I've always felt the best way to gain acceptance for naturism in public places is by being polite and considerate and by talking to people as much as possible. Most of my walks are in woods or bridleways and footpaths in the countryside well away from towns etc. I'm always dressed when I meet people simply because I try to remain aware of whats going on around me all the time - it means I don't surprise anyone but it also means it's sometimes dificult to relax and enjoy the scenery.
I'm not one for secret naturism where it isn't necessary. With no disrespect to other naturists, I'm not particularly bothered about meeting them to walk in secret. I am far more interested in meeting textiles and integrating where possible. Why, when we seek acceptance from the general public for nudity, do we insist on segregating ourselves? To meet a textile who is happy to walk with me while I am nude is very rewarding. Walking with other naturists would be ok but there's nothing to be gained from it - they dont need convincing that walking nude is a good thing 🙂
I had a couple of hours on my hands this afternoon so I headed out to a small nature reserve I discovered recently (amazing how something like that can be only ten miles from home and I drive past it a coupe of times a week but never knew it was there). This is a small reserve that can be walked around in about an hour and was previously the site of gravel pits that have been naturalised and form a number of lakes and meadows looked after by English Nature. The reserve is on a small country road between two villages and has only one small car park. I've noticed when I visited a few times that people park and always seem to take the same direction round the reserve. That makes it easy to avoid people because I can walk the same direction and either stay ahead of people or stay behind them.
Sooo anyway. I had already parked up and walked around the larger half of the reserve ( it is basically a rectangle cuit in two by the road) in my skin. I dressed to cross the road to the other half. As I walked into the trees I came up behind a couple of women who had just parked up and started strolling - and not the direction I expected! So I stopped and had a chat with them about the reserve and how I had only recently found it and loved walking round. Funny - the younger of the two (not so young really) said her friend liked going there in the winter and when the trees all lost their leaves she called them nude. Well what could I say - perfect link. So I explained I was a naturist and that when I found the reserve quiet I would put clothes in my back pack and walk round in my skin. When I say that to people I never know what the reaction will be - some look embarased or awkward. Some smile and say something like "each to his own" or such like. At this point I always say I don't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable so as they are now walking about I will remain clothed.
Well I got just smiles at this point and the younger of the two said "oh not to worry - I'm a nurse". OK so suggesting she's seen it all before eh? Anyway I got the distinct impression I could have invited myself to strip off and walk round with them but out of courtesy I said I would walk back round the other half and leave them in peace. Younger woman made a point of saying they often walk there on a Thursday afternoon. I took that as a clear confirmation that they would be happy to meet me again and wouldnt really mind if I wasn't dressed. We'll see what happens next week then.
I left them to their walk and turned back and accross the road and back to the larger half of the reserve where I stipped off and walked around the lakes to the end of the reserve where it comes out on a field. Before I came to the end of the path I spotted someone coming down the field with a dog in a blue dress. OK the woman was in a blue dress of course - not the dog. I couldnt really see much but I stopped and got dressed before stepping through the gate to the field where I had intended to walk round the back of the reserve and then back in on the other side where a foot path runs round it.
Now here's a tip for those wanting to try woods and countryside and strike up naturist-related conversations with people. Walk barefoot. If there's somewhere to hide them I stash my shoes at the start of the walk or if the path is going to be stoney - I carry the shoes in my hand. People tend to notice these things and usually glance at my feet and smile or make a remark about it. It is them a perfect oportunity to say "well until I saw/heard you coming along I was wearing a lot less than this. Then go on to explain I am a naturist. Always a nice lead-in without being too upfront about it.
Anyway back to the dog and blue-dressed woman. As I stepped out into the footpath in the field she grabbed the dog and waited for me to come through before letting it go when she saw I didn't have a dog too. Dogs are always another conversation starter of course so be nice to them. So this rather plump, very short middle aged woman looks down at my feet with a puzzled expression. And after telling her I am a naturist and had been planning to walk nude round the footpath where she was heading she told me she was a nurse. Another one? She started to stroll past and as she was walking I simply asked her is she minded me undressing and walking round as I planned. "not at all" she said as she continued to walk. Brill. So I undressed again and put my T shirt and trousers in the bag and slung it over my shoulder, picked up my shoes and followed behind her.
Her dog kept running back to say hello and the woman looked around each time to make sure he was behaving. Being rather on the short side she didnt walk too fast so within a minute I had caught up with her and walked beside her chatting about work, where she had walked from and general small talk - relaxed and normal just the way it should be. She wasn't phazed at all, kept chatting and had a lovely happy smile all the time.
After 150 meters or so the path would fork and she was going to walk one way and I would go the other. Before we got the the fork though, another woman appeared in the distance with three dogs. She was walking past the end of the fork so not heading our way. Normally I would have stopped and dressed at that point but because I was already walking with someone I thought perhaps it would make me look less threatening to another woman so I stayed nude at that point. Other woman did glance over the hedge a few times so I knew she had seen me nude.
