A naked walk along the Inn.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny again, still cold, but as the morning wore on,
the temperature rose steadily until it must have been just below zero. Cold it
certainly was, but a healthy, fresh and crisp cold. I decided to check out the
air temperature and drove south to a spot on the river Inn which I thought
might be ideal for a short naked walk. Parking at the end of the tarmac, I set
off along the rough track, wearing shorts and shirt, hat, gloves and boots.
The air was cool, but the temperature was quite amenable and after several
hundred yards, I removed everything except my boots.

Naked, and carrying my clothes in my rucksack in case of a sudden drop in
temperature, I continued along the trail stepping over the broken snow, ice and
frozen earth and made my way through a
small forest
. I passed alongside a smaller river, where the water was frozen
for about a third of it's width on both sides. The main channel still moving,
with a couple of swans maintaining a seemingly effortless position in the
current. Snow lay all around amidst the trees and I walked perhaps a kilometre
without seeing anyone.

The Inn is a tamed river running more or less directly North-South, looking
much like a canal with parallel embankments on both sides for much of it's
length, but moving quite quickly all the same. It is possible to
walk along either embankment in full sunshine
, but also in full view of the people on the
the other side of the perhaps 100m wide river, a popular walking destination
for short flat ambles, with a fine view of the Alps to the south. Because each
embankment had a parallel track running alongside, which was crucially lower
than the river, and partially screened by ranks of trees on the further side,
it was also a bit of a suntrap, so I chose to walk along the base of the
embankment. A beneficial side-effect of being on a
virtually private track
was the virtually complete privacy it afforded for naked hiking, while across
the river every hundred yards was a different group of people out for a walk.

As I wandered in complete solitude, the only sounds were the crisp crunching of
my boots on the thin surface of snow atop the ice of the wide track, and the
crowing of occossional birds in the trees. I walked for a couple of kilometres
along the river, enjoying the fresh air on all of my skin, the slightest breeze
generated by my motion giving a refreshing coolness to the experience. It was
fantastic to be outside, and not cooped up in a grey concrete building
somewhere peering out at the landscape, but striding through it enjoying every
sound and sight in that special way you can only really feel when you're naked.

I was on my way back when I met a couple with a teenager and their dog walking
in the opposite direction. They were all well dressed for winter, with thick
coats, hats, scarves and gloves. Even the dog looked fluffy. I guess they
were a bit surprised to meet a naked man walking along the snowy trail, but
each one returned my friendly greeting in like manner, and with a smile.

Returning to the car, lightly refreshed after a very pleasant couple of hours
walk, I felt that the warmth of summer was not so far away after all.