Over a bump and away
21:37 Monday 16 Oct 06
8:30pm. Me, P and Winston go out for his evening walk. We take him off the lead where the blue dot is at the bottom. It’s a path/cyclepath with grasses and bushes/trees either side. As it’s dark we play hide and seek with the dog to help wear him out a bit. All this happens on the orange part on the left. We are on/off and over that path constantly and it’s only 7 feet wide. We can see everything that might pass. Nothing did. We played for about 20 minutes.
As is normal we then headed over the roundabout. There are no houses here, no buses, it’s just a series of road intersections and crossings. We get to the other side and about where the orange line stops are some barriers we pass through.This is a daily walk and I always let Winston off the lead. So I did. Me and P started walking and I get to the point where I can see round that slight curve (it’s where I saw a stoat a few weeks ago). I’m looking downhill. I see a person where the red dot is. You can tell when someone is walking to you or away can’t you? This person was coming toward. Winston was ahead of me and I wanted hom closer and on the lead so I turned and told P to hide. She ducked behind a huge rock that is there (there are several to prevent “travellers”) and I called to Winston that P was gone. I’d looked away for a matter of a few seconds. And the person had gone.
To get from where they were out of my sight they would have had to run. Or hopped straight into the undergrowth. They were not moving away from me, of that I am absolutely certain. We always walk down to the bottom curve - there’s a gate there - and tonight we did the same. Both me and P had seen this person, we both thought they were coming at us and we both knew there was no way they could realistically have got out of our sight. But we didn’t see them. It was one of those “Someone is watching me” moments. I talked loudly. I kept a good grip on the dog lead and worked out the arc of my swing. I walked confidently. I wished I’d remembered my mobile. I watched every move Winston made - but then Great Danes aren’t known for their sleuthing noses. And I constantly looked behind us on the way back. Really odd. Spooky.
