How was your month for Free Range Naturism?

[John P]

I'm on our group's annual week-long trip to Vermont, so there will be Trip Reports! Just to start off, here's Bartlett Falls:

[jbeegoode]

OMG! In a flash, I was taken back to decades ago. The feel of the the air, the smell of those trees and the feel of that kind of water. Just gonna have to do a road trip to the old stomping grounds and lace it with deeper nature. DEEPLY GRENUOUS! (sic. .
Jbee

[balead]

My first post for a very long time! The best summer we've had in England since 1976 and it's come too late for me. My rheumatoid arthritis and irrtable bowel syndrome has made it difficult to cycle or walk very far resulting in very little naked time in nature. I've had to resort to wearing shorts in my communal garden. On the plus side I haven't needed to wear clothes at home - being a home naturist is better than nothing.

Why is there such a large gap in this thread between May 30 and July 25th?

On browsing the forum a notable absentee for me is Ian (milfmog). Is he still here?

[nuduke]

Trip WITH report, please.

Jbee, I haven't been anywhere!  On Friday I had my monthly life drawing class and a few errands to do.  The drawing class is great but deeply irritating as we have a naked model and 8 or 9 clothed artists.  In the weather we have been having you can imagine how I felt being clothed when the assembled company presumably have a more emancipated attitude to nudity than average.  In fact in Friday's class thinking about the need to be naked was making my concentration drift and affecting my drawing.  On Saturday the weather broke - rain and thunderstorms (but a fantastic rainbow in the afternoon for a while).  I had planned to go to a naturist swim in an adjacent town about 25 miles away on Sat eve but in the end I bailed out because I didn't want to deceive my wife or keep secrets of something she won't approve of.  You will probably berate me for this wimpiness but I value honesty with my partner more than a couple of hours swimming.  Rest assured though I will tackle this one head on and attend the next one in her knowledge whether she approves or not.  As it was she phoned during that time so I was relieved I didn't have to explain why I didn't pick up the phone.  Today (Sunday) also more poor weather.  Rain, wind and thunder in the night and blustery showers all day so far.  I decided to do some shopping and then picked wild blackberries until the rain forced me to stop.
All the rest of the time I've been naked.
It is so long since I've been on a hike, I know.  Fact is that I can't be bothered half the time.  I have a busy life and sunbathing/relaxation at home makes me rather too comfortable and lazy.  I will hie me unto the hills and rhylls the fountains and mountains, the sward, woods and fair copses of this land before long (with camera!)

John

[nuduke]

My first post for a very long time! The best summer we've had in England since 1976 and it's come too late for me. My rheumatoid arthritis and irrtable bowel syndrome has made it difficult to cycle or walk very far resulting in very little naked time in nature. I've had to resort to wearing shorts in my communal garden. On the plus side I haven't needed to wear clothes at home - being a home naturist is better than nothing.

Why is there such a large gap in this thread between May 30 and July 25th?

On browsing the forum a notable absentee for me is Ian (milfmog). Is he still here?

Dave!!! Absolutely smashing to hear from you after such a long gap. 
You don't have to not post just because you've been restricted in hiking/biking opportunity!
I for one have greatly missed your presence here.  You last posted in June 2016, you know.
We thought you had upped and left! 
It's jolly good to hear from you and that you are in reasonably good nick despite the arthritis and ibs.  A friend of mine had rheumatoid arthritis and so I can sympathise - it is a tough ailment to manage and my wife has ibs so I do know something of the problems attached to that too.  However, they both tend to make you stay in, so plenty of opportunity to sit at the computer and correspond with us here!  Have you been reading the forum or just not logging in at all? 


Things have morphed a little in the last couple of years.  Unfortunately, as you have noticed, Ian Milfmog has deserted us.  Haven't heard anything since October 2017 and whilst he and I had a PM in August last when he expressed surprise at the lack of frequency of his posts/visits and promised to keep in touch...he hasn't.  I'm very sad he isn't with us any more - he was a fount of wit, sense, courageous free range naturism (SN) and open mindedness and added significantly to the momentum of the forum with his almost daily posts.  Similarly the other much missed friends we no longer hear from are Larry Tanman (stopped posting May 2016) and hymie (2017) to name 2 previous regulars. 


