Messages

1

Free Range Naturism / Re: Doncaster, England and old gravel pits

« on: September 14, 2018, 03:59:00 PM »

Finding a place to wild swim is often down to luck, but as more and more folk are getting the bug there are more and more books and websites. This is especially true in the UK. Places my parents took me to 50 years ago when few folk ventured off the beaten track are not the quiet secluded places they were. Where once you could properly skinny dip and any company that happened to turn up would likewise skinny dip, these days folk tend to don costumes. Even worse is the costumed person with a disposable bbq.

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Free Range Naturism / Re: Doncaster, England and old gravel pits

« on: September 14, 2018, 03:44:52 PM »

I forgot the picture.

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Free Range Naturism / Re: Caving

« on: September 14, 2018, 03:33:55 PM »

Many caves are dusty, but in the UK we have lots of wet caves with active waterways that wash any mud away. These are mainly in our more hilly areas where the water is pretty clean and bacteria levels are very low and rarely dangerous. Claustrophobia is a personal thing, but is not an issue for me. Having no one to hear you can be exciting, but at the same time no noise of aircraft or distant traffic. Modern head torches are brilliant and I always carry a spare. Turning off the light can be fun. We don't get snakes in caves in the UK and if you keep to a streamway you can't really get lost. Because there is no natural light the rocks are not at all slippy. For me it is the freedom and that back to basics that exploring naked gives one. Obviously it is an occasional activity as I do prefer to be in the open air.

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Free Range Naturism / Doncaster, England and old gravel pits

« on: September 10, 2018, 08:37:44 PM »

Many naturists are also skinny dippers and enjoy wild swimming. There is little more refreshing than a swim in a river, pond or lake after a day of activity.
My parents used to take me camping when I was a kid and my dad always thought a good cold water wash in a beck was a great start to the day. At the time I was not as keen as the water always felt cold (I was a skinny wimp – possibly and probably) and very few camp sites had hot water. Hot showers were a rarity. I much preferred a river dip after a day of activity when my body temperature was high.
I was (from 7) also a keen canoeist, but that would be kayaking these days, so I always had confidence with water and like my grandma had learnt to swim at the same time as learning to walk. I believe that all kids should be taught how to cope with water as it is like learning to cross a road. Swimming or water confidence is a lifesaving thing and not just a fun thing. Knowing how to cross a road is a lifesaving thing and who the heck would just do that for fun?
Wild swimming is something I took up in later life when I reached my late teens, but is something I still do as the urge to enter water is so strong. The freedom of floating and drifting is something thousands and perhaps millions of folk enjoy every day in the UK (and beyond). On my wild swims I usually take a face mask as the delights of what you can see under the water are worth the extra weight, even on a walk of 60miles.
But I had and have a belief that such should be enjoyed as close to being in a natural state as possible. When I visit a site for the first time or after a long time my priority is knowing what is underfoot, so I always wear something on my feet. Idiots may have visited a great spot and left broken bottles or thrown their disposable barbeque with rusting metal spikes into the water. I have had to remove a metal spike from a person’s foot and that spike went through the soft bits and emerged on the far side. Fortunately that happened once and most sites are safe, but I like to be sure. So when I wild swim I choose to be in a natural state, that is, naked with perhaps just my footwear. There are no fish in the UK that enter the urethra, unlike some tropical catfish that then grow to the size of apples. The UK is safe for proper skinny dipping.
So where is this leading me to? Well to cut my tale short………..there is a nudist campsite nearby in Doncaster called Candy Farm and it has the best wild swimming place I know. But users of that campsite rarely go as it is a walk of a few miles over open terrain. That open terrain is so rarely used there is hardly a person to be seen.  I cycle around there and only once met someone and he objected to me riding my bike.

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Free Range Naturism / Caving

« on: September 10, 2018, 08:36:27 PM »

