Naked Heart Walk: RSPB Rainham Marshes 2023

Not that one needs an excuse be naked. It can happen any time in private, isn’t even illegal in public, frequently occurs in the name of ‘art‘, and is increasingly fashionable for ‘causes‘. World Naked Bike Rides protest against car culture, skinny dips have been fund-raisers for Marie Curie Cancer Care and more recently the British Heart Foundation (BHF)… and now the latter is also supported by Naked Heart Walks.

British Naturism co-hosts sponsored Naked Heart Walks with the BHF, to achieve a “mutual goal of keeping people healthy and fit“. They add that walking “is a great way to get some exercise, and it’s even more fun in the nude!” No doubt! I took part in my first Naked Heart Walk at RSPB Rainham Marshes on Sunday 23 July 2023. All fifty places had sold out. I joined my fellow walkers in the venue’s cafe at 5:15pm.

I don’t consider myself naturist in any formal or ideological sense – no ideology has a monopoly on nakedness. I simply do what speaks to my own heart, which sometimes crosses over with British Naturism’s structured activities. Officials explained the rules, top of which was “no photographing anyone else“, before we all ventured outdoors in the low summer sunlight to explore bramble-hemmed trails and birdwatchers’ cabins.

The trail around RSPB Rainham Marshes is roughly circular but its far end was out of bounds, meaning we had to go almost halfway anti-clockwise then double-back to do the other almost-half clockwise before doubling-back again. We began as a group, in which I had a few breezy conversations, but eventually we thinned out and I went my own way in easy quietness. With nobody in the background, I sneaked selfies.

Our walk took place after the site had been closed to the general public, but we were told that closest to the River Thames we might be visible to passers-by on a footpath along adjacent flood defences. Indeed we were. And you know what? Nobody cared, clothed or naked. Live and let live. If we didn’t have a deadline of 8pm for returning to the cafe, I could have happily stayed a long time. Alas, shadows were lengthening.

Thus I returned to the cafe with just under 10 minutes to spare, a smile upon my face and foraged blackberries in my belly. It had been a nice, gentle, peaceful evening. I’d been meaning to visit this place for years but never thought it might be like this. I was contented, and content to seek nothing more. Inside the cafe, without further ado, my nakedness ceased and I departed. It had been a good walk.