When we got to the fork and my friend had gone to the left, the other woman had turned and was coming toward me. Out of respect I stopped where I was and got dressed. I then walked back to meet her to apologise if I had caused any embarasment. I asked her which route she wanted to go and that I could walk the other way so she said she'd go where I had come from so I wouldnt need to double back. I apologised again but she said no problem. I don't think she was particularly bothered but I got the feling she might have been a little uncomfortable.
So off she went and I stripped off and walk the rest of the way round and back to the road where I dressed, got in the car and drove to my next job.
Often I can spend a couple of hours walking and never see anyone so to end up talking to 3 different people, two of whom were more than happy for me to be walking naked there in their company, made my day.
Seems the nature reserve is visited by the right kind of people so I will be spending a lot of time there this summer I think 🙂
Firstly...thanks Andrew for that brilliant report. You've made one naturist much more confident about going for a walk! We are always so wary of the textile half because we believe them to be wary of us but maybe all it takes is one side to relax just a little more, and then the other will too, and then eventually it will become self-perpetuating.
Oh and a big *thumbs* to the barefoot idea...not something i'd considered before but alone or in a group this is great little tip.
Thanks again...it must've taken a long time to type that out...it was well worth it! I would recommend you give that article for cas to put on the 'out and about' section. I'm sure a lot of peolpe will be able to take a lot of positives from it! 😎 😎
www.twitter.com/nudeweatherman
What's the Out and About section? I need to look into that 🙂
Now the weather is better and i have a collection of nice places to walk I will try to make regular reports on my encounters and conversations. As you said, it might inspire other people to try the same techniques and we can all start to enjoy walks more.
It's rare to be invited to walk with a textile (although I suspect that's partly them thinking you wouldnt want to walk with them) but I can tell you that last summer when I decided to start talking to people I've probably had only two that said they weren't comfortable with the thought of me walking nude while they were there - and all together I must have spoken to a good 20 to 25 people.
If you go to the homepage of naturist-corner rather than directly to the forum there are some links across the top to reviews and reports that the admin have saved and published rather than have them get lost in the thousands of forum threads and postings. One such section is 'Out and About' which is primarily for walk reports such as those posted by Ian (milfmog) but also articles by people like John and Mark. I immediately upon reading your thread thought that it should get credit by being posted in this section. Just a thought!
I look forward to reading more adventures and will endeavour to do the same if and when... 🙂
www.twitter.com/nudeweatherman
Hi
I'm all for promoting naked walking but I'm not sure about initiating a discussion and then stripping off and walking with those I've been speaking with. If this works for Andrew that's excellent news and I'll bear it in mind if an opportunity ever arises.
My technique is to let myself be seen and to appear as 'tame' and friendly as possible. Then if people wish to speak I'm more than happy to have a conversation with them. However, my experience has shown that people generally don't want to talk about my being nude. They want to have all the usual discussions about the weather, where have you come from/ going to, how far is one walking, where the next tea shop/pub is, etc.
I have been asked several times if I'm 'The Naked Rambler' and a couple of people have commented that I'm 'the first one they've seen' (I feel I'm been ticked off on some kind of checklist!).
But, the more of us who are seen to be walking while naked the better as far as I'm concerned. It will gradually become a commonplace activity and won't draw comment from anyone a some point in the distant future, hopefully.
Martin
Thank you for an excellent report.
I generally try to avoid bumping into textiles when I'm out and about naked, but have met a few (probably around three dozen over the last few years) and to date have never had an overtly hostile reaction.
When I do meet people, I will always make a point of a friendly greeting and if I can get a conversation started I will. Usually the weather, admiring their dog if they have one or some other equally neutral topic is an easy way to get the ball rolling.
I don't usually bring up the subject of nudity, but am happy to discuss it when it is raised (probably about one time in three). I work on the basis that it would seem odd for me to talk to them about choice of clothing and, as far as I'm concerned, naked is just another choice.
The one thing I will not do is give the impression that I feel my choice of attire is anything other than normal and reasonable. I do not ask for anyone's permission or blessing and I will not apologise for being naked. I do however go out of my way to be friendly, approachable, normal sort of chap as I reckon that I am acting as an ambassador for naturism and creating a negative impression is not going to help us to normalise nudity as a choice.
In the end, I don't think the decision to engage in discussion or not is as important as being seen to be "normal" apart from your clothing choice and whatever approach works for you is the right one to take.
Have fun,
Ian.
PS You are absolutely right about barefooting. A number of times people have seen me naked at a distance, dressed in near skin tone clothing by the time they get close enough to see properly and have then commented about bare feet. That is a great way to introduce nudity to the conversation leaving them with the impression that they brought it up first.
