http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/ Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:35:33 +0000 43200 information about naturist events and activities http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/LongSummer
People often ask if I get lonely travelling on my own but I have never found that a problem in the wilderness. On your own you actually talk to people you meet rather than pass them by which usually happens with groups. I find I often spend a few days with another individual or group before going our separate ways. For someone on their own the loneliest place is in a crowd!

In 2001, I split my time between canoe-touring and backpacking. Paddling a Canadian canoe through lake and river systems in uninhabited countryside gives plenty of opportunities for the naturist. It is almost always possible find places to swim and camp without clothes and in remote waters it is possible to paddle naked (provided that water conditions don’t require buoyancy aid to be worn!). In hot weather backpacking in the mountains can also provide plenty of naturist opportunities with bubbling streams with rock pools to cool off in, sandy beaches by distant lakes and wild campsites miles away from the nearest house. There is a tradition of skinny-dipping in the mountains and when both canoeing and mountain walking I find I meet plenty of people who wouldn’t call themselves naturists, but who strip off to swim or sunbathe.

Shortly after Easter I took my Canadian Canoe down to Portugal and spent 12 days canoeing down the Tagus from just west of the Spanish Border to just east of Lisbon. For the first few days the paddling was along reservoirs through wild uninhabited gorges. The seclusion was only broken by an occasional fisherman, from the portages past the dams and from the trains that crawl along the rail-line, which follows the river; rail but no road!
Once past the last dam the river flows freely to the sea. The flow varying from a trickle to a flood depending on the amount of water allowed through the reservoir dams. The first time I had paddled this river I had camped on an island about 3m above the water level and was woken in the night by water flowing through my tent!. Gradually the country became gentler passing through farmland with the occasional small town. As the coast is approached there are increasing signs of industrialisation but the only thing impacting noticeably is the extraction of gravel and sand extraction from the riverbed.

The main canoeing problem can be fighting your way into the prevailing westerly winds but on this trip the winds were light and plenty of sun gave ideal conditions a naturist canoe trip. The power of the river was brought home to me when I found that winter floods had washed almost all of a tree-covered island where thousands of Little Egrets, Cattle Egrets and Spoonbills used to roost away.

Before returning home I spent another week exploring a large reservoir higher up the Tagus in the Extramadura region of Spain. In this remote area I saw at least ten different species of Bird of Prey. On my own you saw a lot more wildlife than I would if I was in a group and the canoe is a particularly good platform for bird watching.

A period at home marking GCSE exams was followed by four weeks in Sweden. Sweden has an extensive system of lakes and rivers, which are ideal for canoe-camping trips. I spent two weeks in the Dalsland area of Sweden close to the Norwegian border. This beautiful area of large lakes and connecting canals is popular with German, Dutch and Danish canoeists. Although there are few official naturist beaches in Sweden there are numerous small beaches and rocky bathing places where naturism seems to thrive. Camping is allowed in the woods along the lakes and on the many small islands dotted around the lakes and many idyllic spots can be found. With long sunny days punctuated by the occasional thunderstorm, air temperatures reached 30°C and water temperatures approached 25°C. It isn’t always like this in Sweden but you get good weather more often than not in mid summer.

My remaining time in Sweden I spent in the area southwest of Stockholm. Here it is possible follow small rivers and lakes which are joined by tracks where it possible to wheel your canoe on a trolley. Because of these portages these routes are less popular than the Dalsland area and few canoeists are met on the water. With the heat wave continuing conditions for swimming were still perfect and I was able to paddle naked most of the time. At the end of this trip I spent a couple of days on an official costumes optional beach on a small island on one of these lakes. Surprisingly this was much less used by naturists than the many unofficial sites I came across.

After a few days back in England I headed off to the Pyrenees where I intended to spend about six weeks walking from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. There are three main walking routes along the Pyrenees: The GR10 which remains in France and the GR11 in Spain are on well marked and maintained footpaths which generally stay below the highest peaks. I had decided to attempt the High Level Route, which follows the main ridge of the Pyrenees where possible, and remains above 1500m over most of the route. The route scrambles up airy rocky ridges, crosses high-glaciated passes and traverses rocky pathless terrain. In these remote areas it is necessary to camp wild and often to carry a very heavy pack. I spent a few days dropping supplies along the route before starting walking from Hendaye-Plage on the Atlantic Coast near the Spanish border.

Through the Basque country the route mainly follows the border ridge and is a gentle introduction to the walk before reaching the alpine slopes of the High Pyrenees. Lakes and streams along the route provided some rather cold swimming. Tea breaks and camps often provided opportunities to top up on the tan gained earlier in the summer. Eventually Andorra is reached and the route again becomes somewhat gentler but the shorter days meant that I had to keep going and was not able to spend as much time lounging around in the sun. On the last day as I approached the Mediterranean Sea near Banyuls-sur-Mer the generally good weather I had enjoyed for most of the summer ended with storm force winds blowing me off my feet and making progress very difficult and dangerous.

Please feel free to contact the author at ancientbritbrian@btinternet.com]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:50:10 +0000 c6036a69be21cb660499b75718a3ef24 http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/CanoeingInSweden2003 along the beach and have a final swim before setting off for the ferry from Frederikshavn to Gothenburg.

Sweden is a land of lakes and rivers. Most of these lakes have small sandy public beaches, often with swimming jetties and some with diving platforms. In addition to these official “Bad”, when canoeing there were many places where you could swim. The laws in Sweden allow you to camp, for one night, almost anywhere away from houses, as long as you do not damage crops or cause disturbance.

The weather during my stay in Sweden was not as good as I have become accustomed to in Sweden, but the lakes were still warm enough for swimming and as it warmed up towards the end of my stay the water temperature was approaching 25ºC. Despite swimming several times most days, I didn’t need to use a swimming costume at any time. The beaches were usually deserted in the mornings and in the changeable weather only became busy during the
afternoons. When there were only a few people around, I always asked if they minded me swimming naked, and I as only refused 3 times in 6 weeks. In the early morning or in the evenings it was common to see others swimming without costumes.

My first canoe tour was in the area of lakes near Linkoping to the SW of Stockholm. This was a 200 km round trip. I set off up a stormy Lake Sommen and had a hard struggle as I paddled into wind and waves. I was pleased to reach the Svartan, a small river, which I was to follow to Linkoping. I now faced a 6 km portage as the river dropped down impassable rapids. Portages along roads are easy as I can pull the canoe on a trolley. For the next few days I followed the Svartan down towards Linkoping. The paddling was easy, but there were a number of portages past dams, which were difficult as the paths were overgrown and often muddy and appeared not to have been this early in the summer. Despite the changeable weather with frequent storms, there were enough sunny periods for me to do plenty of swimming. In better weather these bathing places might have be too busy to use naked in the afternoons, but
in this weather it was always possible.

At Linkoping I entered the Kinda Kanal. I had expected easy paddling in this deep wide canal, but I found I had to paddle against quite a strong current. I had a number of sets of locks to portage, but this is made easy for canoeists who were provided with low jetties to lift their canoes and relaunch. At one lock I was allowed through free with a motor yacht. Unlike in England, I would
have been able to use all the locks on payment of the lockkeeper’s fee. At one time this canal would have been busy with commercial traffic, but now it was only used by pleasure craft. The canal joined up a series of small lakes, again with numerous bathing places, all of which I managed to use.

After the canal I entered a series of big lakes. One of these, Asunden, had an island with an official naturist beach. I took a rest day there, but spent most of it in my tent in thundery weather with very few visitors. In the evening a motorboat appeared being paddled onto the beach. The boat had broken down and I had to give the owner a lift to the mainland in the canoe. Not as easy as it sounds in a one man canoe!

From here I had a number of long portages between small lakes to get back to Sommen. The poor weather deteriorated further and I had an enforced rest day because of heavy rain and gale-force winds. A long day’s paddle across Sommen got me back to my starting point at Blavik. I later learnt that this area, normally one of the driest and warmest parts of Sweden, had received one third of the annual rainfall in 4 days!

I took a couple of days off, by which time the weather had started to improve and then set off on an even longer canoe tour on the rivers and lakes to the north of the industrial town of Karlskoga. Karlskoga is well known as the home of Alfred Nobel who made his fortune manufacturing explosives, munitions and armaments, but is now better known for the prestigious Nobel Prizes for Peace, Science and literature.

I started up the Svartalven, about 100km to the north of Karlskoga in hot sunny weather. The water warmed up rapidly and the main beaches on the route started becoming crowded in the afternoons. Fortunately there were plenty of smaller beaches, often only accessible by boat, which were suitable for the naturist and most of the time I was able to paddle naked. In this weather naked bodies were a common sight away from the main beaches. After I left the
Svartalven I linked up a number of medium size lakes with long portages, before following a big lake system south towards Karlskoga. This was an area popular with motorboats and the wilderness was rather spoilt by the number of holiday homes bordering some of the lakes. It took me about 9 long days to reach Karskoga. I was caught in the big (Lake) Mokeln by a torrential thunderstorm, not surprising after a week of hot sunny weather. I now had to paddle up the Svartalven back to my van. I was surprised how strong the current was in the first few kilometres and I found that in places I had to get out of the canoe and pull it upstream against the current. There were then three difficult portages along rough forest paths until I reached the point where the normal canoe-tours along the Svartalven start.

Several canoe hire firms operate on this river so it was popular with canoeists. The river was now controlled by small dams, which meant paddling was easy. Fortunately, there were very few holiday homes to spoil the wilderness. The river was broken up with a number of small lakes. The weather continued hot
and sunny with the occasional thunderstorm and I got back to my starting point after 16 days of hard paddling.

I then had a few days on another short tour, before heading for a couple of days on the Danish beaches and then the ferry back to England.

