Messages

1

Free Range Naturism / Re: Beach etiquette (UK)

« on: August 22, 2017, 03:41:32 PM »

Personally I think Gough is hindering rather than helping the situation.

And I wish the CPS would come out with something more definitive than a "Recommended Approach...":

Recommended approach to naturism

Although every case should be considered according to its own facts and merits in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors a consistent approach to naturism should be adopted to maintain public confidence in the CPS. Where none of the features exist that would bring behaviour within the ambit of one of the offences set out in the section on Other offences that might involve nudity below, the recommended approach to naturism should be as follows.

In the absence of any sexual context and in relation to nudity where the person has no intention to cause alarm or distress it will normally be appropriate to take no action unless members of the public were actually caused harassment, alarm or distress (as opposed to considering the likelihood of this).

In this case such conduct should be regarded as at most amounting to an offence under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986; and regard needs to be had to the question of whether a prosecution is in the public interest.

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Free Range Naturism / Re: Beach etiquette (UK)

« on: August 22, 2017, 02:20:35 PM »

...families with kids close by  better to move on elsewhere ...

i often use a backpack, plonked on the sand by ones hip it effectivly blokes the view from one side.

Yep if there were kids around I would've moved well away (as it was, I was the one of the first people on the beach apart from the hardy gray-haired brigade who got there earlier and were already in the water -- hardier than me, it was too dang cold!)  Regarding the backpack, unfortunately I think that was part of the problem.  I had strategically placed my backpack, so that I think it wasn't particularly obvious until they came much closer, which might've provoked the initial reaction, now that I think about it.  I think going forward I *won't* use the backpack, so that it's at least obvious from further away that I'm clothing challenged. 

BTW, question to any UK naturists in the West Sussex region. I just googled around again and now I can only find Church Norton listed here (as clothing optional): https://www.walkingclub.org.uk/nudist-beach/Church-Norton-near-Chichester.html.  And there's some mention that there were "no naturism" signs posted around (although I didn't see them).  But I'm pretty sure I remember seeing it listed elsewhere when I looked previously.  It's certainly not listed here: https://www.thebeachguide.co.uk/naturist-beaches though.  I'd been planning to go there for a while, and admittedly I didn't go back and check.  Do any locals know for sure - is it not a naturist beach any more?

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Free Range Naturism / Beach etiquette (UK)

« on: August 21, 2017, 10:36:24 PM »

Stupid questions (possibly) of the day.  I'm fairly new to naturism, and wondering if there's some unspoken beach etiquette i've missed.  I went to Church Norton beach on the weekend (which I read in some UK beach guide that is clothing optional).  The beach was almost empty, apart from some hardy 60 year olds (clothed, not naturists), a couple of bird watchers with professional camera gear in the distance, and one guy with a wind break away from the water who I didn't see till later.  I found myself a spot away from the older folks, close to the water, stripped off and sunbathed (when the sun appeared) for an hour or so.  At one point, a group of guys setup their fishing gear about halfway between me and the golden oldies, and apart from a couple of curious looks, pretty much ignored me and concentrated on their fishing.   

A small group of people walked past after an hour or so.  The woman in the group almost came to a skidding stop when she got close enough to see that I was naked. But then they walked past without comment, nor paying any attention after that, and went away after their walk.  When I got bored, I decided to go for a walk myself; I covered up with my towel when I went past one of the bird watchers, and then stripped off again when i was far enough away that I thought I wouldn't bother her.  At that point I noticed the guy further up the beach (away from the water with his windbreak) giving me a funny look as I walked past.  Possibly another naturist but I wasn't close enough to really see.

So stupid questions:  was I supposed to be sunbathing away from the water or something (seems stupid, but the woman's reaction was amusing, and somewhat disconcerting)? And was I not supposed to be walking along the beach naked (also seems stupid to me, but maybe there's a naturist's handbook somewhere which has got "the unspoken rules of beach nudism" which I haven't read)?

