2013-05-18
Our brain uses a number of tricks to gauge distance. One is noticing that when we see a range of hills, the further away they are, the lighter they become. Next time you see rolling hills, notice how the one behind always appears slightly lighter than the one in front. Above are some I prepared earlier…
2012-06-11
Thanks to everyone who came to my talk at the Hay Festival and to the Festival for inviting me. The Telegraph, who sponsor Hay Festival, have published some reviews of the talk I gave there about my new book: Tristan Gooley: The Natural Explorer - Review by Sioned Davies ‘Where would you like go today?’ The rhetorical interrogative which gripped Gooley as a 10-year-old liberated him from the dominance of teachers and parents and was the initial inspiration for his book ‘The Natural Explorer’. All his adventures were no longer fixed; the endless possibilities…
2012-01-30
I'm just back from some micronavigation in the Black Mountains in Wales. I should get a chance to blog in more detail in time, but for now I just wanted to share a couple of nice clues I found in the light snow and ice I walked amongst. The first photo shows the first snow I encountered on a climb out of the Vale of Ewyas. We are looking east in this picture, the only snow to have survived the thawing warmth of the day are the thin strips hiding in the shade on the south…
2012-01-03
Happy New Year! I do not share everything in this blog, you will be pleased to know. Most matters familial and ablutionary are kept from these pages. So too are exact locations from time to time. It is not usually necessary to pinpoint the precise spot where a natural navigation technique revealed itself, or to give a 16 figure grid reference of the perch from which a photograph was taken. Sometimes, I must confess that I deliberately fail, as unostentatiously as possible, to reveal even a general location if I am keen not to encourage visitors…
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…
2011-05-27
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…
2010-10-19
The third Condry Festival, 'Nature and Outdoor Writing at its Finest', took place on Saturday at the Tabernacl in Machynlleth, Wales. I was honoured to be invited to speak and it was a wonderful opportunity to spend some time in the company of those whose passion and dedication to understanding the natural world have set them apart. I listened to talks by Jack Grasse, Ian Wright, Jim Perrin, John Fanshawe and Andrew McNeillie. I learned a very great deal and enjoyed the process hugely. Machynlleth is the right size for a small town and it holds some peculiar…
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…
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