Please feel free to contact the author at ancientbritbrian@btinternet.com]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:47:23 +0000 8597a6cfa74defcbde3047c891d78f90 http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/CanoeingInSweden1997
My small Canadian canoe is light enough to handle easily on the land but big enough to carry camping gear and provisions for a 2 week trip. It took quite a long time to organise the canoe as I was carrying most of my food for the trip as there were few places to re-provision en-route.

The pattern for the trip was set as I stripped off for a swim from the small beach where I launched the canoe and didn’t need to dress again until the sun set. I was delighted to find that the water was already above 20°C and by the end of my trip some of the lakes had got up to 25°C. As it was already early evening I just paddled for an hour before camping in the woods beside the river.

The next 2 days were spent paddling down 2 long narrow lakes separated by a short stretch of river with three small dams. At the dams the canoe had to be “portaged” which was not as bad as it sounds as I was able to pull the canoe along on small trolley. With the continuous sunshine in these remote waters the only time clothing was needed during these land portages.

The third night was spent at a beautiful little beach with a jetty to allow diving into deep water. This was surprisingly deserted most of the time despite being at the weekend. I stayed there most of the next day as well waiting for a strong southerly breeze to die down as it usually does in the evening. With the weather so hot I often just paddled in the early morning and evening and found a nice bathing place to spend the bulk of the day.

The next few days were spent on a section of small meandering river, joining up many small lakes. The sixth night was spent at one of their bigger beaches with a 3 level diving platform. This was about the only time during the trip apart from at the land portages, and the occasional afternoon cloudy interlude, when I had to wear any clothes.

The second half of the trip was through a series of much bigger lakes. At times quite large waves can develop on these lakes, making the canoeing rather exciting, but on this trip the conditions remained tranquil and I was able to enjoy the sun. One afternoon it clouded over and there was a viscous thunderstorm but fortunately I watched this from one of the shelters scattered along the route. I did have to bale about 8 gallons of water from my canoe after only about 20 minutes rain! Most nights I camped on sandy beaches. I was surprised how few canoeists there were on this part of the trip. It seems to be mainly Danes and Germans on the water.

For the ornithologist there is plenty to see. The black-throated diver is common and among the many birds I saw were osprey, crane and 4 species of woodpecker. Moose and beaver were also seen but they tend to be shy at this time of year. I am told there are wolves and bears in this part of Sweden but I think you would be very lucky (unlucky?) to see any.

I was expecting to reach Karlskoga but a leak in one of the dams in the final section of river meant that the water levels were too low and I had to complete my journey by road. Karlskoga is best known as the home of Alfred Nobel and the industry of the town is still dominated by the chemical works he founded. The problem of getting back to my car was easily solved, as one of the canoe hire firms will transport you and your canoe back to your starting point for a very reasonable price. I went on from here to follow other canoe trails but it would only be about a 4-hour drive to Gothenburg for those needing to rush home.

In the good weather I had for this trip, which is not unusual at this time of year, it is difficult to imagine a better holiday. Although there are always some youngsters trying to disprove it, Canadian canoeing is a leisurely activity, and is within the physical capability of most age groups. The canoes you can hire are big enough to take younger children as passengers and, unlike kayaks, it is very difficult to capsize a Canadian canoe.

Please feel free to contact the author at ancientbritbrian@btinternet.com]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:44:20 +0000 c60d060b946d6dd6145dcbad5c4ccf6f http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/ExploringSwedenLakesAndRivers
The best way to explore the countryside is by open canoe. Sweden is covered with ‘kanotleden’, canoe trails ranging in length from a few kilometres to several hundred kilometres. On the kanotleden, occasional sections of track where you can pull your canoe on a trolley link lakes and rivers. The trails often have designated campsites with shelters and barbecues, but you can camp virtually anywhere beside the lake or river.
There are countless spots where it is possible to swim and by July the water temperature will be 20-25°C. In addition there are many official bathing places with sandy beaches and usually pontoons out to deep water, often with diving platforms. Although these are ‘textile’ they tend to be deserted in the mornings and available for unofficial naturist use. As these kanotleden are in remote countryside and surprisingly little used by the Swedes it is possible for the naturist to spend most of their time canoeing, swimming or sunbathing without clothes. Towards the end of July and in August, with the Swedish holidays ending, the main users of the canoe trails are German and Dutch.

The kanotleden are designed for family use. Canadian canoes are so stable that trips would be suitable for beginners. The canoes are designed to take two or three adults with camping gear and would be big enough for two adults and two younger children. There are plenty of firms, which hire all the canoeing equipment (and also camping equipment) that is needed and who would be able to give tuition. Tourist information offices have details of canoe trails and canoe hire companies.

Please feel free to contact the author at ancientbritbrian@btinternet.com]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:40:38 +0000 0eec27c419d0fe24e53c90338cdc8bc6 http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/Canuding
My canoe is so stable that, as an experienced canoeist, I don’t need to wear a buoyancy aid unless I’m in white water or rough conditions. This means that in calm conditions, when it is warm enough, I am able to paddle completely naked.

It is possible to use canoes for day trips, but they are ideally designed for longer trips as you can accommodate plenty of camping gear. I also carry a small trolley making it easy when I have to portage the canoe between lakes or round obstacles such as locks, dams or weirs.

In Britain there aren’t a lot of rivers suitable for a long distance canoe tour, the Wye, Severn and Thames possibly being the best. The extensive canal system is usable as long as you don’t mind fairly frequent portages of the locks. The best canal tour in Britain is the Caledonian Canal, taking you through the heart of Scotland from Fort William to Inverness. This canal, with few locks, includes the well-known Loch Ness as you paddle through the magnificent scenery of the Scottish Highlands.

Canudists who want a high chance of warm weather should head south to France, Spain or Portugal. The Dordogne in France is an extremely popular river for canoeists with many companies offering canoe tours for those who don’t own their own canoe. The Tagus reaches the sea near Lisbon and the Portuguese section is free-flowing, except for two dams near the Spanish border. There is relatively little activity on the Tagus and it only passes through a few towns, so in good weather, you can paddle naked throughout its length. It is also possible to paddle on the Tagus in Spain, but here the river is largely dam controlled and you will be paddling on reservoirs.

However the Mecca for canudists is Sweden. Most of my canoe tours have been in Sweden. Here there is open access to all the rivers and lakes, canoes are readily available for hire for day trips or long tours and portages are generally organised so that they can be easily performed using a trolley, rather than having to carry the canoe. Nudity is generally accepted in the wilderness in Sweden, so there is no problem paddling naked, or remaining naked at the small bathing places that you come to on the waterways. In Sweden it is legal to camp on any wilderness land (without asking permission) so you can always find somewhere to camp. Because of the long hours of daylight in summer, if the weather is good you will find the temperature of the lakes can reach 25°C and it is warm enough to be naked for most of the day. Obviously you aren’t guaranteed good weather, but in summer the weather does tend to be more reliable than in Britain. I have certainly done tours where I have been naked for 90% of the time.

Canoeing is much easier for the novice than kayaking, both in terms of required skills and physical demands so you don’t need to be an expert to do a canoe tour. Most of the canoes that you can hire are designed to be paddled by two people. They are often big enough to take two young children as well as their parents, and teenagers should have little problem paddling a canoe, so they are ideal for a family holiday.

Please feel free to contact the author at ancientbritbrian@btinternet.com]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:38:10 +0000 dd77279f7d325eec933f05b1672f6a1f http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/AncientBritOnTheGR11
After caching some supplies along the route, I arrived at the French border town of Hendaye on the evening of 8^th August 2003 and walked to the far end of the beach where I knew it would be possible to bivouac overnight. I should have made an early start in the morning, but I spent the morning on the beach. This was the naturist end of the beach and by the time I left at 12am there were hundreds of naked bodies enjoying the sun. It was already 36ºC (100ºF) in the shade by the time I reached the Spanish border.

During the first week the hills in the Basque country gradually increased in altitude. It was excessively hot and I had to carry many litres of water on these normally wet misty hills. There were very few walkers on the trail, but I did spend time with a number of Basques and a German couple who were also attempting to walk to the Mediterranean. The hills are a mixture of woodland and rough pasture, often overgrazed by sheep and horses. As well as the large flocks of griffon vultures, I also sighted black and red Kites, honey buzzard, golden eagle and the rare lammergeyer.

In this hot weather I took every opportunity to strip off whenever I stopped and didn’t need to wear any clothing around camp. In these quiet hills it was possible to walk naked much of the time.

As the hills started to give way to the mountains, I came across the first significant streams. At the end of a long hot day I was delighted to camp beside a stream with a swimming hole. Two Basque families were at the swimming hole, but they invited me to join them and were happy for me to strip off to swim and wash all my clothing.

The weather now turned thundery as I reached the steep limestone mountains at the eastern end of the Basque Country. It was still unusually hot, but at least I was able to cool down in the streams and mountain tarns. After two weeks meeting very few walkers I arrived in the Ordesa National Park, which is one of the “honeypot” areas of the Pyrenees and is overrun with tourists. This is not surprising since the Ordesa Canyon is magnificent, rather like a miniature Grand Canyon, with the added attraction of spectacular waterfalls. I had a 10-hour day since you are not allowed to camp below 2100m in the National Park.

I had now reached the High Pyrenees with peaks over 3000m high and the GR11 followed some extremely steep ascents and descents over high passes. The trail dropped down to isolated mountain villages with old dilapidated stone houses. Many of these were deserted, but in recent years roads had been bulldozed up to many of them and the houses restored mainly as holiday and retirement homes. Throughout the high mountains the weather was thundery with some terrific storms. Fortunately a lot of the storms were at night and I was able to stay warm and dry in my small tent.

