<snip>
Also, as the river is very popular with canoeists, you have to pick your time in the evening when they've mostly stopped paddling, otherwise you'd have visitors floating past every couple of minutes!

Why worry - nobody can dee what you are (or are not) wearing under water - especially from the low angle of vier that canoeists have.

<snip>
Just had to hope that no-one happened to train their telescope on me!

So what? They will have seen it all before and wouldn't want to waste good twitching time reporting a perfectly normal activity.

Just newbie nerves, I guess.  Even if I was undetectable, or even if I was detected and encountered no hostility, it's still a potentially nerve-wracking moment the first time!

There were a couple of walkers passing on the far bank at one point, but they were so far away and half hidden in trees that they wouldn't have seen anything.  I did get a bit chilly waiting for them to pass before I climbed out though.

These recent posts which I made to the "Encounters" topic on another forum may be reassuring:

Yesterday morning when mooring up for breakfast after my naked cruise from Shillingford Bridge Hotel moorings was quit eventful.
I spotted a suitable mooring, manoeuvred the boat into position and was about to climb out onto the bank at the stern of the boat when I found that there was a wasps nest exactly where I wanted to climb and the wasps were already starting to get a little aggressive. As the bank here was level with the boat roof my only alternative was to step from the roof directly onto the bank further forward. As there was vegetation along much of the bank-side and the bank sloped away from the boat I naturally hesitated while selecting the right place to step across.
At this point I was observed through a gap in the bushes lining the bank by a couple walking past. Luckily I happened to be holding the mooring rope approximately as in the picture.
There was, of course, no reaction whatsoever.

While I was sitting reading in a folding chair on the river bank while several walkers passed by. While I had my back to the riverside path and my genitals were concealed it would have been obvious that I was naked - no reaction at all.
One couple, the landowners on the opposite bank even stopped for a chat about the farming and conservation going on in the vicinity and another couple walking their dog paused for a few polite words. Nobody mentioned my nudity.

After my second swim. as I got out onto the bank a couple walking their dog come through the gate facing me. As they had already seen me I simply walked towards them and the boat and got onto the stern of the boat where my towel was hanging to dry myself. Again they displayed no reaction whatsoever.

I will try to take a few pictures to illustrate this post in the morning.