Bare Boating

As the River Maas winds its way through the south east Netherlands province of Limburg it passes through an area used for gravel extraction. Many of these gravel pits have now been turned into lakes popular with recreational boaters. For us they were great stopping off points as you normally can't stop for the night on the river. The lakes can be shallow though so not all are suitable. Passing the entrance to one of these lakes Rob asked, "How about that one?" "Looks a bit shallow," I replied noticing several people wading knee deep. Then I did a double take. They were all completely naked.
This area is right on the border of Germany and Belgium and getting your gear off is popular. Particularly with men it seems. We stopped in a lake called Oolerplaas which we soon discovered had a Naakstrand ( you can work it out) at one end where the best moorings were. I wasn't game to stop there so we moored a little way further round but in order to cycle to the village we had to take the path right through.

Even after a few days of getting used to seeing unclothed people strolling around - and naturists do a lot of strolling, perhaps it's something to do with creepy crawly insects - the sight of a completely nude boater (except for shoes and perhaps a hat)  standing up in his boat, sails and everything else, flapping in the wind never failed to cause a slight gasp of surprise. I'll say this though, naturists seem a tough lot. It may have been sunny but there was the usual dutch gale blowing.

What I want to know is, why the worry about the sun on your head and nowhere else?