The trail entered Andorra for a few days. Andorra can be a bit of a shock after the unspoilt mountains of Spain. The lower valleys in Andorra seem to be a mixture of building site, with many new hotels and apartments, and duty-free supermarkets attracting far more traffic than the roads can cope with. Most of the higher valleys are despoiled by ski resorts. The only compensation was the improved quality of the paths. The trail in Spain got very little maintenance and was frequently difficult to follow or overgrown.

On leaving Andorra I entered Catalonia. The weather started to improve at last after the disappointing weather in the high mountains. Catalonia, like the Basque Country used to be an independent Kingdom and the people still use their own language and are campaigning for independence from Spain. I walked up the spectacular Nuria Gorge on the Catalan National Day, accompanied by thousands of tourists and pilgrims to the old monastery, which was now a tourist centre and ski complex, only accessible on foot or by mountain railway. Surprisingly, on my last day above the 2000m contour, having left the highest mountains behind, I now climbed to the highest point on the GR11 as I passed over the Pic Superior de la Vaca at 2824m. I was met by a strong gusting wind blowing from France and was soon having problems staying on my feet.

It was hot again as I traversed the lower hills as I approached the coast, but fortunately there were a number of swimming holes in the streams for refreshing swims. The paths were still steep, with several days of steep limestone terrain. I was walking at this time with a couple of girls from Barcelona University and a couple of Dutchmen. On the last night we camped at an old disused monastery and were surprised to find a proper swimming pool, fed by spring water. It didn’t take long for the men to be stripped off and in the pool, but unfortunately the girls had included swimming costumes in their heavy packs.

To make it easier to get home, I finished at Banyuls-sur-Mer in France, rather than continue to Cabo de Creus in Spain.

While this was not primarily a naturist holiday, walking and camping in these wild mountains gives the naturist plenty of opportunities and is practised by many walkers who would not think of themselves as naturists.

Please feel free to contact the author at ancientbritbrian@btinternet.com]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:35:25 +0000 e19347e1c3ca0c0b97de5fb3b690855a http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/ThePacificCrestTrail2009
I’d through-hiked the PCT in 2002 and 2006 and was back for a third time in 2009 to check the content of a guidebook of the trail I had written for Cicerone Press.

In April and May, most days, I was able to hike naked for a few hours in the 700 miles of arid hills and mountains of Southern California. I often hiked in a 'breach-clout' (loin cloth) which I could fold up when I was on my own and pull down when meeting other hikers. I was usually able to naked at breaks and when camping.

For a naturist the highlight of this section is the popular Deep Creek hot springs which is possibly the best wilderness hot springs in the USA. Hot springs in the wilderness are traditionally costumes optional and you can expect about half the visitors to follow this tradition.

I reached the Sierra Nevada in unseasonally cold weather, and a combination of snow storms and mosquitoes discouraged nude hiking, although I did manage a couple of hours of naked hiking on Mid-summers Day, America’s unofficial Nude Hiking Day.

The Sierra Nevada is majestic with snow-covered peaks in a lake-studded landscape. The granite of the Sierra Nevada gives way to the volcanic rocks of the Cascade Mountains with a succession of towering volcanoes above the forests of northern California, Oregon and Washington.

I occasionally hiked naked in northern California, Oregon and Washington as I was little reluctant to hike naked on a well-used trail during the holiday season but I was usually able to strip off during breaks and at the multitude of lakes along the trail where skinny-dipping is traditional.

I reached Canada at the beginning of October as the first snows of winter buried the trail.

Although 200-300 through-hikers complete the PCT in a single year, the majority of hikers only attempt a short section each year. A lot of snow falls in these mountains in the winter, but the summer is the dry season and you can expect the long periods of the warm sunny weather appreciated on a naturist holiday.

Please feel free to contact the author at ancientbritbrian@btinternet.com

The author has now had a guide published by Cicerone Press to the 2650-mile Pacific Crest Trail which stretches from the Mexican border to the Canadian border through California, Oregon and Washington. See http://www.cicerone....fic-crest-trail for details.]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:30:58 +0000 d6ef5f7fa914c19931a55bb262ec879c http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/ThePacificCrestTrail2006
Part 1: Southern California

I landed at Los Angeles International on 11th April and picked up a hire car. After collecting the supplies I had pre-ordered from REI and buying food to last me from Campo to Walker Pass, I drove out to the ‘Hiker Haven’ at Agua Dulce where I spent three days sorting out food and equipment, and caching supplies between Agua Dulce and Walker Pass. I then headed south and dropped supplies between Agua Dulce and the Mexican border. I had a day to spare so I did my first training session for the hike. I hiked 6 miles to Deep Creek Hot Springs, spent the night there and hiked back to the car in the morning.

On Sunday I drove down to Escondido to stay with Greg and Irene High and did my second training session for the hike when I walked around San Diego Zoo with them. On Easter Monday, I dropped my car off in San Diego and got a lift to Campo with Ladybug. She had contacted me by email as she wanted someone to ‘hold her hand’ near the border.

It was pleasantly warm when we set off and there was plenty of water in the streams so it was a much easier start than in 2002. Heavy rains in March had filled the streams and springs were running well but this also meant a record snowfall through the Sierra Nevada and Northern California. After a couple of days Ladybug went on ahead and I did very well swapping a married middle-aged lady for a single 22 year-old girl who became known as Ladybird!

The weather was such that Ladybird even put water into a water cache rather than taking it out! At Barrel Spring, Warner Springs Monte gave Ladybird a can of Diet Soda which she started drinking and then said “Why am I drinking this, it’s got no calories”. We were meeting a lot of hikers until we reached Warner Springs, which Ladybird described as a ‘Blackhole’ as hikers seemed to go in but couldn’t get out. By now many hikers were already injured through doing too much mileage at the beginning of the hike, but many where using any excuse to delay reaching the snow.

We reached the San Jacinto Mountains together but Ladybird had to drop down to Idyllwild to resupply and have a day off with her sister. We arranged to meet up again at Deep Creek hot springs. The San Jacinto Mountains were covered in snow and any footsteps had melted away so I had to make tracks in the soft snow as well as cope with some very difficult navigation. It took me 13 hours and 2 days to cover 13 miles! The trail then dropped down to 1000ft and the temperature reached 100°F for the first time. I was mostly on my own as I hiked to Deep Creek hot springs. I had scheduled a rest-day and when Ladybird didn’t turn up I decided to give it another day. In fact she had missed the post in Big Bear City and had to wait for the Post Office to open on the Monday morning.

Deep Creek Hot Springs is one of highlights of Southern California with several hot pools to soak in and a pool which is warm enough to swim in. Traditionally the springs were used naked, but nowadays they are clothing-optional and it is a pity more through-hikers don’t stick to the traditions. I spent my second rest day with a group of locals and had an interesting time. They arranged a pipe from the top hot pool to produce a powerful stream of hot water into the swimming hole. One lady, a retired professional masseur, gave me a water massage. Later in the day she covered me all over with the fine mud from just below the pools and when the mud had dried she washed it off with another water massage.

I had arranged with Ladybird that we would meet at Walker Pass after my supply break if she didn’t reach the hot springs, so I set off the next morning. I reached Silverwood Lake in the afternoon and found a secluded sandy beach for a break and this was the first lake I had been able to swim in. As I did throughout the hike I went skinny-dipping whenever I went swimming.

I had a car booked at Ridgecrest for when I reached Walker Pass and I was going to need to maintain about 20 miles/day from Deep Creek to get there on time. The weather was generally hot and I often walked in a breach-clout (loin cloth), a garment formerly worn by American Indians and Ancient Egyptians. A short cool spell saw me through the Mohave Desert with little problem and I reached Walker Pass after 38 days of hiking.
I hitched down to Ridgecrest where hired a car for a week, resupplied and dropped supplies off as far as the California/Oregon border. On my return to Walker Pass I learnt that Ladybird had been bitten by a Brown Recluse Spider and would be off the trail for several weeks, so I was walking on my own again. I heard the injury described as “Looking like a gunshot wound” and the bite of a Brown Recluse Spider as being “Worse than a Black Widow” and “Like a rattlesnake bite, except ten times worse”. I later learnt that she had got going again and completed the trail in late October.

I left Kennedy Meadows on June 6th. My back weighed about 65lb, including at least 10 days food. I was equipped for mountaineering rather than trail walking. I had decided to use a combination of walking poles and crampons. The first significant snow was met at Trail Pass and by Cottonwood Pass the snow-pack was almost 100%. This is a good indicator of the conditions ahead. “If there is snow on Cottonwood Pass, you will be on Snowpack until you reach Donner Pass.” The hiking was relatively easy until I reached Mount Whitney. I was walking with a loose group of about 8 youngsters from the east coast of USA. They were discovering that they hadn’t got the equipment or the skills to cope with the conditions and I don’t think any of them made it beyond Lone Pine or Independence. At that time I was also meeting an experienced Kiwi, ‘Roaring thunder’, the Basque, Ynaki , both of whom were carrying walking poles, ice-axe, snow shoes and crampons, and ‘Three Gallon’ who got his trail name because he left Campo with three gallons of water despite the fact the streams were running and it was raining. These three were revelling in the conditions.

They left me as they were heading for the Vermillion Valley Resort (VVR) without resupply. I was on my own as I headed up towards the 13,000ft Forester Pass and camped in the snow above 12,00ft, so that I could go over the pass when the snow was hard frozen in the morning. The descents from Forester Pass, where ‘Gidiup’ passed me and Glen Pass are dangerous in snow conditions and inexperienced or ill-equipped hikers have died here in the past.

Scott Williamson passed me in his attempt to complete hike to Canada and back to Mexico. I later learnt he had lost about 20lb in weight in the High Sierra and was physically drained. He did manage to keep going and I saw him again on his way south in Washington.

