I am going in for no. 1. Who would want to hit your lovely face with a stick!? An accident on the hockey field with your hip/feet history? A careless dog, you were trying to photograph from a tricky angle, maybe, but I wouldn't call that hitting. Then again, with all your travel adventures you might have run into some raving looney with a walking stick, in a remote B&B, on some spooky island....