Hiking - Part 62

Sherwood Forest

Remember Robin Hood, the medieval English hero who robbed the rich to give to the poor?  He and his band of merry men lived in Sherwood Forest.  Sherwood Forest is a real place in England, and these days, it's a nature reserve with hiking trails.

In 2021, a local man complained that groups of men were walking naked through Sherwood Forest and demanded that it be stopped.  Above, a naked hiker in Sherwood Forest.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), which manages the forest, said that naturists had been walking naked in quieter sections of the forest for decades, and it was perfectly legal.  In particular, naturists have long used a portion of the forest called Budby South Forest, which is primarily heath, not woods.  Very few people visit Budby, so naked hikers have not been an issue there.  The RSPB did ask naturists to try to avoid the more heavily utilized trails in Sherwood Forest.  Above, a hiker in Budby in 2020.

A guy named Marcus walking in Budby South Forest in 2024.

Naturist groups organize group hikes.  This is a group called Sherwood Forest Naturist Walks.

A mixed-sex group in an open area, presumably Budby South Forest.

Walking along the edge of the woods ...

and in the forest.

This guy calls himself TotallyBear.  Here he is in the open Budby South Forest area ...

and here he is in Sherwood Forest.

We end with a quote from the book The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle, 1883: "It is not the size of a man's body that makes him great, but the size of his heart."