The natural Navigation: The Right Course, Naturally

Reading the kids their bedtime story is one of the great escapist tactics. Being transported to worlds filled with Power Rangers and Megazords, or preferably something more ‘Winnie-the-Pooh-like’ is a pretty good way of switching off for the day.

Occasionally the tactic backfires. When the stories become deeply mythological it can take me closer to one aspect of my work. Last night the Lion King started to get a bit celestial…

Mufasa looked up at the starry sky and said, “The great kings of the past look down on us from those stars. So whenever you feel alone, just remember that those kings will always be there to guide you… and so will I.”

A combination of a low-show on Friday due to bad conditions and the fact that everyone is really getting into the idea of heading off somewhere hot at some point this year gave the Destinations Travel Show a real buzz yesterday.

I gave my talk, ‘The Forgotten Journey’, on behalf of the Royal Geographical Society. The audience clearly had one or two enthusiasts amongst it as the questions were even more interesting and perceptive than usual.

Some of my family live nearby and had threatened to turn up and heckle at the back. One small problem was that they intially headed to the wrong part of Earls Court and only arrived to hear the second half of the talk. There may be a opportunity for some weekend work there, either for me or some sharp Tom-Tom salesman.

The more I study natural navigation, the more indebted I feel to trees. There are few environmental conditions that they do not make some effect to reflect. Sun, rain, shade, heat, cold, dryness, dampness, soil type… and in this case snow and wind.

Early on Monday morning these young beech trees pointed very dependably to NNE with their white lines. I was able to leave the path with confidence.

After a long stretch at the desk yesterday I treated myself to a dusk trip up into the Downs in the Land Rover. Leaving the main road along a little known and steep track, the tarmac turned to slush then hard, packed grey and white ice. It is the first time in years that I have come across a situation that my Defender has struggled in. The words of a 4×4 expert I know came to mind, ‘Sometimes the number of wheels doesn’t matter, if there is no traction, then there is no traction.’ I parked, wedged some rocks under the wheels and scrambled up a steep shortcut on all fours.

The rewards were moody fluctuating skies, an angry wind and great views.

Time for a bit of ramble.

At the heart of natural navigation there is potential for conflict.

If the sun did not behave with rational, dependable predictability then reading its effects might be a forlorn cause. We can say with great confidence where it will be in the sky at almost any moment in the future. And yet, nearly everything that follows the sun closely, from plants and animals to the weather itself, does not seem to have much fondness for rigid patterns or predictability.

This photo is an example. I could have worked out exactly the spot that the sun would rise and what it would do during the day years ago if I chose to, it would be a poor bookie who took bets on that sort of thing, but the weather… that is very different. The odds of me being surrounded by deep snow right now, particularly…

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As my head hit the pillow last night I was worried about today. Worried about missing out. The forecasted snow might mean that I should be outdoors, but today was always shaping up to be a very busy day at the desk.
One of our sons solved this little dilemma by getting me up at 4.30am. One peek out the window was enough to bring a childish, almost wild, excitement. For me that is, my son fell straight back to sleep. I was out on the hills by 5.00am. The plan wasn’t perfect: in order to avoid waking my wife I had to make do with the kit I could find downstairs.
I ventured out into the cold woods, wearing jeans, wellington boots and a pair of gardening gloves. The Shackleton Centenary Expedition this was not.

The woods managed to be both white and dark simultaeously.

I have just returned…

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