A CO Walk and Abbey House Gardens - by Milfmog
CO Walk
I recently joined the Somerset Strolling Bears (aka SSB), lead by Running, for a walk on Exmoor in southwest England. SSB walks vary in length and nature to suit the walkers who attend; distance could be up to a dozen miles and the routes can vary from flat to “who put that blasted mountain in the way”. This walk was to start near Dunkery Beacon, the highest point on Exmoor so there was obviously the potential for more up and down stuff than I usually do. The weather forecast was excellent, 15 to 16C (approx 60F) with light winds and bright sunshine, near perfect walking conditions. Taz (my dog, a cross best described as 50% Labrador, 50% Boxer and 100% stupid) and I left home at about 6:30 to make sure we arrived in time for the scheduled start at 10:30. AutoRoute reckoned it would take me three hours to get there but, given that I would be driving through the morning rush hour, I decided to allow some extra time. It was just as well that I did as after one short stop, so that Taz could have a comfort break and I could buy a coffee, we arrived with around ten minutes to spare. Running Bear was already there, as were a couple of others. By the time we left there were eight walkers with a total of 18 feet between us. (For those struggling with the arithmetic, that’s seven people and one dog.) Running Bear had chosen a route that started of by climbing up a narrow valley with a stream running along the bottom and numerous low branches overhanging. This had the merit that we could get rid of clothes almost as soon as we left the road but the downside was that I could have done with a machete to hack my way through. Low branches forced me to duck and occasionally go on hands and knees until we left the stream a few minutes later, rather warmer than when we’d set out We now found ourselves on a reasonable track with no one in sight and the last hesitant few disrobed and stuffed clothes in backpacks.
The warm sun on skin and the light breeze were wonderful and the happy band set off, dog leading the way, followed by a group of four and then the group of three containing dog’s owner; it’s always good to know that Taz worries about me…
After fifteen minutes or so we had our first textile alert. A couple of walkers had been seen on another path; so shorts, sarongs etc went on to avoid any risk of offence. To be honest, had I been on my own I would probably not have covered up; at that distance I doubt whether they could have seen us well enough to know how we were dressed. However when I walk with others I tend to take my cues from the group as a whole so I wrapped up like the rest.
After a few minutes the visible world was all ours again and cover-ups were removed once more. This pattern of walking, mostly naked with occasional coverup’s for distant textiles, proved to be the norm for the day and most walkers carried their chosen cover in their hands for easy access. I was feeling like a well loaded pack donkey with a relatively full back pack (I had to carry water and food for Taz as well as for myself and also had a small first aid kit, spare clothes, a flask of hot drink and a couple of travel towels just in case) plus my small camera bag was hung around my neck with Taz’s wander lead on my pack harness for easy access. I decided to tuck my wrap on the harness too. I had a funny feeling that I would end up with a curiously patchy sun tan after the day…
Our route took us further onto the moor and down the edge of a typical Exmoor valley. The picture above gives a good idea of how open the scenery was. Despite this there were some minor roads across the moor and some care was required to avoid disturbing the natives. Running Bear, being the considerate walk leader that he is, even provided for comfort stops as required:
(For some reason Running Bare called me a Tit for taking that picture... I was only trying to demonstrate how he caters for our welfare )
After an hour or so, shortly after crossing a road, we stopped by a stand of trees for a late second breakfast or maybe an early first lunch. Whatever the meal was, Taz decided to practise his begging technique on anyone daft enough to look at him and I reckon he probably left the stop several kilos heavier than he arrived.
After a short stop and an impromptu yoga demonstration (pictured elsewhere on the forum) we continued. A small herd of deer trotted away from us as we crested one rise, unfortunately just too far ahead for me to photograph them. We covered up again for a road junction and then dropped down into the valley to cross a stream and climb back up the other side towards Dunkery Beacon itself.
The next stretch proved to be the longest climb of the day as we headed up to the cairn on top of Dunkery Hill. There was rather more puffing going on during this climb and we stopped several times (just to admire the view, you understand) before deciding on a second munchies stop a hundred feet or so below the summit. Although we had seen a few textiles during the climb they were judged to be far enough away that most of us stayed properly dressed. However, the hill top itself is something of a draw for walkers and so a textile alert was passed back and everyone covered up once again before we got to the top. I took a picture of the cairn (just to prove that I got there) and we then dropped back down the main track to the car park.
In all, I guess we were out for about three and a half hours of which we were naked for about three hours. We’d walked about six miles, which was plenty for a couple of the walkers to be sure they would feel it the next day. The offer of a coffee made by one of the walkers (who’d come in a camper van) was gratefully accepted. Unfortunately with several scotch eggs, pork pies and a pasty sitting heavily in my digestive tract I was forced to decline the very tempting offer of a bacon sandwich.
All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable day and I can only hope that the SOC walks I hope to go on are half as good. Many thanks again to Running Bear for making this happen and if you fancy a good naked stroll sometime I recommend you to consider joining the SSBs, you’ll be more than welcome.
