Entries tagged "BBC"
2012-09-16
The latest issue of Navigation News (The magazine of the Royal Institute of Navigation) contains an opinion piece I wrote on two contentious subjects. I've included excerpts here for those unfortunate souls who do not subscribe.
Why do we get disorientated?
Men and Women: The better navigator?
Update: On Monday 17th I discussed male and female navigation strategies and aptitudes on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. You can listen to it here. It includes my theory as to why men won't ask for directions.
2012-01-22
Last night I caught a few minutes of a programme on BBC4, called 'Unnatural Histories.'As so often seems to be the case, a short stroll from the mainstream channels uncovered rough diamonds.In the programme, an aerial shot showed us clearly visible patterns in the earth, patterns that were partly concealed at ground level by dense undergrowth. The narrator explained that we were looking at 'geoglyphs' in the Amazon rainforest. Geoglyphs are shapes that have been deliberately formed in the land by the hand of man.Like many pilots, I have come to love the way it is possible in the air…
2011-10-21
It has been quite a restless few days.
Last Saturday I spent the morning in London as a guest on BBC Radio 4's Excess Baggage. In the evening I led a group on a night walk. The conditions were perfect. We watched as blue turned to orange. Then as the orange faded to dark blue and black we were treated as Arcturus, Deneb, Altair, Vega, Capella and others began to appear. Lurking luminously between the silhouetted branches of a two hawthorns there was a bright white…
2011-10-07
A huge thank you to everyone for all the messages that have been coming in about All Roads Lead Home. I thought it was time that I added a bit more information about the series.
Below is a blog I wrote for the BBC website, which went out just before the programme on Wednesday.
I also wrote a piece for the BBC News Online Magazine, about 6 unusual methods for keeping your bearings whilst in a town. As soon as it went out, it went nuts. More than 300 people left comments before comments were switched…
2011-09-11
Welcome to those of you who have found your way here, on the trail from BBC1's Country Tracks. (For those of you who haven't, a programme has just gone out on BBC1 in which I gave the presenter Miriam Cooke some natural navigation tips in a forest by the Arch, near Devil's Bridge, in Ceredigion, Wales. There's a short clip here.)
However you found your way, now that you are here have a bit of an explore and get as lost in this website as you like.
If you've enjoyed watching some natural navigation on TV,…
2011-07-31
This photo, from my recent and gallette-packed French summer holiday, shows the distinctive orange lichens that have daubed a southern-facing wall of Suscinio Castle in Brittany.
Being a coastal region, Brittany is a natural home for these orange Xanthoria lichens, which can be both a blessing and curse when it comes to using them to understand direction. This is because conditions need to be close to perfect for lichens to thrive, but if they are too good then a lichen will manage well on more than one side, and occasionally on all sides.
This nuance creates a…
2011-07-15
I'm just back from a week in Cornwall, where I have been helping the BBC with a new series called, 'All Roads Lead Home'.
It has been an amazing experience and most excitingly it means that... natural navigation is coming to a televison near you soon!
The premise of the series is as follows: Alison Steadman, Sue Perkins and Stephen Mangan learn how to navigate naturally and then go on 3 journeys together, each one to a place that holds some important connection for them. (Sue Perkins loves and lives in Cornwall, when she is not inhabiting…
2011-06-13
Last week set a new record for restlessness... Thanks to all who came for the walk around the Long Man from Wilmington on Saturday afternoon and to Adrian Phillips who took the time to come for a walk for an article in West Sussex on Saturday morning.
The week leading up to this was spent exploring Cornwall with Zoe from the BBC. We found many familiar friends in the techniques we uncovered in Cornwall, but also a handful of totally new ones too. Our rarest discovery was at the private Tregothnan Estate and not strictly anything to…
2011-06-06
After an intense week of scouting in northwest Ireland with the BBC last week, I felt a little weary come Saturday morning. We had covered almost all of the largest island of the coast of Ireland, Achill Island in County Mayo, and then zoomed about Ballycroy and a few other places too. A couple of days mucking about would have been nice, but instead I had to get the first draft of my new book to my publisher's by this morning. Tomorrow I'm off to Cornwall with Zoe Timmers from the Beeb again. One of those busy times,…
2011-05-27
I am spending a lot of time at the moment helping the BBC with a new series and have spent the last few days in North Wales.When I was told that we were going down a slate mine in Snowdonia and that it would be great if there were some natural navigation clues to help us find our way in the mine, I was initially a bit concerned. Natural navigation methods can be used in a very wide variety of locations, including underwater, but I have not spent any serious time caving or in mines and so feared it might…
2011-01-27
Full marks to Radio 4's Today programme for allowing even a few minutes' discussion of the role of technology in our appreciation and understanding of nature.
Mike Saunders, Kew Garden's Digital head, and I exchanged ideas and perspectives yesterday in a glancing and enjoyable way. 'Today' is prime radio real estate and they could not have been expected to indulge us for much longer.
Of course there were many points that I would have like to have made, but could not, the effect being a rather truncated view, which appears to many to be fairly blunt.…
2010-09-04
For the love of God, spare us from any more blog titles like that, you are thinking. But persevere, there is a point to it. Somewhere.I have just spent a fun 24 hours near Abergavenny, on Sugar Loaf Mountain (to give the big hill it's superior title). I was joining some of the BBC Wales team.The day reminded me just how easy it is to avoid the crowds. If work and other more important things allow, then the start and end of the day are the times to be on mountains, up to a certain altitude anyway. I can remember…
2010-06-12
Welcome to all BBC Radio 4 listeners who have just navigated their way to this website from the full moon ramble that I enjoyed with Clare Balding.There are lots of places to explore on this website if you are looking for more information about the wonderful world of natural navigation, the courses that are available or my book on the subject.It would be great to meet you so if you are within reach of west London tonight, I am giving a talk at The Travel Bookshop this evening (Thursday 17th) at 7pm. Details and tickets can be…
2010-04-30
The title of this post is not, for once at least, a reference to my style of blog-writing, but to the BBC Radio 4 program hosted by Clare Balding.On Wednesday night I joined Clare and the Ramblings team for a walk on the South Downs Way; we headed west from Amberley, finishing at the Bignor Hill car park. We were treated to stars, planets and a full moon. I'll let you know when it is airing, but should be sometime in June.I felt hugely privileged and honoured throughout the walk, as early on Clare revealed that she has been embarking…
2009-07-18
I went for a walk with Matt Baker and the 'Open Country' team from Radio 4 a few weeks ago. It was broadcast a couple of days ago but you can still listen to the programme, 'Sussex Visions', using BBC iPlayer. We chat about flowers and the Tuareg and one or two other things.
