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By the time you see this, this might be what my girlfriend and I are doing!
By the time you see this, this might be what my girlfriend and I are doing!
Today, for me, is one of those almost okay to be nude outside days. It’s almost nice, not very rainy. Unfortunately it’s not just right. There is a bit too much wind, and I think it’s coming from the wrong side. Out of the wind it’s pretty good, but once the wind hits, the wind chill factor gets to me.
I’m usually fine walking in the rain when the temperature is nice. Nice for me starts at 23C / 73F. Lower than that, the wind will quickly chase me inside when I’m naked. Maybe I’m a wimp, maybe it’s my age starting to show but I’m for warm place. Otherwise I’d have been a polar bear or a penguin.
I love how there are so many people and so many opinions about when it’s good enough to be naked outside. I remember from many years ago (make that a lot of many) when I did a naked walk in a nearby German forest when the air temperature was about 5C / 41F, and that was fine. Because it was a walk in a forest. The dense trees kept the wind away and also, after walking for a while, my body was producing heat to ward off any chills. That was a cool walk and I would love to do it again.
I tried it, not that long ago, but the shivers got to me to the point where I decided it wasn’t worth trying to go on until I got warm. I could have persisted, because shivering is movement too and that can warm you, but that prospect just didn’t do it for me.
Next month I will be off to a warm island for a week. I’d be surprised if I can’t get some good walking done there!
Rain. We all know it.
This is no exactly what happened to me a few days ago (unfortunately), but I made the best of the weather anyway.
It’s been hot and dry here for a long, long time. Finally, the rains have come. That’s good, because crops and lawns don’t do well on just sunshine. (If you know better, please explain how that works.)
The long, dry period however made that the water drains on the outside gallery of my apartment (I live on the fourth floor, which for Americans is the fifth floor) got clogged with tiny bits of leaves, dirt and other stuff. Which means that water falling from the sky can’t leave.
Now having the whole gallery (where the people walk to get to their front doors) flooded isn’t the greatest thing when the water decides to come inside for a visit. I am sure you can relate to that. No one else on this floor (four homes in total) had the bright idea to look at the drains when it started raining. And it rained hard.
So I took a few wooden chopsticks (really!) and went outside, in the rain, to poke through the clogged drains. I have done this before and it works like a charm.
As I passed by the windows of the neighbour who claimed that the weather being hot is not a reason to be naked, she noticed me and came to the door. She was rather upset that I wore nothing (that attire made all the sense to me, though).
“Why aren’t you wearing clothes? You’re getting wet!” (Amazing, no comment on leaving her clogged drain in peace! )
“Well, this way I only have to dry myself when I get back in. With clothes, I would get much colder, have to take off the wet clothes afterwards, dry myself, put on dry clothes, and hang the wet stuff out to dry before washing them.”
Without another word, she closed the door. (It was raining and her clothes were getting wet.) I continued to handle the drains, which was only a few minutes of work. Then I went inside, dried myself and made coffee.
My initial idea for the title of this post was “the drinking naturist”, after the podcast “The Thinking Atheist” that I follow, but that might give people the wrong idea (e.g. alcohol and things) so I changed that.
Here in Europe, temperatures are rising this week. Locally we may see 36 C, which is 97 F. Not the stuff we usually encounter during the year, although it’s getting hotter and hotter each year.
Yes, summer is here and it’s a hottie.
This, of course, is a great thing for naturists, nudists and other clothes-free-oriented humans. I can understand that – I’m writing this post clothes-free too, which is the best state to be in for a human body. Clothes not needed? Leave them off. (When will the world understand that?)
Because of that hot weather, I would like to remind everyone that it’s important to stay hydrated. And that means to drink in advance. Once you start feeling thirsty, you’re generally too late. So drink up while you don’t feel like it. Feeling bad just before you drink is not the smart thing to do, even when you’re nude.
I think it’s also smart to stay out of direct sunlight on the hot parts of the day. Now everyone has their own heat tolerance, but please be smart about it. Just because it’s hot and sunny, that doesn’t mean you have to be out in the sun as long as you can. You will survive with the vitamin D you collect in the ‘off hours’. Sun-stroke and skin cancer are real. Please remember that.
