What a difference a day makes. Lots of clothed people including a lot of teenage kids doing what might have been a DOE ramble. Only one naturist, started at the waterworks as I finished.
Your right, some days you can walk for hours and see no one, another you can see a dozen people in the first ten minutes.
There's no pattern to it either, times, days, nothing makes a difference, it's pot luck.
I will be going for a naturist walk with another naturist setting off from the waterworks parking at 11 am tomorrow Saturday. If anyone wishes to join us you are welcome but we will be walking between 6 to 9 miles.
Met 8 other naturists this tea time in the space of an hour, two of them females walking together with a guy.
That makes about 25 different naturists I have met in the last 10 days. Textiles about 5 in the same time frame.
Also chatted to the drovers/cow boys, what ever they are called, two pleasant blokes looking for their cows.
Another glorious evening.
@tribalbrit I was out at 1.30 and there were 8 naturists including me out in the time I was out.
I was out at 11.15. There were lots of clothed walkers, but I met one other naturist.
Yesterday was very quiet but today was bussier.
While walking up one of the main paths on the common a couple with a dog crossed my path in front of me, they then turned left down the path I was heading for. They'd only gone a few yards and I could tell what was coming from the body language, sure enough the female pulled out her mobile from her back pocket, they both stopped and posed for a selfie with me behind them. I had anticipated this and took a step to the right so that a tree obscured their view of me. They then checked their phone only to find I wasn't in the picture. They then turned back to see I was still there having moved out of the line of the tree, I carried on towards them and they walked off a little confused as to why I wasn't in the picture, I was still there after all.
Made me smile. Simple things.
sure enough the female pulled out her mobile from her back pocket, they both stopped and posed for a selfie with me behind them.
It sounds as though it wasn't a "disapproving" action but they were amused and wanted a "novelty" photo - is that correct?
Yes you are correct. I took the reaction as a positive. I just found it amusing watching them, wondering where I had gone when I was actually still there.
@tribalbrit Had a Lovely 5 mile naked walk in Sherwood forest tonight with 2 naturists, very few people around. We went off the beaten track and in the middle of nowhere with no one around came a cross a guy who had to have a little swear at us. Can't understand why some people can't just mind their own business.
I made a rare visit to Sherwood Forest today. Walked for quite a distance across South Forest without seeing anyone. Then I came across an elderly guy with a cycle sat on a bench. We got talking about the weather and then he asked me if I had seen the nudists (I was clothed). Expressing a little surprise, I said that I had not. He told me that he had just seen two walk over a path not far from where he was sat. I told him they had the right idea given the weather.
He then said that they were all over the place (meaning the nudists) and he saw 15 the day before. He asked me if I objected to them. I replied that I did not and it was perfectly legal to be out naked. If that was what they wanted to do, it was up to them.
He said this had been going on for 3-4 years and had reported the matter to the police. They had told him it was legal and there was nothing they could do (at least someone's read the CoP guidance). He asked what the difference was between people walking naked and him stopping at the side of the motorway to urinate. Apparently, the police could not answer that. I explained that urinating in a public place is a specific criminal offence whereas there's no law against naturism.
At that moment I spotted two naturists approacing preceded by a third man (clothed) with a dog. As they passed by I gave them a cheery 'good afternoon' whereas my new acquaintence remained silent.
From his comments, it became obvious he was concerned about being propositioned and lewd acts taking place. I told him that there was a considerable difference between naturists who were simply out enjoying a walk and people who engaged in such behaviour. He said that the naturist group leader, who put in a brief appearance on another path some distance away before turning back, organised a group of fellow naturists to chase them off. Apparently, this naturist leader had sat with him at some point and invited him to join in, which he refused to do. He seemed unsure whether this was a genuine invitation in to naturism or for something more disturbing.
Throughout this discussion, I didn't reveal my interest in naturism. He seemed to be seeking out an ally (which he did not find in me) and I thought he might be more willing to accept what I was saying rather than it coming from 'another one of them'. I think this man has a deep-seated aversion to naturism but is having to accept that it is becoming more prevalent in the South Forest area and there is nothing he can do about it. Hopefully, I have chipped away a bit more at his mindset.
Thereafter, I toured the area and saw two other naturists in the distance. With no-one else about, I plucked up courage and took my first plunge into solo free-range naturism, walking for about a mile. Two cyclists crossed the path in front of me but I don't think they noticed my presence.
The “deep seated aversion” is common, not just with naturism - we are all brought up “knowing” rights and wrongs but often not thinking them through, understanding or rationalising them. Most people “know” that being naked in public is illegal and it’s indecent exposure, so the instinctive reaction is to be against it. The Sherwood Forest experience has shown this can, in the case of nakedness, be largely overcome eventually, but some people will never overcome their conditioning, nor will they want to. Interesting account, Simon, and glad you were able to be a Forester even briefly!
Noli illegitimi te carborundum
Interesting read, thank you.
I've not been out today, busy day and no time.
I am pleased you managed a short walk and experienced the area.
There gets less and less people walking the common I have found of late, the signs, I think keep some away and those that do walk the area should be aware by now that naturists are out there. whether or not they accept it is up to them.
I find it hard to believe that a naturist would invite a none naturist to join them and I have heard comments before concerning so called recruiting. My opinion is that these are the deviants among us and need to be weeded out.
I was told only the other day of an incident involving a guy behaving indecently. Unfortunately the more popular the area becomes the more deviants will follow.
I wont be out for a few weeks now and when I return the area will be much quieter due to cooler weather. I wonder how many will brave the cooler climate to come.
Agreed that behaviour could be misconstrued, or was indeed something beyond naturism.
The right way to "recruit" is explain how it makes you personally feel, perhaps with non-specific comments such as "you should give it a try some day", or suggest something big and organised such as WNBR or the skinny dips where there is safety in numbers and no obvious one to one coercion.