After resupplying in the Onion Valley, over the Kearsarge Pass, I was again carrying 10 days food when I rejoined the trail. The only through-hikers I met in the next two weeks were ‘Atomic’ and ‘Subatomic’. They first passed me when I had camped at 3pm one afternoon, by which time the snow was much too soft for me to make meaningful progress. I would then set off at 5.30 am, when the snow was frozen hard, and pass them while they were still in their sleeping bags. They weren’t carrying crampons and had to wait for the snow to soften before they could safely move out. I lost them after an 11 hour day in which I only covered 11 miles. I went on that long so I could use their footprints over Mather Pass, the ascent of which, in snow, is the most difficult on the trail. However it is relatively safe as even a 500ft fall down the concave snow-slope wasn’t likely to lead to more than damage to the pride. It wasn’t a fall that damaged me but the loss of my sunhat which was blown off and away by a gust of wind and I ended with sunburn on my ears, nose and lips by the time I managed to buy a replacement.

On the descent from Muir Pass I was to be confronted with the first really serious stream crossing, Evolution Creek. This had been waist high in 2002 and I wasn’t sure I would be able to cross it at all in 2006, so I didn’t! I avoided the crossing by climbing down the crags on the south side of the river (looking back I had found the only line of weakness down the crags) and descending through the avalanche debris on the south bank of the river to rejoin the PCT after the dangerous crossing. By now it was getting warmer at day and night and the rivers were beginning to rise dangerously from the increased snowmelt. I avoided the even more dangerous crossing of Bear Creek by crossing its main tributaries high up the mountain on slippery logs. I had discovered that walking poles and crampons were a good combination crossing rivers on fallen trees. I later met four through-hikers who had involuntary swims in Bear Creek, including ‘Heike’ who was washed down more than 200m.

I resupplied at the Vermillion Valley Resort but didn’t stay long as there were no through-hikers there and it is very expensive! I took a variation over Goodale Pass, instead of Silver Pass. From the total absence of tracks I would think this was the first crossing of the pass in 2006. I approached Red’s Meadow down Cascade Valley (Fish Creek). On the top river crossing I got about a third of the way across before turning back with the water already well above waist deep and getting deeper. Again I had to descend the river on the wrong side. The bottom crossing looked totally impassable to me and I later learnt that EricD had managed the top crossing, but taken one look at the bottom crossing and turned round and headed back upstream.

With daytime temperatures over 85°F and night-time temperatures at 11,000ft well above freezing, the creek levels were rising even more as I approached Tuolumne and even creeks too small to mark on the map were becoming difficult to cross. When I reached Tuolumne the road had only just opened and the store, post office, campsite and lodge were all still closed. The Ranger office was open and I had a chat with the Rangers. They guessed the supply I had sent to the post office would be in Yosemite Valley and they said through-hikers had been turning back at the first unbridged river crossing in Virginia Canyon. I had got my shorts wet crossing this rocky stream in 2002 and wasn’t at all surprised it was uncrossable and this was just the first of a series of difficult stream crossings. I came to the conclusion that the Tuolumne-Sonora Pass section was unjustifiable in these conditions, so rather than wait for the river levels to drop I hitched round to the Sonora Pass.

Part 2: Northern California

At Sonora Pass I met EricD, ‘Scarecrow’ and ‘Bluegrass’ with whom I was to walk sections until Donner Pass. They left Sonora Pass before me. They had met up with Tony, an English section hiker, and were approaching Sonora Peak when he slipped on the hard snow, done a few summersaults and dislocated his shoulder in stopping himself on the rocks below the snow-slope. EricD was running down the hill like a maniac and soon reached the US Marine Base at the foot of the pass, from where the Marines quickly organized a helicopter rescue. I must admit I would have been scared on the steep traverses if I hadn’t been wearing crampons. From Sonora Pass to Donner Pass was mainly on snowpack, but at least we were now getting below the snowline for some sections of trail-walking. Navigation was much more difficult in this section as it was important to follow the trail, even when it was buried, whereas in the High Sierra I had taken little notice of the actual line of the trail.

At Echo Lake I met Trail Angel, Meadow Mary, with whom I had spent a lot of time in 2002.

She took me into South Lake Tahoe where I failed to find a suitable replacement camera for mine which had packed up because of condensation problems over Muir Pass. I reached Donner Pass on July 4th in time to join ‘Pooh Bear’ in his Independence Day celebrations in his lakeside house on Donner Lake. He keeps open house to both through-hikers and friends and following an excellent meal we watched the firework display on the beach at the end of the lake. Fortunately we ran out of snow-pack after another twenty miles and it was back to normal hiking.

I consider Northern California to be the least interesting bit of the trail. However one day stood out: I was woken at 4am by noises outside my tent. I shone my headlight out and picked up a pair of eyes about 30 metres away. They could only belong to a mountain lion (cougar). I quickly grabbed my walking poles and got dressed. By now the Lion was about 10 metres away and clearly visible in the torchlight. Thinking about defence, I lit my stove and boiled some water. Eventually the lion wandered off, so I used the water to make a cup of tea, then packed up and was on the trail by 5am, while it was still dark. I don’t suppose the lion was really dangerous, it was just curious. After all, it is just a “big pussy”. At 6am I saw a lovely ‘Cinnamon’ Black Bear, which, being a proper wild bear took one look at me and ran. Rattlesnakes, mosquitoes and Poison Oak were also encountered during the day. By mid-morning I reached a notice saying that the PCT was closed due to fire at the Middle Fork Feather River and giving a totally impractical 56-mile detour. I had met a southbound hiker who had told me that the fire was basically out and I should ignore the closure. He had been through the fire on the Friday, on Saturday EricD, who had also ignored the closure arrived at the fire to see helicopters dropping water and planes dropping fire retardant on the fire and the fire service were burning a fire-line down the switchbacks of the PCT! Surprisingly the senior fire officers had a meeting and decided to escort through-hikers through the fire. By the time I arrived there were still 120 firemen working on the fire. I spent a couple of hours with the fire safety officer on the far side of the fire. He said the fire had been started by hikers, later identified as a pair of Israelis who were using a leaking home-made ‘Pepsi-can’ alcohol stove. The fire service had burnt a fire-line either side of the fire and had it contained, but trees were still blazing at the heart of the fire.

I found the best bits of northern California to be the Klamath Mountains and the much maligned Hat Creek Rim. I was lucky to get through the Klamath Mountains as there were fires all around, but they didn’t affect the trail, apart from some smoke, until I was safely through. These fires had been started by lightning.

Part 3: Oregon and Washington

I reached Ashland in Oregon after 62 days without a zero day (rest day) and again took a week off, hired a car and dropped supplies up the remainder of the trail. On the way south I had time to visit the costumes optional Terwilliger hot springs and McCredie hot springs, where another lady gave me a mud bath!

In Oregon I diverted away from the PCT on many occasions to follow the old Oregon Skyline Trail. This route is more scenic than the PCT and goes past a lot more lakes and does not have so many long sections without water. The beach at the western end of the large Crescent Lake would have been top of my PCT beach guide if it had been on the PCT rather than a variation. The highlight of Oregon and a candidate for a place in the “Seven Wonders of the Natural World” is Crater Lake, the remains of a volcano that exploded about 7000 years ago. Soon after Crater Lake I lost a fight with a granola (cereal) bar and broke one of my front teeth. I hitched out from trail and discovered that dentists don’t work on Fridays because they can enough money working 3-4 days/week and they prefer to play golf or go fishing on Fridays. Eventually I found a dentist who would see me 100 miles from where I left the trail. He confirmed that the tooth couldn’t be saved and pulled half of it leaving the root to be dealt with when I got home. He confirmed my view that dentists don’t need to earn money on a Friday by not charging me fee!

Oregon is the fastest section of the PCT and even I was managing 3mph. I was slowed down a bit by finding lots of Lakes for swimming (mainly in the variations). I soon reached Mount Washington which was closed due to a fire. Two Forest Service trail workers (“I didn’t tell you this but….”) told me that the fire was more or less out and I should go through at night to avoid meeting Fire or Forest service workers as it is illegal to go into a closed area. I followed their advice and climbed the volcanic lava of Belknap Crater in the dark and started the descent. I soon ran into a wall of flames about a mile from where I had been informed was the boundary of the fire. I’d have carried on in daylight, but navigating through an area of active fire and hotspots with a LED head-torch didn’t seem to be a good idea so I turned back and bivouacked about midnight.
The next day I got a lift round to Big Lake Youth Camp to pick up my supply bag and immediately ran into the Puzzle Fire on Mount Jefferson. I spoke to some Fire Service personal and was told to rejoin the PCT by the Whiteriver Road and the Jefferson Park Trail. The road and the trail were in fact the northern border of the closure and were included in the closure. I hitched round to the Whiteriver Road, ignored the road closed sign and headed up towards Mount Jefferson. I was taking a tea-break when a Forest Service Ranger drove up the road. He asked me what I was doing on the closed road. (Technically I wasn’t in the closed area since I was sitting about 2 yards north of the road!) After a long chat, rather than giving me a citation he actually gave me a lift to the trailhead and said he would try and get his bosses to get something sensible sorted out. (I don’t think the Fire Service and Forest Service are good at talking to each other.)

The next day I took a long break at a lovely little sandy beach on Scout Lake, dominated by the view of the glaciers on Mount Jefferson. I was ahead of schedule because of the section missed round the fire so I took my time as I headed to the Washington border. The superb weather I had been having was interrupted briefly by a little snow and rain as I traversed the slopes of Mount Hood.By now I was at last beginning to meet a lot more through-hikers, mainly higher mileage hikers who had left Kennedy Meadows in late June or early July. The hot dry weather resumed as I headed into Washington. I was still in no rush and actually spent 5 hours at Bear Lake. I’ve put this top of my best beach guide. It’s a lovely little lake with good beaches and swimming. I’m sure I wasn’t influenced by the two young ladies who joined me in skinny-dipping!