We talk widely about naturist 'stuff' a bit more these days.  By that I mean, there aren't too many trip posts and the portfolio of trip posters has changed.  The discussions on SN (now Free Range Naturism, FRN) craft have got less frequent too. The shining exception is Jbee, who has now accumulated a world class and star quality blog of trip reports in Arizona.  Frankly, half my naturist experience is vicarious these days gained by looking at Jbee and DF's many wonderful exploits. I find we are a bit more adagio paced on the forum too and I tend to post in lumps about once or twice a week rather than almost daily as in the olden days of yore.  JohnGW is still with us but again less frequently posting.  He no longer has the canal boat so that great thread has all but gone.  However, we have lots of new colleagues such as Blue Train, Kensunwalker, Safebare, ReubenT, jaybirdsen and a few others.  There are numerous friends from TSNS days - Bob, Duane Eyesup, nudewalker, Davie, Norman yeldew (occasionally) ...and me. There are about 40 members with more than 10 posts logged and about 14 of us account for almost 90% of the posts.


I do hope you feel motivated to join in a bit more often, Dave.  Always good to hear from you.


The gap from May to July is because we didn't post anything in June!  Ian used to keep us all on our toes with his regular monthly statistics post and then we all used to chime in with the month's activity and digressions.  It's a bit more ad hoc now but remains the second most populous post topic (the most is 'Nudes in the News' which seems to engender lots of discussion.


Again let me repeat that it's nice to know you're around and I hope we'll hear from you a bit more frequently.  Remember you used to be the oldest member in TSNS an a top poster by virtue of longevity.  You were also the brownest!  I remember well your regular reports on sunbathing in your bit of woodland with the airbed and/or chair secreted in the trees.  Larry and John GW are both deeply tanned but not as nut brown as you!  Have you faded a bit? 


Cordial felicitations
John

[nuduke]

I'm on our group's annual week-long trip to Vermont, so there will be Trip Reports! Just to start off, here's Bartlett Falls:

What a brilliant location, John P!  I have a similar place that I visit in my dreams.  The water looks s cooler than in my dreams!
Look forward to the fuller report.
John

[balead]

Thanks for the warm welcome back John.

Have you been reading the forum or just not logging in at all?

I haven't logged in for some time.

Have you faded a bit?

I have a light tan - all over surprisingly as I haven't been naked in the sun for some time. It's been too hot to sunbathe in the communal garden a lot of the time too. In the old days I would have taken advantage of the cooler weather in the morning to sunbathe and walk in the countryside.

In relation to the gap in posts in this thread, it's a shame for me it's being neglected especially as the topic was originally my idea on the old Secret Naturist Society.

As you say I notice that a lot of the chat now is the "politics" (probably the wrong word) of naturism, which I'm not interested in so I wouldn't have much to contribute, but I'll probably continue to log in - I'd just got out of the habit.

[nudewalker]

Speaking of a gap! This year has not been good for much outside nude time at all for a number of reasons. Although the doctors did take me off the medication that causes the skin to turn blue in the sunlight  it takes a bit of time to exit the system as it is stored in the cells. But then we have has enough rain (8 inches above normal) to render most of the trails I frequent impassable. Even kayaking has had it's perils with swift running water and floating debris. Plus add to that my wife's continuing health problems and it has not been a good summer.

On a positive note, I did spend a day at a nudist venue repairing a friends RV. It was an easy fix so after about 15 minutes of fishing a wire through a tight spot I spent the rest of the day at the pool waiting to see if the refrigerator would get cold. So at least there was one good day spent naked outside.

[barerider]

