Naturism 1: Brighton beach

1:  Brighton beach, East Sussex, England. (http://www.visitbrighton.com/things-to-do/brighton-naturist-beach-p628201)

My first naturist experience was here, around 15 years ago, and I went looking for it.  I wanted to try naturism and not having anyone to try it with took myself off to Brighton on the train and walked the considerable distance to the nude beach.  If you’ve never been to the Brighton beach, basically, come out of the station, walk in a straight line all the way down to the sea front and then turn left.  You will find you are not quite at the pier when you reach the seafront and you then have to walk probably around two miles to get to the beach.  You could save a little time by catching the Volks Railway (  http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c298 ) that runs for around half a mile towards the Marina, always a charming distraction. It was a sweltering day and I was more than ready to strip off as soon as I go to the beach but having not done it before I was not sure, well, where to start. 

MY first impression was of some male nudists who seemed to have placed themselves as far to the edge of the beach as they possibly could.  These men were mahogany brown and clearly spent a lot of time naked in the sun.  I could only assume they were very keen to be seen and without wanting to appear homophobic, Brighton does have a very large and prominent gay community.  Perhaps this was a way of hooking up?  I don’t know.  Those men were not doing anything untoward so good for them.

I found a spot in the middle of the stretch of beach and laid out a towel.  I removed my sandals, which was a relief as they had been catching pebbles in them for the last kilometre, then my shirt.  I was “commando” that day so as I removed my shorts I was naked.  I looked around, nobody was watching.  Not the small groups of naked men at the back of the beach.  Not the naked middle aged lady about ten metres away from me.  I sat down on my towel, put on my sunglasses, and stared out to sea.

It was fairly early in the day and the beach was quite empty but soon, as lunchtime approached, the beach started to fill until there were around a hundred or so people on the nude stretch of the beach.  I would say around 75% were men either on their own or in groups, 15% male/female couples and 10% women in groups or on their own.  Ages varied but of the couples, most were over 50 and there in my late twenties I was possible the youngest person on that beach.  There were a couple of women, around the same age as me or a little older, sitting quite near me and both looked lovely in their naked form.  And here is the thing, yes I looked.  Yes I enjoyed.  No I did not get “aroused”.  That is a major fear for many men when going nude, what if Mr Floppy stands to attention?  Well, in most cases he doesn’t and I’m glad to say I passed the test.

I enjoyed the experience so much I returned the next day and got sunburn.  That first weekend was a bank holiday weekend and was scorching and both days the beach had at least 100 people on it.  Among the many naked people of all both genders and many ages I saw that weekend were a aged blind lady being helped down to the water and an elderly man with one leg.  I decided there and then I had no good reason to be embarrassed about my body. 

I have returned to Brighton numerous times, occasionally on my own, several times with my girlfriend (now wife) who went fully nude on her second visit.  I even went along once with a male friend whilst bunking off from a Union conference and he did actually swim naked though was too shy to stay nude out of the water.  The sea is usually pleasant and warm and the beach is a stone’s throw from Brighton Marina, where there are bars and restaurants one can nip off too when the sun gets too much.  There is parking available a few hundred metres away if one has a car… but I don’t drive and I quite like the walk. Most of my visits have been issue free (no pun intended) but Brighton is a fairly bohemian place which means that sometimes the beach has less than charming types in attendance.  A very small percentage of men think it is acceptable to tug on Percy in full view of everyone and I have on a couple of occasions seen heterosexual couples engaging in sexual activity. On one occasion I felt inclined to move because a loudly gay man seemed fixated on my penis (though it must be said, the groups of gay guys on the beach are generally very well behaved and clearly out to have harmless naked fun together). This has put a dampener on things and Brighton is not my preferred destination these days but if I am in the City I still like to pop down and get my kit off.