A Keswick man who finds stripping down and hiking in the great outdoors liberating is looking for like-minded people to join him on a walk up and down a Lake District fell next month.
Sixty-seven-year-old Nigel Stephenson enjoys going back to nature and would like to meet up with other naked ramblers to trek up to the summit of Great Mell Fell.
Mr Stephenson is not in the habit of stripping off and taking to the countryside on a regular basis and can count on the fingers of one hand how many times he has bared all in public.
The first time was two years ago when he organised a similar gathering to take on Great Mell Fell in the buff – but nobody turned up! Four “mature” ladies turned up in a car but it was quickly established that they were simply there to hike. Mr Stephenson met them again as he descended and they went back to the top with him and took his photograph!
“They were mature ladies in their 30s and 40s and once I had explained to them what I was doing one of them said it was OK and so I continued,” said Nigel, who used to run a guest house in Keswick with his wife. “I called the police before I set off and the woman police officer who answered the phone sounded fed up and said: ‘Oh really’ before adding that I had better take something with me to cover myself up.”
Mr Stephenson said that he also went for a dawn fundraising swim at Druridge Bay, Northumberland, with 1,200 other people and the only other time he has been naked in public is while on the beach on holiday in the Canaries.
He says that if enough people turn out for his walk at 7.30pm on Monday July 14 – World Naked Day – he may turn it into an event to raise cash for Alzheimer’s and Cancer Research.
Mr Stephenson, who is not a member of any naturist organisations, says that his wife will not go naked but is supportive of him. He says that he has chosen Great Mell Fell because it is quiet and “it only takes 45 minutes to climb up there.”
