Entries tagged "sand"
2012-05-26
Navigation is about knowing where you are as much as working out how to get to where you want to be. A lot of the fun may lie in finding direction, but natural navigators also need to be tuned to the clues that help us to establish exactly where we are.
For thousands of years, humans gained an understanding of their latitude from the height of the sun and stars, but there are many clues beneath the sky. From general notions, the smell of the sea from land or the scent of a Caribbean island after crossing an…
2011-04-05
Each part of the world has its unique natural navigational heritage with distinct differences, making each appear totally foreign to the other on first meeting.
What could the Pacific Islanders possibly share with the Bedouin? Or the Vikings with someone going for a walk in an English wood? All these navigators share views of the sun, moon and stars, but all will also have a relationship with the wind. The wind sculpts the land and sea all over the world, it leaves its marks wherever…
2010-02-07
After an enjoyable private course on Friday - we finished standing in a field looking at Orion, the Plough, Cassiopeia and, of course, Polaris - it was time for a family outing to West Wittering beach early on Saturday.I adore the Witterings in winter, the barbecue and beach towels may have to stay at home but it is invigorating to get blown along on miles of abandoned sand. In between games of hide and seek amongst the beach huts, games of football on the sticky sand and races to pieces of seaweed, I noticed some interesting patterns in the…
