The following walk report was posted on another forum a week or so back; since there has been a bit of discussion about naked walking I though it might be worth reposting it here... (I have edited it slightly to reflect the character of this forum).

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This week, as has been the case too often for comfort recently, I am working away from home in the north east of England. The hotel I have been put in by the company is a few miles out of town in a rather pleasant rural setting. As you might expect of me, I have been eyeing up the local opportunities for walking dressed as nature intended.

One evening, across the main road from the hotel, I discovered a public park area around Causey Arch. I have to admit I'd never heard of Causey Arch before but apparently it is the oldest surviving railway bridge in the world. I decided to walk down and visit it and rapidly discovered some rather pleasant tree covered walking, a pretty gorge with a noisy brook at the bottom and (surprise, surprise) a railway bridge.

The following morning dawned clear and fairly warm (guess: 8C (46F) without a breath of wind). I was awake by 04:00 and out of the hotel, having negotiated with the night porter to get the door unlocked, and down a short lane to the main road. I had intended to go to the picnic area, take stock and, if the coast was clear, strip. However, there was a sign by the road that would make a natural spot for a picture. I set up the mini tripod and fiddled with the self timer, flash, exposure setting... I was wasting naked time. I stripped off, finished playing with the camera and took (amongst others) this picture:

While setting up I had to take cover behind a bush once while a car went past, however there was no other traffic so I did not redress. Instead I put my clothes into my messenger bag and continued around the corner to the picnic area. As expected the car park was empty, so I was able to continue dressed to suit my preference, but first I had to take a picture by another sign:

There is a choice of routes from the picnic area, one runs along the rail line (flat) and one that drops down into the gorge and approaches the bridge from underneath. I decided to take the top route to the bridge since this was the more open route and so better taken earlier. A few minutes brought me to the top of the bridge where there is one of the original waggons used to haul coal to Newcastle. Another picture was called for:

From here I could either cross the bridge and go down the other side into the gorge or continue along the line for a while. I chose the latter and promptly discovered some more, slightly newer(!) rail trucks:

A little further on I thought of taking a picture on the rail road; it had to be done:

All the time I could hear the babbling of the water among the rocks below and the early chorus of birdsong above me. Occasionally a distant car broke into the natural soundscape, however walking naked was rapidly fixing the stresses of the last couple of days and recharging my tolerance system to deal with corporate A******* that really need to be told what I think but whom I can not afford to irritate at present.

After about 45 minutes I turned around and retraced my steps to the bridge, though this time I followed the footpath rather than the rails. Once I'd crossed the bridge I followed the path down to the stream and back towards the car park. The stream was too tempting; my shoes had to come off so I could have a paddle:

Once my feet were suitably cooled (actually bl00dy freezing!) I put shoes and socks back on and returned to the car park where I dressed before returning to the hotel to download the camera, shower and join my colleagues for breakfast. I was noticeably happier and more relaxed than I had been the previous night and two colleagues asking why I was so cheerful; I was tempted to tell them, but discretion really is the better part of valour when a salary is needed.

Have fun,

Ian.

PS Although I refer to taking “a picture” in truth I set the self timer to take a number (up to 10 in some cases) in an effort to get a couple of usable shots. Most of the pictures above had exposure times of more than a quarter of a second and most pictures of me were too blurred to use. In total I took over a hundred photos today; I'm so pleased I don't have to pay for film processing these days.