Many of us know the joy of walking outside, in nature. Not everyone does, I am aware of that, and I pity you if you’ve never had the opportunity to experience that kind of freedom in nature. It is as if you become part of nature. It’s remarkable (yet again) how big a barrier clothing creates.
A while ago I added a new link to the overview of nudist bloggers: https://TheFreeRangeNaturist.org.
Jon, the person who created the site and maintains it, mentioned it to me via e-mail so I had a look at the site. It is a true treasure trove for people like us who want to walk and see experiences of others.
One post I found there stood out to me: Need a Nude Trail? Make One. (And no, I didn’t read all the posts yet, they have an archive that goes back years, go see for yourself!) In itself, it’s a great post and an inspiration to see how people create their own trails. Of course, this only works when you’re in a large natural area. I don’t see this happening in cities, but the idea is great and I thought I should share it here.
This site motivates me to go out a bit more and see if I can come up with a proper naturist trail near here. I am convinced there’s something possible, perhaps not near where I live in the Netherlands, but for me the German border isn’t far away and there is a lot of forest land out there!
A few weeks ago my girlfriend and I spent a day at a sauna. A Wellness resort, as it describes itself.
It was great. A whole day of relaxing without the need to wear clothes. Can you think of a better way to spend a day?
I can.
Spending a week like that. Maybe not a whole week at a wellness resort, but in the nude? I’d take it!
I keep being surprised about how wonderful such a day is. Total relaxation, no need to wear clothes. We had a walk outside to cool down. It started to rain. No problem. Who cares about getting wet when it cools you down directly at skin level?
Days like that should be obligatory, at least once a month but preferably once a… day? At least the walking around nude part, without people throwing a hissy fit over that.
I had a good laugh when we walked along and, at a separate building, a relax room with a view over a large pond, there was a bucket with umbrellas waiting for those who were in need of one. Note that I didn’t see anyone there who was holding an umbrella. Naked people in the rain don’t need those things. When it’s too cold out there, an umbrella won’t make much difference anyway.
A stupid thing of many Dutch saunas is that they introduce more and more bathing-suit-days. What the bleep? Who wants to sit in a hot, wet sauna with such stuff clinging to you? Prudishness seems to be more important than hygiene, because all the bacteria you sweat out get stuck to your privates if you keep fabric wrapped up there. Eeeuw….
Do you have a favourite spa, sauna, wellness place, or another way to relax in such a manner? If so, spread your knowledge down here and you might inspire people to go there as well.
While you read this, I’m probably on my way home from a short vacation on one of the Canary Islands. These islands are wonderful for the naked tourist. No, alas, that doesn’t mean you can wander around in the nude anywhere without getting into trouble, but they offer lots of places where you can.
On Easter Sunday I was out for a walk. I had been looking forward to this particular one as it is a walk I can’t do at home (lacking mountains and the space to do it naked).
Walks like this are always good. I know that many of you, reading this, can and will agree.
For me, the experience of consciously taking my clothes off and going for a long walk (this one was about 3 kilometres long) is an almost spiritual experience.
I am peeling away the physical boundaries between me and nature. All of me will be able to feel the sun and the wind. All of me will be moving without being bothered (yes, that is really it) by the stuff other people demand I wear when in most kinds of company.
And the best thing: it’s free.
And then I mean free in the most literal meaning. No one who has a problem with me being how I want to be. Nothing holding me back except gravity (and I am very grateful for that one ).
Having this possibility to walk around clothes-free is truly amazing. The sad thing always comes when the walk comes to an end and I have to put the hot stuff on again. That moment tells me how unnatural it is to wear clothes in an environment that is made for bodily liberty.
I can hardly wait to go on another nude hike. Let’s hope the world will someday get its act together and understand that our lifestyle isn’t bad. That we’re actually preserving energy and water.
And let’s hope it happens in our lifetime.
Is there a difference? I know that in most of the US of A the words are used interchangeably.
I also know that in Europe, for instance, the two words are used differently. Naturism appeared after nudism. I’ve been thinking about those two words recently.
Nudism. The word has ‘nude’ as its base. Being nude. Like the people in the image on the right, playing bowling, having a clothes free, good time. Great for them, and if you’d ask me I’d join them in an instant. For one it’s a great way to be socially nude, and for another it would be nice to practice bowling again. (I truly suck at it.)