Have fun (I did),
Ian.
Abbey House Gardens
Abbey house gardens clothing optional day 1 June 2008 I was debating whether I would go to the clothing optional day at Abbey House Gardens on Sunday 1 June right up to the morning of the day itself. As those who know me are aware, temperature does not bother me much so I was really only concerned about the prospect of driving 170 mile round trip just to stand in the rain. On the day the forecast was not too bad (40% chance of rain and 18C) so I went for it and am very glad that I did. I took about 90 pictures on the day, which I have cut down to about 50 by binning the rubbish. I have placed 42 of them in a Flickr album. Anyone with too much time on their hands is welcome to browse them, you’re fairly safe, I forgot my tripod so there are no pictures of me . Although there was some "falling mist" as I was driving down, we did not actually have any rain while I was at AHG, however you will see that some of the pictures of flowers clearly show water droplets as the air was not dry enough for them to evaporate during the time I was there.
I parked at Malmesbury at about 11:45 and walked up the steps to the garden entrance. This took me across the public footbridge that can be seen in a couple of the pictures.
I was a little disappointed that I did not see any unclad bodies when I looked from the bridge and started to wonder whether I had made a good decision by driving down. On arrival at the garden entrance the signs were up to advise visitors that it was a clothing optional day, I paid my £6.50 and went straight to the belvedere to get rid of my clothes. As I walked in I was greeted by a cheerful “Here comes trouble” from under a blue Peng Travel baseball cap; I’d found Pete Knight and just behind him was our resident strolling bear, Graham. There were a few other faces I recognised wandering around as well though I could not attach names to the majority of them. After a short chat I wandered off towards the bottom of the garden, pleased to see that there were other nudies around, I think I’d have felt a bit daft as the only one. I was wearing a pair of crocs to deal with the bits that hurt my feet but spent most of the day carrying them around and enjoying the textures underfoot. At the bottom of the hill I found a wonderful moss covered tree that grew almost horizontally over the river before curving upwards. I could not resist climbing onto the trunk and walking out along it above the water. The gardens are overlooked from public areas in several places, a couple of late teenagers or early twenties were hanging around on bikes for a while, looking for good looking women? They must have been really disappointed when I turned up at eyelevel having climbed the irresistible moss covered tree… I have to say that although they were hanging around for a while they were not in any way troublesome, threatening or off putting.
I walked across the river on the stepping stones barefoot. The combination of hard, rough rock, slippery moss & weeds and cool flowing water soothing my feet was an experience I would not have wanted to miss. It was such a shame to see so many naturists wearing shoes or sandals to cross the river. My crocs proved to be an excellent choice for naturist footwear, they are comfortable when worn and very light and so unobtrusive to carry when barefoot is a sensible choice. After fording the river I checked my watch and then hurried back up to the belvedere to find Graham and join his proposed yoga tryout. Unfortunately that was a memory failure on my part, the yoga had been scheduled for 12:30 so I was too late, sorry Graham. After another wander around the lower garden I stopped and munched my sandwiches (bought at the supermarket by the long stay carpark (free on Sundays) and drank a cup of tea from the café by the fish pool. I took photographs for a couple of people who tapped me on the shoulder and should really have asked them to return the favour but for some reason the thought never ever occurred to me. The laburnum tunnel proved to be a very popular backdrop for portraits.
About three quarters of the people I saw initially were clothed but I have to say it was not a warm, sunny day so some of them may well have been naturists of a more delicate constitution than myself. The thing that really gave me a warm glow, however, was that there were clothed people, some with fairly young children, who were happily mixing with the naturists with no apparent concerns at all. Although the proportion of naked people increased throughout the day (by mid afternoon I’d guess that the proportions were reversed) the comfortable mix of textiles and naturists continued to impress and delight me.
As well as meeting a number of faces I’d seen before and some new naturist friends, I had one quite long conversation with a rather prim looking grandmother who commented that she thought it was lovely that everyone just mixed together irrespective of how they were dressed. I got the distinct impression that she’d like to try naturism sometime but was not quite brave enough to do it there and then. The temperature was about 15C (59F) when I arrived and rose a couple of degrees C during the afternoon. This proved to be very comfortable for walking around and felt really good. I was out and about naked for about 4 hours including a stop for a cup of tea and a sandwich and several lengthy chats but never felt even slightly cold. That actually surprised me a little as I usually reckon that the reason I stay warm when I'm out and about is that I'm active, usually walking fairly briskly. I had to leave around 4pm as I was under orders to be home before friends came around for dinner. Even as I was leaving other people were coming into the gardens, I was jealous, I wanted to stay... I will go back to AHG, maybe the sun will shine then (and maybe not) but the gardens change dramatically with the seasons so it never feels like going back to the same place. If any of you are able to make it, the gardens really are a fabulous place for a day out.
Hope I’ve not bored you all to death.
Have fun,
Ian.