Our small group of wayward wanderers met, around 11:00 am on this Saturday morning in September, at the Bayerischzell Bahnhof, an hour south of Munich. Siggi, the now famous Nacktwanderer von Gunzenhausen, Martin, who came on the train from near Ulm, Ralf and Alla, who are well known naked enthusiasts with their No Limit FKK website and myself. The weather forecast was not ideal, cool with possible showers, but looking at the steady clouds hugging the low alpine peaks around us, we thought it was still worth a shot, and set off in a southerly direction, towards the edge of the village and our looming hillside. The path left the carpark and after one hundred metres or so, Martin, Siggi and I stripped off, and it was great to feel the fresh air all over my body again. It was still a bit cool for the other two, but we were hoping the ascent would warm them up.

The path immediately started climbing the hill in front of us, weaving gently from side to side to reduce the steepness, and maintaining a fairly even gradient. The view opened out below us as we gained height. The small alpine village of Bayerischzell lay at the end of the long flat valley, nestling into the lower flanks of the Sudelfeld hills. To the east, the sun was already beginning to break through the clouds and shine brightly upon the velvety slopes across the valley. We strode on, and after a while, Ralf removed his clothes too, placing them in a shoulder bag which Alla was carrying for him at this point. We joked that we should have photos of this, so that people would know that women were not regarded as pathetic or useless in naturist circles, but rather as very capable pack animals. This reminded me of our summer tour in the Austrian region of the Salzkammergut, when we had laden a fallen branch with with our rucksacks, and Claudie and Sylvie had tried to carry them a short way. Hmmm, this seems to be becoming a habit...

We kept walking steadily, Alla setting a very reasonable pace for a woman who has not been hill walking for a while, and after an hour or so reached the Neuehutte, a mountain farmer's hut, at the ridge. We met a couple of pairs of people at the hut, and exchanged brief greetings with them, and a girl who had been following us, now overtook us too. We wondered what they thought of us, because one couple gave us a distinctly cold shoulder, but the others didn't seem to mind the small naked group sharing a bit of alpine space with them. The Neuehutte was perched comfortably above edge of the ridge overlooking the river below, and I immediately went into raptures over what a fantastic place it was. The air was clear, the distant view over the valley below and to the sides, was just incredible, it was so peaceful, and we were making the most of it. We stopped here for a while, taking a few photos, and munching a couple of snacks, before setting off once more and following the now wide farmers track down and along the side of the valley.

We'd warmed up nicely coming up the trail, but the stop by the hut meant that several in the group began to cool down and they did the natural thing, when you're naked and cold, they put some clothes on. Some people seem to think this is a bit odd, being on a naked walk and wearing clothes, but really, it's the only sensible thing to do when it turns cold, and I in turn don't understand the confusion. The point is that we like to be naked while we're outside in the great outdoors, experiencing nature just that little bit closer, but if the weather turns, or you just feel like getting dressed for any reason, that's fine. All day, for example, Alla stayed dressed, while the rest of us were naked or not, as the occassion demanded. For Alla, it was just a bit too cool to take a clothes off on the mountain, on that particular day - that was fine too. In fact, one of the nice things about going for a mountain hike with people of different abilities and inclinations, is that you can end up with a truly mixed walk. So we had a group of male and female walkers who were occassionally naked and occassionally dressed and, during the course of the day, any combination of anywhere in between. It was a very relaxing experience.

After a while, we came to a place where a herd of cows were sitting around chewing the cud, and the view opened out as we were now surrounded by steeper rocky promontories far above us. The higher rocks brushing the clouds as they drifted lazily around the verdant slopes below. It was a magnificent scene. We walked around the two mountain farms at the head of the valley, casually bumping into our silent couple once more, then we followed them down the valley past a group of grazing cows. The cows were quite amusing, one wanted to have it's head scratched, but was a bit wary when we first approached from both sides. Several cows followed us towards the Alm below us, much to Alla's discomfort, and Ralf's amusement. I was the only one who was completely naked at this point, as the other fellows had pulled on a shirt or jacket against the cool air, and as I came in sight of the Gasthof, I was the subject of a certain amount of merriment, as a woman was waving to her friends to come look at the naked hiker/s approaching the hut. We skirted the hut itself, following the main trail, but made sure to wave positively in the direction of the several tables full of hungry and thirsty walkers. They waved back, and while they looked at us through binoculars, we took a photo or two of them in the background in return. Waving to our friendly audience, we continued down the valley, steadily losing the height we had gained at midday, and gaining a bit of warmth with every step of descent. We stopped for a short break, on a rough bench, and soaked in a bit of sunshine, as it broke through the cloud cover momentarily.

Descending to the main valley, we followed the road via a parallel trail, and recieved a few catcalls of encouragement from a few passing cars. Several walkers passed us by, and a few mountain bikes going at a fair lick too, and most were suitably friendly. We took the main trail back towards Bayerischzell village, and bumped into, yes, our old silent friends yet again - this was nearly becoming funny. Stopping for a purpose-built foot bath at the base of a mountain stream, next to the trail, we walked the last stretch back to the station along the line made by the meeting of the forest covered hills and the grass covered fields. A couple of single female walkers passed us with smiles, and then an older man with his younger labrador, who was busy fetching thrown sticks from the river. The jovial man said to us that he thought we might be a group of P-45'ers, (on the dole), who in any case clearly had so little money that we couldn't afford clothes. He also said that if he knew when we were coming back for another walk in the area, he'd be there, as he found it quite refreshing to meet a group of naked hikers while walking the dog. That was an open and pleasant encounter for the books. Sadly, that was the end of our walk, as 100 metres ahead lay a private club of some sort, a busy looking car park and the our intended destination of the village of Bayerischzell. It had been an pleasant and fresh interlude before the onset of winter, and we hoped to repeat it any time soon.