I was much fitter than in 2002 and was only needing to do relatively short days to keep up with my schedule of about 18 miles/day. The weather suddenly changed and I got 9 days of wet, cloudy conditions with the temperature barely above freezing point. The rare glimpses of the big volcanoes showed that they were covered in new snow. One morning I woke up with an inch of rain under the bottom half of my tent. I’m certainly glad I had a good tent and I stayed dry inside. Over 9 days all clothing and equipment will get a little damp and I was delighted when the hot sunny weather returned for the final 10 days.

Northern Washington has a lot of steep ascents and descents and these were added to because of the diversion round the eastern side of Glacier Peak. Heavy rains in October 2003 had washed away all the bridges and some of the trail on the official route and it was still closed while it was being repaired. This didn’t stop a lot of hikers attempting the official route rather than the detour. With the rivers now exceptionally low and a fallen tree across the ‘impassable’ River Suiattle the official route was feasible. In 2002 I hadn’t realized just how spectacular Northern Washington was, but now with the superb weather I was seeing Washington at its best.

I reached the border late on Sunday 1st October, camping in Canada and then made the easy descent to Manning Park on Monday morning. I stayed with Canadian cousins for a few days before flying back to England.

A much more difficult hike than in 2002 and not a pure through-hike because of sections missed because of floods and fires, but very satisfying to have completed it in a year that so many hikers had to give up in Southern California or the High Sierra.

Please feel free to contact the author at ancientbritbrian@btinternet.com

The author has now had a guide published by Cicerone Press to the 2650-mile Pacific Crest Trail which stretches from the Mexican border to the Canadian border through California, Oregon and Washington. See http://www.cicerone....fic-crest-trail for details.]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:27:00 +0000 9c3b1830513cc3b8fc4b76635d32e692 http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/ThePacificCrestTrail2002
Being a wilderness walk, with only occasional visits to small mountain villages or mountain stores, it was necessary to carry up to 6 days food in addition to camping gear. This made the pack heavy but with temperatures up to 100°F and the drought in Southern California meant that I was often also carrying 6 litres of water.

The guidebook warns against the dangers of the rattlesnakes, bears and mountain lions but without doubt the most dangerous animal I would meet en route would be man. At times it seemed like every trail sign in Southern California had bullet holes in it and the border area was well used by smugglers taking illegal Mexicans or drugs across the border.

In these remote areas I saw very few people and was often able to walk naked. I was able to strip off at all breaks and for the overnight camp.

I was struggling with a number of minor foot injuries in the early weeks of walking through arid mountains in unseasonally hot weather and was relieved to reach Deep Creek Hot Springs. I had decided to take a couple of days off at this oasis in the desert. These hot pools alongside a swimming hole in the creek were well known as a skinny-dipping site and nudity was normal among the visitors. I stripped off as soon as I arrived and didn’t need any clothes throughout my visit. Despite the hour walk from the nearest road the springs were well frequented by the locals and a number of other thru-hikers also rested here. As well as allowing laundry to be done the hot water was great for sore muscles. After spending much of the early part of the walk on my own it was good to have people to talk to.

Reluctantly leaving the springs I walked along the ranges of hills separating Los Angeles from the Mojave Desert before heading across the desert and heading north towards the High Sierra. Over this section I often walked with two veteran hikers: “Billy Goat” and “Cloudwalker”. “Billy Goat” was a legend in US walking circles having hiked the Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. Most of the thru-hikers on the trail were known by trail names and I acquired the name “Ancient Brit”.

The trail cut across the Mojave Desert, where the only water was at a trough fed from the underground aqueduct carrying water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Los Angeles and then followed the dry hills bounding the desert where the only water was at the infrequent springs often 25 miles apart.

After 700 miles, before heading into the High Sierra I took a week off to drop supplies ahead on the route and allow some of the snow in the high mountains to melt. During this break I visited some of the hot springs close to the Mammoth Lakes Resort. Although these pools were reachable by car, they were still clothing-optional and were ideal for relaxing with magnificent views of the snow-covered mountains.

Forester Pass, at 13,200ft, the highest of the 10 snow-covered passes to be crossed soon followed. With the trail under snow melting rapidly in the hot sun walking became hard work. When I had walked this section of the trail ago in July and August two years earlier, I was able to swim naked in the many small mountain tarns and streams along the route. But now many of these lakes were still covered in ice and the streams were very cold.

I deviated off the route to visit Fish Creek Hot Springs and had a rest day during which I managed to get all my clothing washed in the small pools.

The route now passed through the Yosemite National Park and reached a section with many unbridged creeks to cross. The crossing of these waist-deep snowmelt streams was both unpleasant and dangerous. I tended to strip off for these crossings to keep my clothing dry, but had to wear boots for increased safety.

Leaving behind the magnificent alpine mountains of the High Sierra, Northern California provided easier walking through wooded hills passing the massive volcanoes of Mt.Lassen and Mt. Shasta and eventually I reached the Californian border after 1700 miles.

I took another week off before heading for the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington. Forest fires in southern Oregon covered more than 500,000 acres and although they didn’t directly affect the PCT we were walking through smoke for a couple of weeks. The highlight of Oregon was Crater Lake, which I fortunately got to when the smoke was being blown away from the trail. Crater Lake was formed when a huge volcano blew up about 6000 years ago and the resulting crater has filled with water. As I progressed north the trail crossed lava fields which were only a few hundred years old and passed volcanoes which had been active in recent years.
So far the weather had been good with only the occasional storm and plenty of sun so I was still able to strip off during my rest periods. The biggest storm produced hailstones the size of golf-balls and covered the ground with a few inches of hail. It was September by the time I reached Washington and the autumn weather meant the end of naturist interludes but the magnificent alpine scenery of the Washington Cascades compensated this for. A week before the end of the walk I detoured to Kennedy Hot Springs. Unfortunately it was during poor weather and I was there alone. This spring was not as hot as the springs further south but it was bubbling vigorously and was rather like being in a Jacuzzi.

I reached Canada by the end of September. On the day I finished at least 15 other hikers completed the thru-hike including “Billy-Goat”. About a third of the hikers attempting the route manage to complete it. This is an amazing success rate, probably explained by the fact that over half the thru-hikers have previously walked the 1800-mile Appalachian Trail.

This trip was a fantastic experience. By the end I had lost a couple of inches around the waist and was getting up the hills like someone half my age. I was still getting a few aches and pains but this is inevitable on a trip such as this. The mountains the PCT traverses have unusually good weather so they give good opportunities for naturists. The hot springs on or close to the trail are all clothing-optional. In July and August the lakes are generally warm enough to swim in and in the wilderness costumes are not needed.

Please feel free to contact the author at ancientbritbrian@btinternet.com

The author has now had a guide published by Cicerone Press to the 2650-mile Pacific Crest Trail which stretches from the Mexican border to the Canadian border through California, Oregon and Washington. See http://www.cicerone....fic-crest-trail for details.]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:19:51 +0000 20d135f0f28185b84a4cf7aa51f29500 http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/ThePacificCrestTrail2000
That was four years ago; now I was about to set out on a 600-mile walk over the highest mountains, outside Alaska, in the USA. Was I as foolhardy as my family and friends thought I was?

My only real exercise in the past 7 years had been canoeing and my first mountain climb, actually a small 1,000ft hill, had been in April. Succeeding in this was all I needed to plan a major expedition. I had survived, only just, two short trips to the Scottish Highlands in May.
I was walking on my own for two reasons: firstly, with my foot condition I didn’t want to let my companions down or feel obliged to continue when I needed rest and, secondly, if any of my friends were crazy enough to come with me I’m not sure they would still be friends by the end of the trip. Have you ever shared a small tent with someone for 7 weeks?

The Pacific Crest Trail is a footpath going from the Mexican to the Canadian border keeping to the high mountains and uninhabited forests. 8 years previously I had walked the highest section over the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, and decided to repeat this trip and also include a week in the Yosemite National Park. This is a region of granite mountains scattered with sparkling blue lakes and tumbling streams rising above deep forested valleys. Despite altitudes up to 15,000ft I was expecting hot sunny weather, only interrupted by the occasional afternoon thunderstorm. Although this wasn’t primarily a naturist holiday, this trip provided ideal conditions for a naturist wilderness experience.

I spent my first week in California dropping supplies at the few road crossings on the route and walking supplies into the mountains. This included hanging supplies high in the trees to prevent bears getting at them. Even so I still had to look forward to up to 9 days between supply points which meant a pack weighing up to 50 pounds.

I started in the evening from Walker Pass on the edge of the Mojave Desert with the thermometer reading about 100°F in the shade. Unfortunately there wasn’t much shade and, despite carrying about 12 pints of water, I was pretty dehydrated by the time I reached the first almost dried up spring 24 hours later. The first week of the walk was totally deserted and clothes were only needed as protection against the sun. Camping and resting in the shade was fully naturist. Many of the streams and springs that had been running 8 years earlier were now dried up and a heavy pack was made even heavier with the weight of water carried.

After 10 days I reached the higher mountains and frequent lakes tarns and streams were a relief. Even lakes up to 11,500ft were warm enough for a chilly swim and lakes and streams lower down were positively warm. One advantage for the naturist of the permit system in U.S national parks is that even the most popular areas don’t get overcrowded and swimming and sunbathing naked was no problem. Not that anyone seemed to mind and most backpackers are too sensible to carry swimsuits because of the unnecessary weight! Looking back I saw some smoke in the area I had passed through 2 days earlier, the start of a fire destroying 100 square miles of forest and still burning 6 weeks later.

