The following experience was sent to my by Colin. Thanks, Colin, for offering this article!

Naturist Adventure Weekend

Despite it being August, the weather in our part of England decided to be very pleasant for a whole weekend. So LL and I planned a little adventure. We enjoy finding out-of-the-way places for swimming, sunning and generally hanging out – nude, of course. We have a guidebook to “wild swimming” places and decided to spend some time locating, and hopefully sampling, two or three of them. So we packed a couple of towels, some bottles of water and very little else and set off after an early lunch on Saturday.

The first destination was about 40 minutes drive away – a stretch of river, by a common, which was described as quiet and secluded. Following the instructions was challenging. We were on the correct road with the river to our left. It said to look out for a footpath sign. We counted five, all pointing in the correct kind of direction. We parked and chose the middle one. We needed to cross a couple of fields and followed the river upstream. Eventually, we could see that the river would be accessible ahead and figured that we had found the right place. Initially, we were dismayed as there was a man, sitting reading on a seat at the top of the bank.

We did not want an audience, so went closer to see what the actual riverside looked like. There was a little beach area, as we had hoped. At one end was a lady, who turned out to be the man’s wife, sunbathing nude. Of course, we then went down there and had a dip in the river. The lady and her husband also sampled the water. I got into conversation with them. It was their first visit to the spot, as they were exploring in exactly the way that we were. While we were standing around chatting, still nude obviously, some more people arrived – a woman and two young boys. LL spoke with the woman, who seemed quite unconcerned about us. The boys were more interested in investigating the water. In due course, we bid our farewells and headed off to find our next venue. On the way back, we found the better footpath, so our next visit will be easier.

The second place we looked for was some distance downstream on the same river and much closer to our home. The parking place being a 15 minute drive from our house. From this spot, it was a 20 minute walk along the river to reach the designated location. It was quite out of the way, some distance from the road, with just a small campsite nearby. We made our way down to the beach, which was idyllic in the late afternoon sun. The sole occupant of the beach was a middle-aged lady in a frumpy swimsuit. LL went to chat with her and learned that she worked at the nearby campsite. While they were talking, another bikini-clad woman appeared, accompanied by her two cute dogs and, I guessed, as I heard a voice just around the corner, her husband. LL came back to me and we discussed what to do. LL thought she might just go topless – leaving me to wonder what was “safe”. Yet another woman appeared and was talking to the first one. She changed into her swimsuit in a very practical way – just took off her clothes and put on her suit, with no messing with hiding behind a towel. We took this as a good sign – they were clearly not totally afraid of a little nudity. LL and I took off our clothes and waded into the water, by which time the two women had also got in.

Under these circumstances – going nude where nobody else is – there can be three possible outcomes. Most often, nobody seems to care and you are just ignored. Very occasionally someone will be upset – this is obviously what one fears and wishes to avoid. The third outcome is best of all: everyone else joins in. The two ladies came out of the water to remove their swimsuits and got back in. The bikini lady and her husband swam around the corner, both nude too. Another lady appeared, spoke briefly to the first two, took off her clothes and got into the water. Eventually there were 7 people [and two dogs] and not a swimsuit in sight. The #3 lady got out of the water at a similar time to us and she went off [back to the campsite] just wrapped in her towel. We dried and dressed and, as we were leaving, the #2 lady was sitting on the sand nude, just enjoying the sunshine. It is interesting how, sometimes, it is just a matter of someone being the first to get naked. I felt that it was LL’s “bravery” that enabled everyone else to be uninhibited and thoroughly enjoy the experience.

On Sunday, we headed for another place on a different river. It took 45 minutes or so to reach the parking spot, which we found easily. It was then about 400m to walk to a bridge over the river. We then walked for a while, following the meandering river. We saw a couple of possible bathing/sunning places, but the instructions promised us better if we kept going. After about 30 minutes, we found the place. It was a very sharp meander with lots of beach. The water was cold, but both shallow and deeper areas were to be found. We spent quite a while nude in and around the water. From the time we had left the car, we never saw another person – and this was beautiful accessible countryside on a lovely weekend afternoon. Where was everybody? I even hiked back most of the way nude quite confidently. Eventually we did see someone, quite close to the car, asleep by the river.

All in all it was a very successful and pleasant weekend. All three places were great and we will probably return to them all [as well as seek others]. In many ways, the one nearest to our home was the most enjoyable. Although solitude and isolation can be good, like-minded company is often better. The opportunity to introduce others to naturism or simply facilitate it in a relaxed way is a true pleasure.