Ive recently been thinking of taking myself on a hiking/camping trip alone in scotland or wales for a few days. I don't want to go way out in the wilderness because im inexperienced, possibly just sticking to camping grounds. My worry is how safe exactly is it for women to do this on their own? Ive only grown up with local town hysteria that tells me where ever I go alone I'm likely to be found dead in a ditch the next day, picked up by some rapist or murderer. I have a feeling this isnt the true picture though, and that women are alot safer out in the country than they are in towns.
I haven't read all the replies so please forgive any repetition.
In my experience (I'm a bloke though), you shouldn't have any problems in the 'out-of-the-way' places. It is usually the green belt around towns and cities, as well as town parks, that have a higher proportion of weirdos. As a teenage lad I had the unwanted sexual attentions on three occasions (they weren't women) and it was a frightening experience (in my area young men are likely to be victims as much as women, although the perverts baulk at larger, older men and just do their 'thing' from a distance instead!!). However, where one has to take more than a bus journey to wherever you are going it's usually pretty safe.
In any case, a knowledge of self-defence (for both sexes to defend against attacks from BOTH sexes) is a good thing but don't go for rubbish like karate, etc. Fight dirty. There are parts of the body that are very sensitive to pain and others that can lead to death. Learn where these areas are and get the confidence to use them as you may need to get past the psychology of it all, in other words be mentally prepared. While unpleasant cos' you've got to grab them, a grab and twist of the pervert's testicles HARD will do the initial job (if not completely). A strong pinch of the radial nerve if he has a grip of you will make him release you immediately. These examples may not stop him coming on again but it will give you a bit of time (a split second is all that is needed in some cases) to incapacitate them by other means. Those are just simple (and tame) examples of what to do when things get 'real'.
Believe me when I say it doesn't take much to incapacitate a man even for a young lady of 4'11". As said, there is the mental barrier to get through - men are physically stronger but they are as physically weak when it comes to being attacked as well; they are not immune. Above all, get over any fear and show confidence in any such situation, and if not, then courage and confidence will come from the knowledge of how you can turn your attacker into an unconscious heap. By the way, last time I checked, self-defence was still legal in the UK so you'll be okay.
If you can carry something that can be used as a weapon (yes I know there are restrictive laws on tools such as knives) even better. A pen knife blade in the eye. A sharp rock to the temple. A spray can (hair, deodorant, etc.) to spray nasty stingy stuff in the eyes. A short thick stick (say, 4 inches) that can be stabbed/thumped onto the carotid artery or the thyroid cartilage (although that can kill, but needs must when the devil drives). Actually, short sticks are quite useful, but not long ones as they can grab hold of them. Oooohh, I could go on for hours!!!
If you're really worried about being followed which is the usual one (some just like to look!!!) then try and bump into another human being or better still a group of them and let them know about your worry. If there is no-one safe around then fall back on your mobile phone and a GPS (if you have one, and if you haven't, get one). At least then you can stop at a reasonably public area and phone the police giving your grid reference if you feel he/she is a very present threat.
Ideally, you'd be able to carry a low calibre sidearm but we're no longer allowed to protect ourselves anymore in this country. Even an air pistol would put someone off but again, we're flirting with law unfortunately, especially with the new laws brought in late last year (****** blinkered idiots). Anyway, that's all another story.
Strewth, this has gotten a bit long - sorry.
In short, get past the fear factor; get genned up on the self-defence that works, understand it, practice it (or rather go through the motions). Add a few things to your person that can be used as self-defence weapons and can be used to contact others that can help you. Then add all this knowledge to the back of the brain where you store things like how to start a fire, where to find pignuts, etc. You are genuinely more likely to fall off a mountain and die but you'll enjoy the wilderness the more for putting your mind at rest on such matters.
Hope that helped in some way.
Scrubbity.