The route now went for 250 miles without meeting a road, crossing a series of high rocky passes and dropping down to wooded valleys full of streams and Lakes. The expected afternoon storms didn’t materialise and the cooler weather (70-85°F) in the High Sierra was ideal. A couple of rest days were taken at naturally occurring hot springs feeding pools at about 100°F. Even in conservative US there is a tradition of skinny-dipping at these hot springs.

Eventually I reached Yosemite where I had my first encounter with a bear. It was 3am and I was woken by a bear close to my tent. It climbed the tree my rubbish bag was hanging from and scattered the rubbish, but fortunately didn’t find my food bag.

I detoured off the Pacific Crest Trail to spend a week in Yosemite, a fantastic region of granite domes and cliffs 1000s of metres high. One night was spent bivouacking on the summit of Half Dome, a peak only reachable by climbing cables put up its easiest face.

Another couple of weeks saw me approaching Carson Pass near Lake Tahoe. After 7 weeks of almost uninterrupted sun the weather changed and I finished my walk with 4 days of rain followed by snow and a blizzard leaving me wet and cold. I certainly wasn’t equipped for this unseasonable weather.

Despite a scare or two my foot had survived the trip. When I got back home I found I had lost 1.5 stone and weighed the same as I did as a fit young man 30 years ago. Any naturist willing to rough it in the wilderness would find it hard to find a better place for a holiday. There can’t be a more spectacular mountain region where there is the expectation of warm sunny weather.

Please feel free to contact the author at ancientbritbrian@btinternet.com

The author has now had a guide published by Cicerone Press to the 2650-mile Pacific Crest Trail which stretches from the Mexican border to the Canadian border through California, Oregon and Washington. See http://www.cicerone....fic-crest-trail for details.]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:16:16 +0000 b59c67bf196a4758191e42f76670ceba http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/NakedMunros
I was basing myself in a small motor home from which I would start by day-hiking some of the summits closer to the road, but I expected to backpack most of the peaks. It may sound a bit ambitious to climb 284 peaks in one summer, but many of the peaks were grouped together and several could be climbed on one day.

I can remember lots of hot sunny days in the Scottish Highlands and I hoped to walk naked much of the time in these largely deserted mountains. I set myself the challenge of getting naked photos on as many Munro summits as I could manage.

I set off for my first summit in mid April and got wonderful weather and even wondered whether I could get naked photos on all of the summits. Then the May Bank Holiday brought me back to reality. As I was climbing Beinn a’ Beithir in Glen Coe it started snowing and by the time I reached the exposed summit the snow was blowing horizontally and I was taking such a buffeting that it was difficult to stand. No thought of a naked photo, I didn’t even manage any sort of summit photo!

This was effectively the end of summer! For the next few months I hardly saw the sun; in fact I hardly saw anything at all as the peaks were blanketed in cloud for weeks at a time. It wasn’t actually that wet, the rain was falling in England producing the worst summer floods for over 600 years, but it was cold and windy. I was often walking in four layers of clothing and there was no thought of naked hiking. I managed to get a surprising number of naked summit photos as I stripped off in the shelter of summit cairns, to dress up again immediately I had taken the photos.

I was waiting for the first spell of good weather to go to Skye. The rocky ridges of the Cuillin hills require continuous, often difficult, scrambling to reach any of the summits. Inaccessible Pinnacle, the summit of Sgurr Dearg, even requires a rock climb to reach the summit of the pinnacle followed by an abseil to get off. They aren’t peaks to climb in wet windy weather and navigation is very difficult in thick mist. May, June and July went by without a spell of settled weather and by mid August I decided I had to head for Skye anyway and I did get a few days of reasonable weather, intermingled with days of rain and wind when I was cowering in my van.

Perhaps it was fitting that my final Munro, Carn Aosda, was completed in a blizzard on 20^th September. I had completed the Munros and tops and I’d even managed to get naked pictures on about 140 Munros. My hopes of naked hiking and living naked in the wilderness were dashed by the weather, but I felt I had achieved something completing my challenge in one of the coldest, dullest and windiest summers on record.

I hope I haven’t given you the impression that the Scottish Highlands haven’t anything to offer the naturist. I can remember long periods of living and hiking naked in this magnificent wilderness. I just picked the wrong year!

Please feel free to contact the author at ancientbritbrian@btinternet.com]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:11:01 +0000 2cbca44843a864533ec05b321ae1f9d1 http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/ViaDeLaPlata
The main purpose of the trip was to check out the Cicerone guidebook to the route and rather than doing a continuous hike I was going to stay in my campervan and day-hike sections, returning to my van by bicycle. The Via de la Plata mainly follows farm tracks with some road sections which I was going to cycle.

The laws on nudity in Spain are much clearer than in Britain, police have been disciplined for asking naturists to dress and I going to put the laws and my confidence to a test I’d not contemplated before by attempting to hike all the off-road sections naked. I’ve frequently walked naked before, but mainly in wilderness areas where I see very few people and I have usually covered up when approaching others. There’s always been the possibility of surprise encounters, but generally interaction with the public has been limited. This time I intended hike naked and remain naked, subject to weather conditions, whenever I was off paved roads.

After the long drive from the ferry port of Bilbao, I arrived on the outskirts of Seville in the evening and got the first city section out of the way so I could start hiking naked in the morning.

After cycling to my start point, I secured the bike and immediately stripped off and set off on a broad track through undulating farmland. I was soon encountering people as a couple and then a young man on bikes greeted me as they cycled by. When I got to the ford over a minor river three walkers and two cyclists had just finished crossing and were cleaning up/ drying up as I arrived. I was quite pleased to have an early encounter to test my resolve to remain naked and act as if it was perfectly natural (It is, isn‘t it!!). One of the cyclists took a couple of pictures of me before asking if I minded! Once they discovered I spoke English we had a friendly chat. They were actually two groups of Germans. I dressed to walk through the town of Guillena before stripping when I reached the Rio Rivera de Huelva. There was plenty of laughter from the boys in a group who were picnicking with their fathers as I followed the river bank and then quiet tracks back to my van. I was pleased that I’d had the confidence to complete my first day of naked hiking incident.

The walk continued much the same way for a couple of weeks while the good weather lasted. The terrain wasn’t particularly interesting there were plenty of religious artifacts on route, as well as the Roman remains that were a major feature on the southern half of the route. It was April and there weren’t a great number of walkers on the route, but plenty of farm workers in old vans, motorbikes or tractors and a scattering of cyclists. The route is popular with cyclists as the route is relatively flat and the farm tracks are easy to cycle on a trail bike.

I won’t try and give a day by day report on the hike, but just pick out a few of the more interesting incidents.

In some ways the main interest was the reaction of those I met while hiking naked. This can be broken into several groups; a majority greeted me normally, as passing strangers would do and a small minority would ignore me as if I didn’t exist. A small number, mainly teenage girls, would start giggling and some of the older women would pretend not to look, while it was obvious that they were having a good stare. Conversation was often limited by language problems as I don’t speak any Spanish. I only had one (mild) adverse reaction on the whole of the hike and that was from a Dutch gentleman; I was having a friendly chat with his wife and he waved me away. (I don’t think he spoke English).

The hiking was mainly was along farm tracks which took me past a number of farms. Early on the trail passed through the farmyard with the farmer’s wife out in the yard as well as a couple of men in a car and a little further along an old farmer. This is the sort of situation in the past where I would have put shorts on when hiking naked, but I was on this occasion I just carried on through. The occupants of the farmyard had a good look, but appeared more curious than concerned.

The Via de la Plata was paralleling the N630, a former trunk road but now mainly carrying local traffic as it had been superseded by the A66. At times the trail was very close to both these roads. A couple of quotes from my diaries give a feeling for these sections:

• “In a couple of places the trail dropped down to go beside the crash barrier on the N630."
  
• “After following the trail parallel to and about 20m from the N630, I had to cross the N630 and walk about 100m along the hard shoulder, during which time 2 motorbikes passed. Then there was a small path usually within 5m of the N630 and often right next to it where I was going to be seen by any vehicle coming down the road. When the N630 disappeared under the A66 I dropped down to a small tarmac road and I walked along that as it first deteriorated and then turned into a gravel road by the time I reached my car. Only 2 cars passed as I was walking this road, but I was visible throughout from the A66 motorway which it was running alongside.”
  
• “For about 4km the trail followed parallel to the N630, initially about 20m away with some bushes for cover, but then less than 5m from the N630 with no cover of any sort! The N630 isn’t particularly busy, but today there seemed a huge number of motorcyclists heading north and I certainly got some honking of horns and some waves from some of them. The nervous moment was when I didn’t see a police car (Guardia Civile) came up behind, but it carried on up the road without any obvious reduction in speed.”
  
• “This was another section close to the N630 for 6km, varying between about 5m and 100m and at times I was clearly visible from the road, and I also had to cross the road twice. In fact a police car sped by when I was only about 5m from the road. ”

After two weeks of glorious weather, it got really cold, with periods of rain and even snow in the mountains, so I wasn’t able to hike naked. During this time I cycled as much as possible, often on tracks which were rather muddy for the road bike I was using.

As I got further north there was a change in the nature of the walking. Apart from getting hillier, the walking was increasingly along very quiet minor roads and through little villages or hamlets. I stretched my limit a little and occasionally walked naked along a minor tarmac roads and even apparently deserted hamlets. A few quotes from my diary will give a feel for walking in this section.