This is an attempt to get this topic back on course……………
Summer began well with a holiday on the island of Menorca. We stayed at a beachside hotel with nudist beaches about forty minutes walking in either direction. The route to our beach of choice was mainly a cliff top path with the sea on one side and fields on the other. It cried out to be walked naked, under the morning sun in a clear blue sky. My wife was amused by my attempts to do just that, but the path was slightly too popular to be able to stay naked all the way.  When we tired of the beach, our hotel balcony faced the afternoon sun and was not overlooked.
So, back home with an all-over tan. The first excursion should have been the Bristol World Naked Bike Ride.  Unfortunately, the record-breaking UK summer of 2018 had not started, and I decided that an indifferent weather forecast for the day did not justify a speculative 200 mile round trip. In the event, it stayed dry but not very warm.
Then summer arrived. It is probably the hottest I have known, as I was living in South Africa at the time of the legendary UK summer of 1976.
Our garden can be overlooked by one set of neighbours when they are in their garden, so casual nakedness is not possible when they are home. However they are constitutionally incapable of leaving their house without their cars, so a glance out of the window shows us when they are both out. When they are not there we can stretch out in nude comfort on our patio. Our garden (read ‘my wifes’) produces quite a lot of fruit, and it is one of my simple pleasures in life to process broad beans, gooseberries and jostaberries while naked.
Then came the Exeter WNBR, and the weather was perfect with a light cooling breeze. Perhaps because of the weather, participant numbers were well up this year. Some forty of us, including seven ladies, roamed through the centre of Exeter for a couple of hours. One brave participant was on a tall unicycle with an off-road tyre!The ladies included several teen/twenties who took the dress code literally. No police cycle escort this year, but it was obvious that they were keeping an eye on us. Halfway round we took a rest, and quite a few riders took the opportunity to take a dip in the adjacent River Exe. The reception from the public was the same as ever, lots of cheering and amusement and picture taking as we went the full length of the main street on a Saturday afternoon.
 I did not notice too many misguided parents covering their children’s eyes as we passed, always a sad thing to see. We were accused of being “all paedophiles” at one point, we wondered if the speaker could actually spell it…yet alone recognise one.

And today it is raining. Where are my clothes?

barerider

[jbeegoode]

While you all have been in sunny weather for once, we have been plagued by rain. Not exactly 40 days and nights, but the timing has not been good with the few days scheduled to be off of work. Gotta bend like the grass on the prairie sometimes.

Dauntless, I have been coming up with contingencies. In June we took a 180degree turn and headed up to Prescott area. The chance of rain was less up there. A fluke hurricane was pouring its dregs on Arizona, the first rain in months and months. While our second of three days was rained out, we did manage to wander Ken’s delightful maze of scrub plants and meditation which overlooks the valley, for a while that day.

We were introduced to Sycamore Creek and now have added further exploration of that to the bucket list. There’s a small river up there!  The whole of it is remote save a railroad track that sees two roundtrips a day. We also did a group hike of seven on a trail up on Mingus Mountain. It was a fun short nakation.

July brought in an erratic monsoon pattern. So far, the weirdest most unpredictable yet. Damn the climate change! We are stuck down here in the heat looking for water, because the cool wet mountains are getting hellacious lightning storms. The water hole spots are just puddles, while other areas are getting the rain. We took a trip out to Redington Pass and just sat around naked with others there, discussing the lack of water, perplexed. Overnights have been nil because of the evening storms, so we are day tripping. We just had a great day’s exploration in Happy Valley, in spite of the lack of water and decent swimming at the waterfalls.
 
Trip Reports to follow.

August is not giving us a clue about storms, but we have a few days, a couple of trips, ready for mountain air. Hopefully, we will get up to Lake Powell as well….

Been of course naked around the house, walking Havarock, a few sweats with friends. I have been dressed while working a few hours a few days a week.
Jbee

[jbeegoode]

Dave, there are some natural ways to mitigate that. Diet change, and some fasting regimen. Out there on the internet. A change in climate helps some people.

 "Truth about Fasting." Ty Bolinger accumulated several experts to create a series and addresses several issues including arthritis. Jus' sayin'...maybe.
Jbee

[ric]

july has been good for naturists in the uk,   weather has been largely wall to wall sunshine and the new police response guidelines became available.  some rain last weekend but we needed it.

breakfast on the patio became the norm, difficult to remember when i last wore long trousers ,  dont think the lawnmower came out at all in july,  lawns are starting to grow again now though.

i even managed to make the time for a couple of short walks in the woods.

since the weekends rain theres a definate change.... theres a chill to the air morning and evening , guess autumn is on its way.

[Davie]

I was out again in the Welsh hills yesterday. Apart from seeing one dog walker whilst walking towards the first footpath and probably only 200 yards into the walk I saw not a single soul all day. I was therefore naked most of the time except when it rained with a strong wind. I just put on a cagoule with nowt underneath. It served the purpose during the worst of the weather which was a real mixed bag. Cloud then rain, sunshine then more rain, then cloud with a real strong wind and finally a lovely sunny day by which time I was right down in a valley.

Not climate - weather

Davie 

[JOhnGw]

Not climate - weather

Davie 

You have reminded me of a statement by a Canadian that Britain has a wonderful climate but terrible weather while Canada has wonderful weather but a terrible climate.

[nuduke]

I'll probably continue to log in - I'd just got out of the habit.

Less of the probably, Dave.  Keep in touch. Post now and then at least.  Get back in the habit, man!
John