I posted this a while ago on TSN site, but here is a slight variation.
Not that many years ago I was a keen caver and potholer and I wrote a lot about my exploits. I would seek out new systems (that is the term for underground passageways). Digging was a hobby and that is with an “I” and not an “O”. Digging is where you literally remove material from a passageway by various means. Those means may just be your hands removing lumps of rock, but I eventually used explosives as it was quicker to open up the passages so humans could go beyond what nature had barred. However all that activity came to an end when I had my kids. Not quite.
In 1992 I was camping at Selside Farm in the Yorkshire Dales where I had previously spent a good deal of time with my parents and mates (1970’s and early 1980’s) whilst on cycle camping trips, but with my young family I decided to take them to a cave that I love. Long Churn Cave near Alum Pot (look it up on Google). The cave was wet as it has a stream running through it and caves are, well, dark. In fact so dark you cannot see. My young un’s at the time were 5 and 6. I had a campervan (a VW Devon or as folk called it, a gypsy waggon – how perceptions have changed as everyone wants one now) and I had a mate with me. My mate stayed with the van and my adopted son and put the grub on to cook which would usually have included some freshly caught rabbits or tickled trout and food from the fields. I took my two up to the caves with a view to just have a look at the entrance and go in so far and return.
It had been raining (It does in Yorkshire), but I entered the cave with one daughter on my back and the other on my neck.
The first section is where the roof is about 5 feet from the floor, so I had to do a crouched double shuffle to keep my girls in comfort. Then the cave opens up and the passageway is maybe 15 feet high. Had I felt uncomfortable I would have stopped the experience then and returned to the camp site, but no. I was hot (as you the reader would be after carrying two up a steep hill for 2 miles). The water was lapping my legs at calf height, but I felt confident.
Do I continue and get wet? All that wet clobber would be a drag. What if I slip?.................Down dark caves in Yorkshire the rock is not slippery at all.
I felt confident in my lighting (spares) and I knew the only difficult bit would be Dr Bannister’s Hand basin (maybe half a mile away underground) which I had climbed a dozen times before. But what about my clobber that would get wet? Dr Bannister’s Hand Basin is a shallow pool underground and is about three feet deep. The only way out is up a 5 feet waterfall or return the way you have come.
My naturist instinct took over and I removed all my clobber and put it onto a rock ledge. So I was naked, bar the boots. Was I cold? No. Was it draughty? Yes. I am a Yorkshire guy from Doncaster who was brought up tough.
I then embarked on the trip or journey through the cave system. The water was waist deep in places and I had to fight against the force of the current. The cool wind was welcome. At times the water would splash on my chest. Some sections I had to bridge where you put your feet on each side of the passageway and shuffle to gain height.  After a while I arrived at the shallow pool. Dr Bannister’s Hand Basin. The waterfall looked daunting, but I was a confident young guy. It is a steep climb and I had done it before several times. But with a kid on my back and a kid on my neck? This confident guy just climbed up taking extra care, really extra care. After that one emerges into the day world where the air feels warm. Still with the kids enjoying the trip I walked back to the first cave entrance to recover my clobber.
My mate still reminds to this day that I was late for the stew and my girls get slightly embarrassed if I recall the tale.

Yes, caving naked can be fun. Would I do it again? I have been back a few times without the now grownups and that instinct is still there.

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Free Range Naturism / Re: Caving

« on: February 20, 2016, 06:17:30 PM »

A great picture JOhn. Caves are usually (totally) dark so no one would see you naked and that picture was taken with a direct camera flash (no shadows). I guess others dressed for the chill as caves are usually much cooler than on the surface. I am looking forward to the time when I can take my grand kids on the same journey.

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Free Range Naturism / Caving

« on: February 18, 2016, 09:20:27 PM »

Many year ago I used to go down a cave in the Yorkshire Dales. It is a very popular cave called Long Churn and over the years I have taken scores of folk down this cave. When my kids got to the toddler stage I thought I would introduce them to caving and pot holing, so duly camped at the farm that tenants the land and we played the usual games including who could throw the boomerang (a plastic one) the furthest. We found a wooden one, so we were not the first.

Anyhow as my kids were very young I decided to take them into the cave, but in order to give me the best mobility I decided I would do it naked as that would allow me to sense everything, temperature, wind, smells and all. Being naked gives the body (and the brain) a level of awareness that is on a par with our past hunter gatherer survival times. My youngest on my shoulders.

The cave is a stream cave, in that it has a water course flowing through it and there is a breeze that comes from the flow of the water down open passages. Being the UK it has a constant temperature of cold (but warm if you are active). My kids loved this cave journey and never noticed I was naked, why should they as that is such a natural state. The cave has one difficult bit at Dr Bannisters Handbasin where there is a climb, but being bare footed eases this. I got dressed for the walk back to the camp site, but as per usual that cold water heated me up in the way that our outer body closes capillaries to keep the inner core warm.

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Free Range Naturism / Re: Yorkshire, UK. New free-range nude camp/caravan venue.

« on: January 05, 2016, 05:26:34 PM »

Just discovered this site after my time with the TSNS. Joined BN five minutes ago (upon the sound advice given by milfmog, JOhnGw, Davie et al) as I like the idea of having a card and the voice more members give to such a good cause. I am keen on having more camping sites in the north of the UK that accept fair skinned folk like me and folk who do not mind applying the sun cream to areas I cannot reach and those that appear in need of more.

Mark (a fellow South Yorkshire man) is indeed on his travels and that heart scare surely prompted his get up and go and do it. He has finally got away.

Mike