• “With the scarcity of people I was getting more daring on the places I was hiking naked, I walked for 3km along minor tarmac roads and naked through the hamlets of Valdemerilla and Remesal. For the next couple of days I continued walking naked along minor tarmac roads and through little villages. By now I’d got confident in walking naked and the occasional meeting with walkers and others didn’t cause me any concern”
  
• “It was still extremely hot in the evening and I again walked naked, but this was much more exposed than my walking over the past week. The walking was, mainly on tarmac or dirt roads going past lots of houses with many people in gardens enjoying evening sun, finishing with about 3km along tarmac roads, all busier than normal. While I was passing a family gathering in a garden, two teenage boys spotted me and got their bikes out and rode past me and back to get a better view! At another point I passed a parked car which I thought was unoccupied until I was right up to it and saw 2 ladies. Later they drove past and when I was stopped at a junction to check my map they stopped to give me directions! No mention of the fact that I was naked at the time!”

This walk was very different from the wilderness walking that I was accustomed to but again showed the general acceptance of nudity among the public.

Please feel free to contact the author at ancientbritbrian@btinternet.com]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:06:09 +0000 8f1d43620bc6bb580df6e80b0dc05c48 http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/WildernessNaturism
I certainly didn’t consider myself a naturist when I started mountain walking in the hot summers of 1975/6 and often stripped off to swim in mountain tarns, cool off in streams and didn’t bother to wear clothes when camping in remote mountain areas. I even became daring enough to walk naked on
occasions. Normally I was on my own, but like most mountaineers I never carried a swimming costume and occasionally swam when other people were present. In the wilderness almost as many people went swimming naked as used costumes.

I was only an occasional naturist until about 10 years ago, when a foot injury stopped me from orienteering and mountaineering, and I took up canoeing. I bought myself a Canadian (open) canoe and started going on multi-day canoe tours, mainly in Sweden. Sweden is a land of lakes and rivers and is ideal for long-distance canoeing. There is a much more relaxed attitude to nudity than in Britain and when canoeing you often see people swimming or sunbathing naked. There is usually plenty of hot weather in summer and the water temperature was often 20-25ºC. There are many bathing places on the lakes, often with swimming jetties and sometimes with diving platforms. Initially I tended only to swim at those that were deserted, but as my confidence grew I asked people present if they minded me swimming naked and found that very few minded and often followed my example. Being brought up with the British “not in front of the children” attitude I was surprised to find that families with children rarely minded me swimming naked. In the hot weather I often paddled naked, just covering up with a towel when necessary. It was often possible to be naked when camping in the wilderness.

When I was younger I occasionally went running naked in the New Forest as part of my orienteering training and now occasionally go for a naked walk there. It is surprising how few people you meet when walking midweek, even in a popular National Park such as the New Forest as most visitors stay close to the car park.

There has been a tradition of skinny-dipping in the wilderness going back centuries and it would be a pity if this tradition was lost by modern materialistic society. Man is getting separated from his roots in the wilderness and it would be great if “returning to the wild” included a shedding of the artificial constraints of society.

Please feel free to contact the author at ancientbritbrian@btinternet.com]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:59:04 +0000 b9d487a30398d42ecff55c228ed5652b http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/NaturismAPersonalView
With the development of ‘civilization’, clothes were more widely worn, mainly because the population pressures drove people away from the equatorial regions. However most of these societies still saw nudity as perfectly acceptable. In Greece for instance the competitors in the ancient Olympic Games performed naked. This would have been sensible since clothes would only have hampered the competitors.

In Britain the climate is such that clothes need to worn most of the time for protection against the weather. However, British and American societies, greatly influenced by the Church, have developed a phobia about nudity. This has been accentuated by the association of nudity with sex. In recent years, there has also been an unjustified association in some parts of the media of nudity with child abuse.

• Let’s look three situations where the wearing of clothes doesn’t make any sort of sense.Swimming. In historical terms, the swimming costume is a very recent invention. It serves no useful purpose in terms of the swimming and the main beneficiary from the introduction of swimming costumes has been the manufacturers who make vast profits from sales of increasingly skimpy costumes, which are often much more sexually provocative than the naked body.
  
  
• Spas, saunas, jacuzzi, communal baths. In Germany a sauna where there is a requirement to wear clothes is known as an “English Sauna”. In Northern Europe the wearing of clothes in a sauna or jacuzzi would be thought of as ridiculous, but it is insisted upon in most pools, spas and hotels in Britain. Even more ridiculous is the move towards some public swimming pools to insist that swimmers wear their costumes when taking showers before and after swimming, even in single sex changing rooms.
  
  
• Taking rigorous physical exercise in warm weather: When you watch marathon runners, running in hot weather, such as in the Olympics in Greece, you will notice that the runners wear as little clothing as the rules permit. Clothes make running uncomfortable and make it difficult for the body to avoid overheating. Anyone who has run naked will appreciate the advantages in keeping the body cool. When clothing gets saturated with sweat it becomes uncomfortable and can lead to chafing in the groin area which can get bad enough to be incapacitating. When you see hikers (male only?) removing their shirts because it is too hot you wonder whether they wouldn’t in fact be more comfortable removing their shorts or trousers as well.

Over the years I have come to the conclusion that suitable clothing should be worn for activities and that if the suitable clothing is not to wear any then that is what should be done.

Surveys have suggested that a significant minority of the population have practised naturism (mainly on foreign beaches) and that a large majority would have no objection to seeing others who are naked in appropriate circumstances. The surveys are backed up by observations at events such as the World Naked Bike Rides where crowds seem to appreciate the riders.

It is my opinion that non-sexual nudity should be seen as acceptable in all beaches and wilderness areas. As a long term aim I cannot see any good reason why non-sexual nudity shouldn’t be accepted in public swimming pools, saunas, city parks. Since there is no law stating that it is illegal to be naked in a public place in England and Wales, a change in the law wouldn’t be needed, but there would need to be a change in the attitudes of the police and others in authority.

Please feel free to contact the author at ancientbritbrian@btinternet.com]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:49:32 +0000 e58cc5ca94270acaceed13bc82dfedf7 http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/travel-and-holidays/talesofancientbrit/the-making-of-a-naturist-r106
I wasn't until after I left University that I actually saw my first naked lady in the flesh! This may sound surprising to the modern youngster, but this was still in the days when for many people 'sex before marriage' wasn't acceptable. This first experience of a naked lady was actually at the theatre when there was a production of the Peter Shaffer play "Equus" at the Salisbury Playhouse. Nudity on the stage was very unusual at the time and in this play the leading girl and boy are both naked for a considerable time. Appearing naked in public would have been much more daunting then than it is nowadays.

It was in 1975 that I started mountaineering seriously and the long hot summers of 1975 and 1976 gave opportunities for skinny-dipping in mountain tarns and streams, particularly in the Scottish Highlands.
In 1976 I'd started Orienteering and it was at a 6-day Orienteering event in Switzerland in 1978 that I got my first experience of public nudity. On some days they provided segregated outdoor showers for use after running, but provided little changing space in the shower enclosures so many of the people of either sex dried and changed outside the enclosures. On other days showers weren't provided so people stripped off and washed in the stream. This was thefirst time I was naked outdoors in public. In fact a couple of times on later orienteering trips to Switzerland, they used school facilities for showering and since there was only one set of showers they took the sensible action of making them mixed with men women and children using them naked.

Later that summer I got my first experience of a naturist beach in the South of France, but I have never spent much time on beaches as I find it boring with nothing to do.

I was a teacher and over the next 15 years my school holidays were divided between orienteering and mountaineering. I was frequently away with pupils, so naturist opportunities were a little limited but I did a lot of solo trips in theScottish Highlands when I would take advantage of the isolation to live naked as often as allowed by the weather. Occasionally I was able to hike naked but the weather in the Scottish mountains isn't ideal for a naturist. I was training for orienteering and occasionally went running naked in the New Forest. Although I did occasionally visit a naturist beach en route to orienteering events or the mountains, most of my naturism was in the solitude of the wilderness.

As a teacher I was unsure as to how much I could sensibly be seen naked by my pupils however I saw no problem sharing the communal showers often provided at orienteering events. In 1980, I was on an orienteering and mountaineering trip to Sweden and Norway with three of my 15 year-old pupils. One night we slept in the changing hut on one of the small lakeside beaches. However, I got up before them and went naked when I went for an early morning swim. They spotted what I was doing and I was surprised when one of them stripped off and joined me, diving unashamedly from the pontoon at the beach; unusual for a teenage boy.

I did a number of orienteering trips to Sweden in the 1980s where I discovered a more open attitude to nudity than in Britain and I was often naked in front of strangers. I passed through Denmark on several of these trips. Nudity is actually legal on almost all Danish beaches. I was often limited by having pupils with me on these trips. In 1983, rather than a school group I had three members of my SW Junior Orienteering Squad, including one girl, with me when we bivouacked on a Danish beach on the way to Sweden. Again I went for an early morning swim while the kids were still asleep. However it wasn't long before they joined me. Although they wouldn't have considered skinny-dipping themselves my nudity didn't seem to concern them in the slightest.

I was beginning to realise that while most people are embarrassed by the idea of being naked in front of others, they have no problem with others being naked in their presence. Being a teacher I was in a difficult position, but I was gradually becoming more confident in being seen naked by pupils in appropriate circumstances.

As a foot injury reduced the amount of orienteering that I could do and I spent more time on long distance hikes This included backpacking the High Level Route from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean in the Pyrenees the Alta Via I and II in the dolomites and a 600-mile section of the Pacific Crest Trail in California. Hiking in these more southerly mountain areas gave much greater opportunities for walking and living naked than in the Scottish Highlands!

Eventually the foot injury forced me to retire from orienteering and eventually to give up walking as well. I was looking for ways to get some exercise and to get out into the wilderness. I thought of canoeing and purchased both a kayak and a 12 foot open canoe. I wasn't a competent swimmer but was lucky enough to have access to the secluded school outdoor swimming pool in evenings and weekend and I spent a lot of naked hours in the pool teaching myself to dive into the water and be confident under the water as this would be necessary if I was to canoe safely.

