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.

It gets dark very early so if you want to do anything outside of office hours you have to do it in the dark.

However, I don't frequent in places without streetlights. So I don't go to walks relying on flashlights but I would go for an evening walk if the route was mostly lit. I do walk alone from a bar at 3am but I avoid taking a shortcut through the unlit park. To be fair it is not my favourite place late at night even when it is light during the summer.

Not in this country, I have had bad experiences walking around at daytime let alone at night😅
However I have been doing this regularly back home and also have done so quite a few times in Poland, late night 15 mins strolls to the shop, and never had any issues.

Same here, raped and sexually assaulted more than once, not a chance in hell. To be honest I barely go out in daylight, but that wasn't the question

Much of my work is in the evenings, but if I couldn't drive to wherever I'm going, I would never have taken the job in the first place.

After dark, yes. I'm almost in a town centre so there's usually people around. I stick to main footpaths near shops and pubs.

However, those stupid energy saving LED streetlights have messed up some routes as they're too dark and gloomy. I found an area of town that still has the orange lights the other day and it felt so much safer.

Yes. I live in a small town in Finland though, I feel very safe walking alone at night here, whether in town or in the forest. Just don't particularly like it when I'm walking down the street and suddenly the street lights go off (apart from main roads, they get turned off at a certain point at night to save electricity)

But I've walked alone at night in places I haven't felt so comfortable in, out of necessity, but the only time I was well and truly scared was walking alone through St. Petersburg at night because my twat ex stormed off and left me to get back to the hotel by myself. I wouldn't have felt any safer getting a taxi/lifting a Lada alone though so walking quickly seemed the best option.

I feel unsafe in rural areas on my own in the day. I also feel unsafe everywhere at night. The risk may be small but it's there. Media of actual cases and entertainment based on catching sexually violent killers have been a constant reminder of this through my adolescence and into adulthood. I do walk short distances in the dark on my own but I'm always on edge and wish I didn't have to. I'll get a taxi if I can but even then I'll fake a phone call so the driver think someone is expecting me. I walked to an event nearby the other night and a jogging man sped up behind me and I thought he really has no idea. I'll always cross the road if a man is walking down one side of it and sometimes I'll choose a different route if it means avoiding a single man or being closer to a woman or a group of people. I would never walk through a park at night or an alleyway on my own at any time of day.

Yes, but often with a large dog. I was walking in a park after dark with my German Shepherd. A man walking on the road saw me against the skyline and changed direction to walk towards me, he did not see the dog until he got close, then he ran away - I let him go.

yes and I find that the people who say it never actually chase it up if you don't, so they clearly don't really care that much!

Yes I walk alone at night, life's too short not to. The most I do is try and minimise risk where possible, i.e. try to avoid underpasses if there's an alternative option.

Yes, but not as often as I used to. Last time I did I had a few men walk towards me and it made me feel uneasy.

Depends what we are classing as night time...

After 11 I prefer not to because there are less people around. In between getting dark and 11pm always although I avoid quiet dodgy areas.

If I never left the house after dark I would never get anything done! Even when I drive somewhere I still have to walk from my car, like in the supermarket

I run all year round and between October and about April that often means running in the dark.
I change my routes to more boring ones on streets with streetlights rather than woods/parks/footpaths and I wear a body torch. The thing I most worry about is tripping over because the street lights are not great. I rarely feel unsafe, but I might feel differently if I lived elsewhere

Yes. I like walking at night and live in a small town with very low crime. It would not occur to me to give it a second thought. The majority of residents are either families or retirees. It would not cause me a moment's concern.

Yes, I do and I am never worried about it. I happen to have been very lucky and never been attacked or had anyone do anything that frightened me - I do appreciate that it must feel very different for people who have. Occasionally I will agree not to walk somewhere at night to please other people, but luckily my DH is quite relaxed about it and doesn't try to interfere. The only thing that has ever scared me was when it was literally so dark I thought I might fall down some steps due to not being able to see.

I do occasionally but I live in a safe area and stick to well lit paths where there are plenty of houses.

Of course. I have a life and refuse to let any man stop me living my life.

I try to avoid it. Obviously there are instances I can't, but I've been chased in the past and followed another time, so it sets my nerves off. I've got two dogs (one fucking gigantic, Irish Wolfhound) so that helps. But if it's a walk for pleasure of an evening, dogs and DH come with me. Same if there's an area I need to go to that's unsafe.

We're rural and our village is nice, but I still feel uneasy. Weirdly feel more comfortable in Norway than here in the UK.

I don't walk at night but very early in the morning 5/5.30 and it's dark. I live in a small town with low crime rate but am still careful.

I wear bright clothing and a light clipped to my jacket. I wear one earbud so I can still hear noises around me. I stick to street walking when its dark (no parks, golf course etc) I walk in the road not on the pavement. On the pavement someone could step out of a drive way or from behind a parked car and take me unaware. I walk in the the road (obviously move when I hear a car or see headlights) so no one can approach me quickly without me being aware of them.

Yes without even thinking about it apart from picking roads with streetlights.

I run often at night. I used to live in one of the roughest areas in one of the roughest cities in the uk. Walk home alone from the train station through the city after nights out, or the back streets and I've never had a problem. I've seen plenty of dodgy people but never been approached, I presume they think I am dodgy also, which suits me just fine.

I now live in a more suburban area, and I run at night around parks, woodlands, towpaths, streets and don't really even think about it.

I have never felt the need to modify my behaviour because of the statistical chance of danger, if I did I wouldn't get in cars or ride horses or engage in any numbers of other behaviours which carry risks.

After 10pm unlikely to on my own. I used to travel early mornings when it was dark though, i didn't use headphones, had a reflective strip on my jacket and stuck to the main roads. It was ok, more the relentless drag of doing a long commute that made me pack it on rather than feeling unsafe.

Yes. Very frequently. And at all times, from evening to the depths of the morning.

My walking is urban: around the centre and outskirts of a larg city. I don't take unnecessary risks but the day I can't walk alone around my city alone is the day life ceases to be amazing.

And, if we're risk assessing, a woman in the company of her partner is more likely to be killed by him than I am by a random man on the Charing Cross Road ☺️

Yes, I wear high viz, but the dog needs a walk 2 x a day and that means dark walks! It doesn't bother me in the slightest, but to be fair I'm built like a brick shithouse, so if a car was to barrel into me it would be damaged beyond repair!

So I really love to have an evening walk once everyone's had dinner and my chores are done. It helps me unwind. I've just been for a walk at our nearby woods, in the dark. I saw three other females all walking alone (separately), no dogs. I was glad to see that I'm not the only one who enjoys these walks.

Yes I do. I live very central in a busy area so it's rarely if ever deserted any time of day or night.