A naked overnight walk, but not as I had planned

I have been looking to do a walk I planned about three years back, but due to weather conditions and working hours, I have never had the chance, until this week.

I had booked three days to do two walks, but unfortunately, my campervan's engine failed, and it is currently off the road. So this had left me at a loose end with free time until one of the guys I work with became ill, and I had to go on a training course on Thursday. I looked at the weather and suddenly realised this was my chance to do the local walk.

I checked the weather, which showed 18 °C overnight with light southerly winds. This was looking perfect, so I bought a train ticket, and later on Tuesday, I set off to the station. I had a hoodie on, no t-shirt, shorts and my walking boots. I arrived at the train station around 9.15 pm and found my train to be running three minutes late. While that seems to be no issue, I only had 5 mins at Lewes station ot swap trains. When it arrived, I got on and waited to get to Lewes. Amazingly, we ended another minute late, which left me with 1 minute to change trains. When we arrived, I had to run with a backpack that had my tripod, drinks and camera.

I got on the train as it was about to leave and rested after running down the platforms!

So I arrived at South East Station and followed about 10 younger people in their 20s up to the youth hostel before I turned right and walked up to the bridge that crosses the A26 main road. At this point, I got naked, put my clothes in my bag and set off naked across the road bridge. I headed up the first hill that was extremely steep, and as I got near the top, I suddenly realised that I could no longer see Newhaven town. I thought it odd, so I looked back where I had come from and could see the road and station at the bottom of the hill. I looked towards Lewes and could see it clearly. I looked back to Newhaven and saw no sign of it, then I saw Southease disappear shortly followed by Lewes.

Sea mist had rolled in on the southerly breeze. I could see about 20 ft around me, and that was all. It was pitch black, and I could barely see, but I decided that as I had a GPS, I could follow it and set off. I was by this point sweating due to the mist and lack of breeze. I carried on walking until I reached the two TV and radio transmission masts on the hill near Firle. This was all I could see of them.

Firle Beacon Transmitter towers

I carried on past and headed to the carpark as this would be my first deccision ot make - do I cover up or go naked still. When I got there, I could barely make out two cars, but as I could barely see them, I just walked past nude and carried on towards the Bo Peep car park. When I got there, I found about 10 campervans all crammed in the small car park. Again, just walked past naked and carried on with my walk.

It was not long until I came upon the first village on my route - Alfriston. It was now gone 1 am, and as I approached the end of the path and could see houses, I decided to proceed naked with caution and see how it went.

Here are some pictures of the street in the daylight, so you can see why I had to be cautious

Yes, it was a residential road, but I did not cover up. As I walked on, various security lights flicked on, and I was suddenly fully illuminated. I managed to keep my cool and just carried on calmly walking naked down the road until I crossed a junction and found myself next to a hotel. They had left most of the lights on downstairs, and as I walked past naked, I spotted a CCTV camera. Me being me, I stood looking at it, smiled, waved and carried on to the junction of the High Street.

Hotel on the left

I walked out slowly, and as it looked clear, I just strolled down the High Street naked until I got to the pathway entrance.

Alfriston High Street

The route through the village I took

It had been clear in the village, as when I dropped down from the hill into the village, I came out of the bottom of the sea mist. As I went back up the other side, I was once again back into the gloom of the mist as I headed towards the Long Man of Wilmington. I know I passed it at some point, but being only able to see 20 ft in a circle meant I had no idea where I was.

I then descended into the second village of Jevington. This is a smaller village, but I had to walk down a narrow main road through the village for about 1/4 mile. Again, I did this fully naked and had no issues before turning up the foot path and going back up to the hills.

Eventually, I began to descend the hill and then arrived in Wannock village. I walked naked past a cemetery and then found myself near the end of a pathway, and stood looking at a residential road. I then spotted a car just down from me, driving away, and decided to cover as I knew that after a few minutes, I would be on the main road from Polegate to Willingdon.

Wannock at night

Once I had crossed that road, I took off my shorts and continued naked until I found I had made a wrong turn, doubled back, found the correct path and crossed the main railway line. I then took a few more wrong turns but ended up where I needed to be, behind the industrial estate in Polegate. I continued naked until I came to the main road by the estate where I live. At that point, I covered up and plodded the rest of the way to my home.

When I got indoors, I got naked and sat in the garden, as I was so sweaty I looked like I had just had a shower. The route is not easy to do as it is over 14 miles and goes from sea level to the top of the South Downs, meaning the total ascent is 1892ft I did get this picture of me on the South Downs

I plan to do it again at some point, and hopefully, both a night and a day version, as the views on both are great.

It does prove that at nightime you can walk places you could usually not go when naked. It is all about common sense and being sure you are not in the wrong