world's got to offer because some men are horrible.

All the time but I don't go on exercise walks, I'm just going about my life.

I walk alone early mornings with a headtorch around my village and the farm that I live next to. This is when it's light or winter dark.

Usually around 5am, I am very happy and can identify the type of animals eyes I see reflected back at me from the glow of my headtorch now by the colour!

The only people I ever see are the farmers or occasional poachers.

Btw some of us don't have taxis as an option, you have to prebook around these parts and no way am i missing out due to a 10 minute walk.

Around here there streets are busy at night because everyone walks

Yes, if I’m going somewhere, usually after a night out in the local area with friends, I’ll walk back the mile to our house.

Yes, I have to walk my dog. I have one of these in one pocket, and a torch (for dazzling) in the other.

Yes, I don’t think twice about walking or running after day.

“I Walk Alone At Night” is a great tech/house track on very subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=w_IJPmt_J4I

No, but only because I don't need or want to, rather than because I'm too scared to.

It gets dark before 5pm.in winter, and is often still dark at 8am, I'm often amazed at the number of people who don't go out in the dark, how do you get stuff done?
I think there's a difference between walking (or running) in the dark at 7 or 8pm, and going out at say 1am. And obviously depends where you are, how many people will be around and whether somewhere is lit.

I agree with this. I made the decision long ago that I wasn't going to alter my behaviour because of fear of stranger danger. Obviously I'm not wreckless, but I wouldn't think twice about walking home from the station late at night, or walking home from a friends house. I live in the suburbs of a very large city and never had an issue or felt vulnerable.

I'm in London and very busy area, high street etc. pretty normal to be walking around till around 10pm I would say.

How would I get anywhere in the winter if I didn't?

I don't walk through unlit, deserted parks or industrial estates at night but I'm a Londoner and I feel perfectly safe on the streets at any hour. There are always people and buses.

Yep. I walk to and from the gym before dawn and after dark.

I walked home from the station at 11.30 last night. There are two routes I could take - one shaves about 2 minutes off the 10 min walk but is down a well lit and CCTV’d walkway (side of the station carpark), the other is on the main road. I took the main road route as it was busier. Didn’t think twice about actually walking though.

I walk my dog around 10 pm in the evening in the dark, round fields and local streets, I feel relatively safe there but I wouldn’t go down our local beauty spot in the woods in the dark as there have been unsavoury things happening there over the years plus it’s creepy

I'd be more cautious eg walking from the station (12 min walk home) after midnight because street lights are turned off then. I have done it, but ysually do whatever i can to get back before that

Yes I do in the winter. When I turned 50 (7 years ago) I began to gain weight, feel unfit and my previously “perfect” blood pressure crept up. So I started walking as fast as I could for 50 mins every evening after dinner. It halted the weight gain, made me feel so much better and returned my blood pressure to “normal”. Excepting appalling weather or illness or some other really pressing matter I do it religiously and obviously in winter time it’s in the dark.

I live in a suburban part of a relatively safe city and I walk the well lit roads around where I live. I take the view, on a risk/benefit analysis, that the benefit to my health significantly outweighs the potential risk to my safety. I do always have my phone with me and DH knows when I leave and when to expect me back.

I do. I’ve never felt unsafe where I live, and walk with a head torch, when it’s dark, on rural paths, through woodland, and up the local hill.

I might feel differently if I lived somewhere else though.

I live rurally too and have never felt unsafe on quiet village roads , fields and the woods. I think I would be apprehensive in a town or city though. My 11 year old and I went for a night walk yesterday along a riverbank, the woods and farmland ( home about 9.30pm) and it was lovely .

Always have walked in the dark. The only thing that concerns me now I’m approaching 60 is falling over so I don’t walk the dogs on the common in the dark, I stick to the roads now. My DD does though, normally at 3am before starting a run of nights.

i love a walk or run in the dark listening to a good podcast.