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
I also walk barefoot regularly and have been surprised by the degree of reaction it sometimes gets. While some don't appear to notice anything, when walking one day near Malham Cove probably most people offered comments - although many were the rather banal "You haven't got any shoes on", as if I haven't noticed! It always pays to be ready with a good answer.
I was left with the impression that being barefoot attracts more attention than comment than if I was simply naked. Perhaps I should try your link to naturism.
Tread lightly upon the earth
I guess we all have our own prefered way of doing things so respect to anyone who is happy to be seen naked befoe they speak to people.
My only concern doing that is on the (rare) occasion you walk into someone who dissaproves to the point of making a complaint you then need to avoid that particular area for the near future because police might be keeping an eye out for you. I value my walks and going about it the way I do I'm not going to prompt complaints from anyone.
Still - we all do it our own way and if I can report back on my walks it might help other 'free rangers' to feel less nervous about walking in public places.
My only concern doing that is on the (rare) occasion you walk into someone who dissaproves to the point of making a complaint you then need to avoid that particular area for the near future because police might be keeping an eye out for you. I value my walks and going about it the way I do I'm not going to prompt complaints from anyone.
You make a fair point. Being "nice" may be a defence mechanism for them so I think it makes sense to be careful on subsequent visits to the area.
Davie 😎
provided you dont use the same place, on the same day of the week and same time the chances of finding plod waiting are somewhat remote, they just havnt got the manpower to have someone sat arround waiting for days on the off chance of catching a naked rambler ..... if someones complained of your presence at the same place reggular as clockwork they are more likely to drop by to find out what your up to.
Hi
Ian and Davie both make the point about being 'friendly' when meeting others. It's actually what we all do anyway whatever we're wearing, or not, I hope!
A friendly greeting is all that is needed, then if anyone wishes to make any further comment there's the opening. If you're friendly it's difficult for another person not to respond in kind even if they may not be too happy that perhaps your dress, or lack of, isn't what they may have expected.
If they don't respond to a friendly greeting, you can just walk on and ignore the other party. It's their loss as far as I'm concerned.
The comments, above, on barefooting are interesting. I was walking barefoot last summer and met another walker. We did share a friendly greeting and a comment about the weather. We then had a discussion about my bare feet and the possibility of sharp stones and thorns and all the usual stuff from some-one who is rather puzzled by the lack of footwear. After a while we said goodbye and went our separate ways. Never once did the walker make any comment about the fact that I was naked! I do wonder if he even noticed!
The other point made above about regular routes is something I try to avoid. I don't walk anywhere on a regular basis deliberately to ensure I am not seen in the same area a the same time. Rather I have a series of places where I walk on an entirely random basis. Even then I avoid parking in the same place every time I do return to a particular area. That, hopefully, makes it very difficult if anyone were looking out for me. And I agree that even if you were reported the police are far too busy to sit around waiting for you to turn up.
Martin
Of course the real sad thing is that we have to worry about being seen naked at all in these circumstances.
It would be wonderful if being naked was thought of as a normal state to be in if you so chose. People can decide how they dress, why not how to undress. That's what happens so successfully at Abbey House Gardens on clothes optional days.
Being a realist, it ain't going to happen soon - unfortunately 🙁
Davie 😎
It would be wonderful if being naked was thought of as a normal state to be in if you so chose. People can decide how they dress, why not how to undress. That's what happens so successfully at Abbey House Gardens on clothes optional days.
Being a realist, it ain't going to happen soon - unfortunately
Your realism is probably well founded Davie.
However, the more folks who are occasionally seen but who do not act as though they feel they are guilty of something, the more other people will become used to us and so less concerned. I guess it is similar to inoculating against a disease; we who are prepared to be seen are slowly reducing the reaction of others.
Rights which are not exercised become eroded while dealing with issues as if by right will eventually change the culture; we need more folks like Andrew.
Have fun,
Ian.
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
You're right Ian. I still prefer to play it softly softly because I like the places I walk and I dont want to restrict myslef to days and times.
But yes - the more times we are seen the more it becomes acceptable.
I agree with the softly approach. I used to culture my dog walkers when I was running early in the morning so that they all knew who I was and that I was friendly, then they saw me skinny dipping at a great distance in the reservoir during the summer. I let them bring up the swimming costume subject as they all did eventually. I brought up the subject of naturism, physical and mental well being and the rest when appropriate and so even when it wasn't for them they were educated and more balanced in their response. Best of all they just let me get on with it!
One thing I am more wary of is that from time to time some nutter would cause the police to be hanging around. As I appeared to be a jogger (true) they ran past me and off into the bushes! For a while I would desist my activities until my dog walkers informed me what the real reasons for their apearance was.
Just an extra note - I was useful sometimes for the dog walkers as a friendly bloke in making it clear to loiterers that it was not just defenceless women about.