I had a bizarre and slightly threatening experience on the towpath this evening.
I cycle to work in the west and back on the towpath every day, from Meggetland to beyond the ring road, usually leaving Meggetland at about 0730, coming back at around 1730.
I regularly pass a distinctive pedestrian who's travelling the opposite way to me: heading in to town in the morning and back out in the evening, and I usually pass them somewhere between Meggetland and the bridge to the WoL path. The pedestrian is distinctive: with shoulder length brown hair and usually wearing a skirt.
In recent weeks they have taken to muttering, grumbling and cursing as I pass, but I soon decided that this wasn't personal: their appearance and the unformed nature of the grumbling suggested that it wasn't specific to me, but probably aimed at the world in general.
Today it got a bit more personal. As I came off the end of the aqueduct heading home, there was a bit of a traffic jam and I was travelling very slowly. This distinctive pedestrian took the opportunity to approach and stand uncomfortably close and directly in front of me, blocking my path. They began to talk at/to me, with a series of questions and statements in a strong foreign accent, most of which were incomprehensible. However the phrases 'you got some problem with your cycling?', 'I got lots of pictures of you' and 'I know where you work' came across clearly, and some of it felt a bit inappropriate and mildly threatening. There was no physical contact with me.
I was tempted to reply: 'I got lots of pictures of you too', but when I glanced down at my video camera I saw that (typically) it had decided to stop recording. As previously discussed elsewhere, don't buy a Veho Muvi 3.
So, I've changed my rating of this individual from 'completely harmless eccentric' to 'probably harmless eccentric'. I'm not going to worry about passing them at normal cruising speed, but I am going to take precautions if I pass them at low speed, particularly on the aqueduct.
If you commute on the towpath you'll know who I'm talking about, and you may want to exercise some caution too.
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