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Free Range Naturism / Re: Nighttime naturism

« on: July 25, 2017, 12:50:53 PM »

Due to the entirely average English summer, I once again haven't seen enough sunlight to get a tan. Less worried about a motorist seeing me - more worried they'll be blinded by the gleaming white reflection of their headlights hitting me...

I can see the headline now: "Embarrassingly white Naturist causes car crash at night"

 

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Free Range Naturism / Re: Nighttime naturism

« on: July 24, 2017, 12:28:56 PM »

I'm in a small village so not a lot of cycle traffic I think, but good point about other walkers - I guess I might not always be the only insomniac around.
The problem with looking for cover is, in my mind, it turns the activity from "I'm doing nothing wrong" into "I'm doing nothing wrong but now it looks like I am (if I'm not careful)". Maybe the answer is to carry something to cover up with (which I'm unenthusiastic about, but perhaps it's the better option).

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Free Range Naturism / Nighttime naturism

« on: July 24, 2017, 10:36:09 AM »

Woke up around 3am last night, wide awake and no idea why. Lay there for a while... not going to sleep and getting irritated with myself, before I decided to go for a walk (sans clothing much to my wife's disgust: "where are you going? that's just weird"). Very quiet and still on the streets - the only movement was neighbourhood security lights switching on as I walked down our road. I expected to see a few foxes out and about but it seemed like I was the only one stupid enough to be awake at that time. It was quite cold with some mist in the air but weirdly I didn't feel it. Perhaps if I had stopped for a while I might have, but walking, I felt completely comfortable.
Briefly considered walking up to the main road, but even at that time of night there's still a few cars going past, perhaps one every 10 to 15 mins. And I'm just not sure what the reaction would be of a driver whizzing past some naked guy wandering around at 3am. Would have loved to though because it really was nice out.

And that's the end of my night time "trip report" 

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Free Range Naturism / Re: Should you notify the police?

« on: June 24, 2017, 06:59:29 PM »

The process of informing the local police is mainly a mechanism to avoid the sort of arrest situations which have happened in the past where innocent nudists have been arrested, charged and then had all charges dropped or thrown out of court after wasting everybody's time and a great deal of money.

As a matter of interest, has anyone actually done this recently?  Informed the police before going on a hike? (specifically in the UK). If so, what was the reaction?

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Free Range Naturism / Re: Should you notify the police?

« on: June 24, 2017, 05:48:11 PM »

I think too that you have to have some sense about where you walk naked,  I wouldn't walk nude  in my local park.

Certainly not down the street to tescos.    Totally agree with your point about not asking for permission for something you're legally allowed to do. Perhaps there's not a great need to notify the police either as long as I maintain a common sense approach (cover up when seeing someone coming at a distance -- those who I encounter coming around a blind corner in forested areas... well too bad. It's not like they're going to go blind...)

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Free Range Naturism / Should you notify the police?

« on: June 21, 2017, 07:51:25 PM »

Hi All. First post!

I was reading British Naturism's website, and apparently some people contact the police before they going hiking in the nude. Here's the text:

Some people find that seeking permission from the local police or land managers can be reassuring. The idea is to reduce the (already small) risk of any complaints being progressed into prosecutions.  This appears to have been successful in Scotland.  But it may be that asking the question raises the risk of getting a negative answer, which would leave you worse off than before!

Just wondering what other people's opinion on this is?  Seems to me that UK law is pretty clear on the intention-to-offend front, so not sure exactly how the police can turn around and say "don't do this" if you politely tell them you're a card-carrying BN member, intend to walk in the buff, and will of course cover up when you encounter textiled walkers (perhaps particularly if you reference the crown prosecution service's info page on the subject).  But I'm not a police officer. (and I guess a land manager saying no is a completely different story).

My only concern is that by notifying the police it makes something completely private (my membership of BN) slightly more public...?

Anyone else got any thoughts about how good an idea this is? I'm not representing a group of people walking in the buff.  It'll just be me...