Naturism. The word has ‘nature’ at its base. Being with/part of nature, like the people
on the left. Naked in nature, being part of it and experiencing it that way. Exposing themselves to the real, rough world in their own vulnerability. It’s a way to get things into perspective.
An average human, in clothing (be it protective or not), will consider himself or herself master of the world, maybe because we’ve conquered just about everything. How untrue such a statement is when you’re naked and perhaps even afraid!
We’ve not conquered things. We’re adjusting them – and often with disastrous results, like the acid rain the world faced and still faces, climate change, and earthquakes that happen because we empty the earth below us from fossil fuels.
I think that’s perfectly possible. Being naked in and around your house, whenever that’s possible, makes you a nudist (in my view at least). Enjoying the outside in the nude, being close to and having respect for nature (one of the pillars of naturism according to the INF) makes you a naturist.
More and more I feel like dropping all those words and labels. Be who you really are. Be naked and nude and a nudist and a naturist and clothes-free. As long as you feel good about it and you don’t intend to shock others when you’re in your natural state.
It’s so odd if you think about it. Nude swimming. Who in their right mind would put on clothes to go swimming?
Oh. Right. People would do this.
On your left you see original Victorian bathing suits. Can you imagine the agony of having to haul all that around while you’re trying to swim?
I’ve researched this for my book ‘The Unsworth Manor Nudes‘ (available on Amazon) and not only did they have these amounts of cloth hanging around them, the ladies even utilized ‘bathing machines’. Wagons that rolled into the water so people couldn’t see any skin (what skin?).
The first time I swam au naturel was at a sauna-like place. They had heated pools inside and out, and I went there with a few friends in the middle of a serious winter. The sensation was incredible, especially when getting out of the water. I’m sure that most nude-swimmers will understand and recognise that. If ever you have the opportunity to do this, do it. Swimming outside when there’s snow all around is incredible.
Another expression I wonder about is ‘skinny dipping’. I call that swimming. Putting on clothes to swim is just odd. Nobody will wonder what you’re trying to conceal beneath those bits of fabric. The only proper way to swim is still naked, as far as I’m concerned. Getting out of the water with wet fabric hanging off you (and showing everything that’s beneath it very often!) feels bad and cold.
Anyone in favour of swimwear? Please let me know the big advantage of it!
Damned right they go together. Hiking is a good thing. It means you’re outside, walking, being active, being kind to your body.
Fresh air is good for a person and for one’s skin. Makes sense then that exposing as much skin as possible is the way to go for hikers. Most hikers don’t, which is sad and their loss.
Vitamin D is best taken in through the skin, soaking up sunlight. What nicer way can you think of?
For a decent hike it’s advisable, I think, to be safe. Wear something sensible unless you are one of the barefoot-forever people.
I’m not one of them. I like decent footwear. To each their own. I’ve seen people negotiate a gorge on Crete on flip-flops, so whatever wiggles your toes goes.
Whatever you feel your goal is, it’s good. Is half a mile a hike for you? Great. Do you go for the big ones, 10 miles of more? Great. There’s no need to overdo things. Take what your body can handle. If your body likes it, it will motivate you to go a little further next time. This is general knowledge, not limited to nude hiking, by the by. It’s easy to go too far, get hurt and demotivated. Be smart about yourself; you’ll enjoy hiking for much longer.
Where can you hike freely? I know that people in big cities pull the short straw here. I pity you. Also I can’t offer advice to everyone around the globe as I haven’t been all around the globe to see what your situation is. Sorry, lack of money, time and knowledge of where you all are is to blame.
I’ve taken long, naked hikes on several of the Canary Islands. It’s great to be there and be able to do that. I’ve also made long, nude hikes in England. I’ve found that when there is a place with lots of forests, there’s an opportunity to go naked.
Maybe not all the way but there’s more opportunity than many people assume there is. A big thing over here in Europe is NEWT, an event where a group of people hike through Austria in the nude for an entire week. Here’s a video report of one such events for you:
Maybe you get inspired by this. Look for places. Scout them out if you have to. And hike naked when you can. It’s so much better than in clothes.