Walking pet peeves (i.e. my cons for walking)

Okay, so this post might be a little polarising in people's opinions.  It's not a post about a particular walk per-say, but it was prompted by my walk around the Ngā Tapuwae o Toi circular trail that I did (again) last week.  I'm not posting about that walk as I've posted about it in 2 parts previously (see the Kohi Point Trail, and the Mokorua Bush and Ohope Scenic Reserves posts) and I try to avoid putting up multiple posts about the same route/track/trail.

Anyway, while wandering last Thursday I pondered some reasons why I love to walk long distance trails, and I also dwelled a little on two things that irk me about walking long distance trails.  This post will discuss the latter.

One reason I like this particular walk so much, is that it is mostly dog-free, as it runs through bush that contain kiwi, and dogs kill kiwi, so they are banned from the non-urban portions.  Although there were a number of dogs on the Ohope beach section of the walk, most of them off-leash, so I kept to the road instead of walking along the sand.

I fully admit I am not a dog lover.  However, I am not a dog hater.  I might have slight cynophobia, as I purposely avoid dogs I see when out walking, but my sister owns dogs and I've rarely had an issue with them whenever I visit/stay.

However, I do think many dog owners are selfish and irresponsible.  Here are a few reasons why:

• So far, I have been bitten on two different occasions by off-leash dogs.  The first time, in a park, the dog racing toward me growling from over 100 metres away without provocation, then leapt and bit my upper thigh, the owner never said a word to me, and merely grabbed their dog and left the scene, however I required 2 months of expensive and somewhat painful medical treatment.  The second time the dog came up behind me while I was walking and bit me on my right hand, the damage minor, but when it happened I said to the owner that their dog had bitten me, and the owner's dismissive response was "It was just a nip" as they walked away.  They had no idea of the severity of the bite and had it been a child that had been bitten that child might well have lost their fingers.
• Another time, when walking the Wye Valley Way, I was walking along the middle of a country lane and passed by a car that had just pulled into a driveway and as I passed the car a dog lunged out from the far side of the car, onto the road, barking and snapping at me - the dog-owner/car-driver stating that "He's very friendly."  Obviously he wasn't.
  
• I fear for my safety when a dog is off-leash and in a position where it could attack/bite.
• I don't want a stranger's dog coming close to me, sniffing me, and licking me (actually, I dislike my sister's dog(s) doing the licking thing also).
  
• I dislike the excrement left behind by owners that don't bag it and take it with them (and the owners that bag and then leave the bag behind are just as bad).  Walking into Staithes on the English East coast was extremely bad - the ground was covered with the stuff and I was sidestepping like a tap dancer.  Likewise Combe Hill on the Cotswold Way stunk of it.
• Another time walking in England I saw a sign offering refreshments, so I took the slight detour to investigate.  Another sign indicated to walk up a driveway behind a fence and gate but as I reached to open the gate a dog came barrelling down the drive barking its head off.  I turned and walked away, hearing the owner calling out to me that it was fine (and implying I should come back and buy whatever they had on offer), but it was not fine and I just kept walking away, not looking back, with a wave of a hand over my shoulder.
  
• I dislike going to "dog-friendly" establishments, especially while eating/drinking.  Once while staying in an extremely tiny bedroom in a very expensive BnB in Polperro, I was kept awake by the loud sounds of dogs barking, seemingly through the paper-thin wall of the bedroom.  The next morning, having breakfast in the BnB dining area, another patron came in with 2 dogs (likely the ones responsible for keeping me awake the previous night), and the dogs proceeded to attempt to get up on me and my table to get at my food (and both the dog owner and the BnB owner chose to do nothing about it).  Another time in another establishment my food had dog hair in it.  Once in a pub, a dog was blocking access to the, tiny, bar and the dog seemed very unfriendly (luckily, or perhaps unluckily, I had already ordered food and drink, otherwise I would have just left).
• The many dog owners who ignore the fact that there are many people who are not dog people.
  

That being said, I believe all dogs in public places should be on a lead/leash.  My sister, a dog-owner her entire life, believes the same.  Her dog is free to run around on her fenced property, but once off the property it is on a leash.  I love walking in the U.K. but the number of dogs (I've often seen 2 people with 4 dogs), and the number of them off-leash, is one reason why I consider never doing walking holidays there again.

My other pet peeve relates to cyclists and cycle permissible paths.  There are three things I dislike about sharing the trail with cyclists.  These are:

• On trails that are dirt, the weight/pressure of the wheels put on the small surface area of contact with the ground quickly create ruts and, eventually, deep areas of mud, especially when it is, or has been, raining.  I have often come across large patches of mud that clearly are created from this type of wear and tear.
  
• On narrow trails, the potential for injury from a passing bicycle is high, especially when they are at speed.  Sometimes these narrow trails are for walkers only, yet cyclists think they have the right to be on them too (perhaps that is a fourth thing I dislike).
  
• Cyclists giving me a hell of a fright when they approach from behind and rip by without notice.  A bell signal before they get to me would be courteous.  As would slowing down when they pass.
  

A third thing, and certainly not a pet peeve, although it is a con for long distance walking, is injury.  I pulled something in the front of my ankle on the second day of my very first Long Distance Walk (the Great Glen Way), which caused me pain and preventing me from walking distances for well over a week.  I walked 4 of the planned 6 days of that first walk, then essentially cancelled the second walk (the Ayrshire Coastal Path).  That injury recurred two years later while I was walking the South West Coast Path and, while I was better prepared at dealing with it, the injury still impacted about 5 days of that.  I have been lucky that I haven't experienced that injury again, especially during my 3 months of walking in the U.K. in 2019.  Needless to say, an injury is certainly a reason not to walk, at least not while dealing with it, and can seriously impact a LDW holiday.

Right, rant over.  On to things I do like in a forthcoming post!