My first Canoe outings were in Poole Harbour. I soon discovered that in calm conditions my canoe was very stable and I could manage without the life-jacket and I was soon canoeing naked.

Over the next few years I spent a lot of time canoe-camping in Sweden. I probably hadn’t fully got over my childhood shyness but an incident while canoeing in Sweden certainly gave me a different insight into how nudity is seen by others. I was swimming naked from a pontoon at a remote spot in Sweden. A lady who was at some boats over 100m away spotted me. No problem, but she then called her two teenage daughters and they walked over to the pontoon and they sat around in a circle around my pile of clothes. I swam for a bit longer than I had intended, but I'm not a good swimmer so I had to get out of the water and walk, totally naked, right up to the mother and girls.

It was a bit embarrassing, but I carried on as if it was perfectly normal and I was soon chatting with them; I don't think there was ever a mention of the fact that I was totally naked in front of them.
After this I was much more willing to be naked in front of strangers. There are a multitude of small bathing places on the lakes and rivers of Sweden and if someone was there before me I just asked if they minded me swimming naked. I reckon about 95% of the time there was no objection, and families seemed to have no problem with me being naked in front of their children. I’m still a little shy and found this was a good way of getting chatting with the locals.

My foot injury eventually got bad enough for me to be forced to take early retirement from teaching, but after a few years of rest I recovered and was able to return mountain walking. In 2002 I made a successful attempt on the 2700-mile Pacific Crest Trail, which follows the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains from the Mexican to the Canadian border through California, Oregon and Washington. Along the way I discovered a number of hot springs where nudity seemed to be the rule, rather than the exception. This was where I got the trail name “Ancient Brit”. Over the next 10 years I’ve spent my summers in the wilderness, mainly walking the Pacific Crest Trail, in the Scottish mountains or Spain, or canoeing in Sweden, being naked whenever weather and circumstances allow.

Although I have occasionally visited official naturist beaches and very occasionally a naturist club, these don’t really appeal to me because I prefer to be active and don’t really think of naturism as an activity in its own right, but that it is sensible to be naked when living and being active in warm conditions.

In the last couple of years I’ve taken part in a number of World Naked Bike Ride events. It is interesting to see how enthusiastic bystanders are to applaud and support cyclists riding naked through crowded city centres in cities such as London.]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:42:02 +0000 c9f95a0a5af052bffce5c89917335f67 http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/big-days-out/mind-body-and-spirit-naturist-weekend-r105
Camp or stay in the house from the 1^st to the 8^th July 2012. The main activities will commence on Thursday these will include - Yoga, life coaching, Tantric Massage and much more. Evening entertainment with the use of the sauna and hot tub also included. A bonfire and Hog Roast with music over the weekend is also planned. There is no bar, you will need to bring your own.

Price for the full week from Sun the 1^st July - includes all food and tea and coffee but not drinks.
£240 Camping
£360 for Shared accommodation
£420 for en-suite private room (these rooms are limited and would be for a couple)

Price for the weekend is from Thurs to Sun - includes all food and tea and coffee but not drinks
£120 for camping
£180 for shared accommodation
£210 for en-suite private room (these rooms are limited and would be for a couple)

If you would like to self cater the price is £65 for 3 days and £130 for the 7 days.

Booking is open now via the Earth Spirit Centre website

www.earthspirit-centre.co.uk

EarthSpirit Centre, Dundon, Somerton Somerset, TA11 6PE, UK
Email: office@earthspirit-centre.co.uk - Skype: earthspiritcentre
Tel: +44 (0)1458 272161 Fax: +44 (0)1458 273796]]> Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:58:56 +0000 af21d0c97db2e27e13572cbf59eb343d http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/big-days-out/nudestock-2012-r104 Friday 1st – Sunday 10th JUNE 2012

You are once again invited to enjoy a full 10 days of organised naturist events at Candy Farm Camp Site, organised by BN Yorkshire Region. All BN and Non-BN members are most welcome, there will be a small supplement charge to Non-BN Members of £2 per night, refundable if you join BN
during the week.

There are few opportunities for non-club naturists to meet and socialise with others of a like mind and the success of Alton Towers, the Blackpool weekend, Nude-Fest, the Midsummer Garden Party at the Arboretum at Castle Howard and Nude-Stock all point to the demand for such opportunities. There will be a full range of events with which to join in or merely relax and enjoy the peace and quiet in the company of naturist friends old and new.

Please see the attached flyer for more information and a booking form.

 Nudestock_2012_flyer.pdf   65.25K   985 downloads]]> Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:52:24 +0000 4da04049a062f5adfe81b67dd755cecc http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/big-days-out/alton-towers/the-sixth-bn-alton-towers-naturist-weekend-2011-r101 AT weekend is a roaring success

This year's weekend was one of the best we have ever staged, with mild weather even allowing for some nudity outside; last year’s favourites, Trident, again delighting the audience on Friday evening and the Saturday disco being described by some as ‘the best yet’ – and that’s saying something!

Full report to be posted here soon!]]> Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:16:06 +0000 c6bff625bdb0393992c9d4db0c6bbe45 http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/big-days-out/our-first-blackpool-weekend-at-the-bond-hotel-2010-r82 Warrillow.

So it was that a chance meeting at the INF swimming gala at Rugby in November between BN officials and a group of hotel owners resulted in
over 100 members arriving in the seaside town one sunny Friday afternoon in February for the first British Naturism Blackpool weekend.

The event was organised by the Bond Hotel and Blackpool and Fylde Sun Club, with the support and participation of BN nationally. Bond Holidays offered exclusive use of their hotel near Blackpool Pleasure Beach, while the weekend also included a Saturday night session at The Sandcastle, the biggest waterpark in Europe. Remarkably, given that the event was not even being considered when the winter 2009 edition of BN Magazine was being
prepared, and so had almost no publicity except via the BN website/forum and ezine, the hotel completely sold out. If you are relying only on the magazine to keep you informed these days, you may be missing out!

Local radio station Wave FM attended and mentioned the event throughout the weekend, while the Blackpool Gazette devoted a page to it which was almost wholly positive. A packed programme included a talk by BN vice-chairman Steve Allott on the work of the Marine Conservation Society, one of the BN President’s charities, a walking tour of Blackpool and some good old-fashioned cabaret, starring singers Nicole Jordan and Charlie.]]> Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:11:18 +0000 4c5bde74a8f110656874902f07378009 http://www.bn.org.uk/articles.php/_/activities/big-days-out/a-wet-weekend-in-blackpool-2011-r81 Sometimes, however, the turn of events takes even me by surprise. Take, for instance, the Saturday afternoon of the second BN Blackpool naturist weekend in February.

As one of my other passions is real ale, I’d been looking forward to this trip ever since a visit to the Lytham Brewery was put on the schedule. Lytham is a relatively new and impressive micro-brewery, housed on an industrial estate a few miles outside Blackpool. But being in a unit on an industrial estate and for the purposes of keeping real beer at a good temperature, it’s...cold, shall we say? And some of the 30-plus party of ale-loving naturists, those stopping at the Bond Hotel in St. Annes, hadn’t had time to go to our hotel that lunchtime to collect an extra layer of clothing. So the tracksuits and t-shirts that had sufficed when we left the Bond’s sister hotel in Blackpool weren’t quite enough. And the generous owners of the brewery were supplying copious samples – and beer, especially when you’ve had nothing to eat and are feeling cold anyway, makes you feel colder.

It’s no criticism of the brewery and its staff when I say that Mrs. W. and I were quite glad to get back on the bus – admittedly refreshed and highly impressed with the welcome and the ale, but rather in need of warmth.

So when we got back to St. Anne’s and the wonderful lady on reception asked if we and the couple we had befriended the previous evening would like to warm up in their hydrotherapy pool in the basement, we did not need asking twice. Just a few minutes after returning to the hotel, we were soaking in absolute peace and quiet in a magnificent plunge pool that was big enough for eight or ten people, never mind the two naked couples who relaxed in it for the next 45 minutes. From the ridiculous to the sublime, indeed.

‘Sublime’ just about sums up the rest of a weekend that was hugely successful for the Bond hotels, for Blackpool & Fylde Sun Club, who do a lot of the spadework for the event, and for British Naturism as well.

The two nights of cabaret went superbly well, with singers Charlie and Carl Long and comedian John Paul providing great entertainment. It was young Carl’s first experience of performing to a nude audience, but he took to the Saturday night spotlight with great gusto, showing no signs of nerves and even having his photo taken (clothed!) in front of scores of happy dancing naturists at the end of the night. The enjoyment proved so infectious that some of the Bond staff, who always do a wonderful job, decided to join in the nude atmosphere at the end of the show. Charlie and John Paul, veterans of last year’s event, had just as much fun with John Paul winding up the audience (including Mrs. W., once he discovered that they share Irish roots) and Charlie keeping the Friday-night crowd singing.

Talking of getting involved, our three hour invasion of the Sandcastle, Blackpool’s giant indoor waterpark, ended with the 20 lifeguards present lining up in the front row of the traditional nude group shot, then flinging themselves fully-clothed into the water. Although the cheering crowd of guests couldn’t persuade them to get nude, at least one has been in touch with BN since then and, hopefully, we’ve lit a spark for a new young generation of naturists on the North-West coast!

What else was there in a packed weekend programme? Aerobics sessions, photography and media workshops, dance sessions, a pub quiz, the ever-popular Mi- Tunes – don’t say that we don’t cram a lot into these two-and-a-half days!

Plans are already being made for the third BN Blackpool weekend and so warmly have we been welcomed at the first two that if you haven’t yet visited, I urge you to do so. Discussions are going on about how to tweak and improve the schedule, so it should be a great weekend – just as this was, real ale or otherwise.]]> Sat, 07 Jan 2012 12:57:37 +0000 fc221309746013ac554571fbd180e1c8