Encounters...what to do?

[eyesup]

Yeah, Jbee. I do some of his trail craft.

Especially the part about spiderwebs. If I see a piece of a web across the trail and no prints in the sand I know I am most likely alone.

It sounds like he is personally familiar with the legal end of taking the risk of naked hiking.

All good advice.

Duane

[milfmog]

http://www.bn.org.uk/activities/frn_experience

< SNIP > Is that a lot of area?

Not by USA standards. The attached map gives a general idea of the size and location of the National nature reserve in question, if you want to see where this is in context search for Ollerton (the town at the south-eastern corner of the map)



Size wise, I believe the reserve is around 400 acres.

Have fun,


Ian.

[eyesup]

It's less than 3/4 of a section. That really isn't very large when sharing with others. I always had this image in my head of Sherwood Forest, thanks I'm sure to Hollywood, as an enormous, wild and dense forest that stretched for miles. It is also curious that the word forest is defined differently in our separate countries. Mr. Churchill is right again!

Is the reserve very busy? It is completely surrounded by developed land. Back east, you see that, but not so much out here in the west.

Duane

[Peter S]

Back in Robin Hood's day it was indeed enormous, and much of the country was similarly wooded. Tree felling for agriculture and later for urban expansion gradually eroded all that. I think these days Sherwood Forest is more of a town park

[nuduke]

Also adjacent to Sherwood Forest is the village of Edwinstowe, cradle of the eternal witticism:
Q: "Where is Edwinstowe?"
A: "On the end of Edwin's foot!"
Effect: Peals of helpless mirth amongst one's interlocutors.
Second only to the deathless gag:
Q: " Where are the Andes?"
A: "On the end of your wristies!"
Not easily translated to script, I might add!


I live about 30 miles from Sherwood Forest today and have never given a second thought to walking naked there as it is a major tourist venue for the region and indeed the UK.  There is a large visitor centre, extensive parking and overflow parking and the trails and paths are all populated by walkers, joggers, kids, dogs, cycles, wardens, teachers and schoolkids, parties of less abled, better abled, chavs, spivs, courting couples, married couples, families, extended families, twitchers, botanists, mycologists, ornithologists, bryologists, dendrologist etc etc etc etc. Now Hear de Word of de Lord, Yessah! 
Those paths in the forest I have walked down recently (last early autumn) give on to fairly level ground, undulating gently where less flat and high trees with low undergrowth and large areas of leafy carpet making visibility clear to relatively long distances. Very inappropriate for taking your shirt off on a hot day let alone total nudity.


David's experience just goes to show I've not been there and got off the beaten track!  My visit last year was to support a friend who was completing a hike of over 100 miles for charity.  I walked about a mile in, met the hiking party and my friend and walked with them the mile out as moral support at the end of their long journey.  Previous visits were in former years (1990's) with the kids, when we also lived about 30 miles away.  So on all visits the progress was very much  ON the beaten track. 


Is David contactable through any forums or whatnot?  Maybe there'll be another naked walk later in the year?


John

[milfmog]

Is David contactable through any forums or whatnot?  Maybe there'll be another naked walk later in the year?

He posts on the BN forum and at naturist-corner (where he uses the name Gildo) You can email him through Naturist-Corner.

Have fun,


Ian.

[yeldew]

I walked with Gildo last year and will probably try to do so again when he next arranges a group.
He walks in Sherwood most days of the week. When alone he prefers to cover about 4 miles per hour.
I see him fairly often at the Sleaford Swim. We chat in the sauna.
Norman.

[Naked_Archer]

Meanwhile, in Scotland, a free range naturist seemed to gain a criminal record for his troubles...

http://www.alloaadvertiser.com/news/15123506.Naked_rambler_in_the_Ochils_given_soft_sentence/

Worrying times for Scottish free range naturists, as it seems that the police have a lot of time on their hands to hunt down naturists!   

[Greenbare Woods]

Meanwhile, in Scotland, a free range naturist seemed to gain a criminal record for his troubles...

Its sad that the police are paid to harass and peaceful human beings who clearly are not harming anyone.

[ric]

or maybe needs  a bit of common sense re the realities of being caught half dressed in a car park by the fuzz... empty carpark getting changed is different to wandering half naked round a half full carpark


theres never enough detail in these press reports to decide whether someones just been unlucky or reckless.

whatever the rights and wrongs legally we all know in the long term  its less hassle to be just a bit wary of close encounters in well frequented places.

forgetting the half dressed in the carpark bit ,  even encountering a lone woman sat on a bench ,  common sense would indicate a cheery greeting whilst walking on by....  if you just sit or loiter nearby shes  bound to start wondering whats happenimg.

[Greenbare Woods]

forgetting the half dressed in the carpark bit ,  even encountering a lone woman sat on a bench ,  common sense would indicate a cheery greeting whilst walking on by....  if you just sit or loiter nearby shes  bound to start wondering whats happenimg.

I noticed that too.  Going over to sit on the bench with the random woman seemed to be his practice.  A casual greeting while walking on past would likely not have gotten caused alarm.  Instead of going on by he sits on the bench with the strange woman. 

In my wandering I've had women go 20 feet off a trail to maintain space between them and a naked man.  They are taught to fear men, and especially to fear naked men alone in a woods.  So going to sit beside one on a bench would likely cause her more alarm than a "howdy good morning" while walking on past. 

[eyesup]

That was the one thing he did I thought would be interpreted as alarming. He may have been, in his mind, just being friendly but it implies a lack of awareness of how people react.

Also I wouldn't have pleaded guilty if I had done the same thing. There is always room to maneuver within vaguely written laws. In a group of 10 people you will get 10 different definitions of what is alarming.

Duane

[John P]

That's a sad story, about the guy in Scotland. My memory is fading about what happened to Steve Gough "The Naked Rambler" in Scotland, but I think his numerous arrests there all involved breach of the peace, expressed in Scottish law as "Causing alarm to the lieges". In this recent case they also threw in "recklessly committing public indecency" and the guy pleaded guilty to it. I did a search on that term and couldn't find any other instances except this one case, nor what "public indecency" means in Scotland. In England, anything like this would be covered by the Sexual Offences Act, and there's a Scottish Sexual Offences Act too, but evidently there's a possibility of prosecution outside of it. This quote from the article makes it seem as if the legal authorities actually told British Naturism that breach of the peace was the only crime a naturist would be accused of, and now they're backtracking.

Mr Dalling [the defendant's lawyer] said British Naturism, of which Edney was a member, had published advice on walking naked after consultations with the Crown Office and the Scottish Government.

He said: "The only real consideration that was given in those advices was to the question of the commission of a breach of the peace."

Mr Dalling added that the Crown Office had written again to British Naturism apologising for giving "an impression" that breach of the peace was the only potential offence that might be committed by a naked walker, and detailing other offences, including that to which Edney had now pleaded guilty.

[JOhnGw]

My understanding from the BN forum is that he did breach the BN guidelines to a significant extent and that he also was much more confrontational than anybody here would recommend.
Furthermore BN have had additional consultations with the appropriate authorities, the result of which is that the guidelines stand unaltered.
The only strange thing about the case that I have heard is that the trigger for his arrest was a telephone call to the police from a woman who had seen him in the distance and had deliberately got closer in order to see whether he was naked.

[Greenbare Woods]

The only strange thing about the case that I have heard is that the trigger for his arrest was a telephone call to the police from a woman who had seen him in the distance and had deliberately got closer in order to see whether he was naked.

She was "offended" because she moved in to get a better look.   That is bad.