The natural Navigation: The Right Course, Naturally

The sun has reached its northernmost bus stop, it has put on the handbrake for a second and has now, already, begun its journey back south.

At this time of year the sun lights up the countryside in early morning and late evening in a way that is unique. The light pours in from low in the northeastern and northwestern sky. This picture could not be taken at any other time, as the morning light is filtered through gaps in the woods to the northeast of where I live. It lights up strips and leaves the rest of the fields in shade.

A belated thanks to everyone who came to my talks and walks at the North Kent Walking Festival and the Travel Bookshop last week.

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 found on their website or by calling the bookshop on 0207 229 5260.

Hope you enjoy!

If you did not hear the Radio 4 Ramblings programme but would like to then you can by clicking here.

Details of some other natural navigation features on TV, Radio and in the press can be found here.

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Over the weekend I was camping in the Cotswolds with a couple of old friends. Those who follow the blog closely may have spotted that makes three back-to-back camping trips over half-term. Nine nights under canvas in the British countryside and already being indoors has started to feel quite strange.

We walked fifteen miles on the Saturday and it was a joy to let the others take control of the navigation. I couldn’t resist the odd peek at the OS map out of curiosity, but generally tried to just go where I was told.

We nearly stepped on a grass snake at one point, but we persevered and the day finished in the extremely attractive and gloriously Cotswoldian village of Combe, where they were holding a fundraising cream tea for their village hall. The sound of the cricket match wafted over from the green as we did our bit for the hall…

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Back from a short family camping trip to the Isle of Wight, where I stumbled across this wonderful sign on the side of an old lifeboat station house.

In case it is not legible in the picture, the words read as follows:

When full or new

You see the Moon,

The tides far out in the afternoon.

But when the Moon’s

At either quarter,

At tea the beach

Is underwater.

Six hours the water

ebbs away,

An hour later

Every day.

Get down to the beach

As soon as you can

Time and Tide

Wait for no man.

——

How divine is that?

Last night we got back from a family camping trip to a site near the Hay Festival in Herefordshire. It was my first visit to the Festival and it was a really great family trip.

The campsite was the best I have ever been to: small, sheltered, great facilities, lovely owners, amazing views… Not even a day of heavy rain could wash away the fun we had chez tent.

We had too much fun at the best circus in the world, Giffords, which, following a health and safety warning, totally shuns modernity.

Hay-on-Wye was everything a writer and rampant bibliophile could hope for: characterful bookshops – run by fellow sufferers, bohemian street entertainment, the best people in the world… You can measure a Festival by what happens in the jostling. Everyone in Hay-on-Wye was friendly, someone saw that I had dropped one of my kid’s wellies whilst carrying him and jumped across a muddy…

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Another very enjoyable Beginner’s Guide to Natural Navigation course at the Royal Geographical Society yesterday. The diversity of interests and experiences never fails to amaze me; from desert wanderers to cruise ship sailors and even a sailor from a tall ship in the Pacific. Wonderful!

It was a beautiful full moon last night and I got to experiment with a new lens that I have bought. Still a long way to go until I take a photo of the moon that I am happy with, but always learning which is satisfying.

The phase of the moon appears the same all over the world, but the orientation changes depending on your latitude. In other words, a full moon will be full all over the world, but its features may appear upside down from the opposite hemisphere. When high in the sky, crescent moons will appear closer to ‘vertical’ at higher latitudes and ‘horizontal’…

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A detailed review of the book has just been published on Nick Gallop’s Skills for Wild Lives website, which is well worth a visit anyway. (Image courtesy of his website).

I really enjoyed giving a talk to a wonderful audience at the Daphne du Maurier Festival this morning, in the beautiful coastal town of Fowey.

I’m very grateful to everyone who bought tickets and came – so wonderful to be greeted by a packed out theatre at 10am on a wet and misty Wednesday morning in deepest Cornwall.

A huge thanks too to all those who bought a copy of the book. Waterstones thought they had things covered with 35 copies, but they all flew off the shelf and so apologies to those that left empty-handed.

Another big thanks to Jonathan, Kate and the Festival team who made it all feel so relaxed; there is a talent to this, one that they possess in abundance.

An enjoyable afternoon with the Soles and Souls walkers yesterday. We set off from Plumpton, led by Louise Gorst who runs a walk once a week and and likes to combine Sussex walks with an immersion in nature and a mindful approach to the outdoors. Periods of silence are interspersed with the opportunity to learn new things, from the arts of watercolour painting to natural navigation. Yesterday we climbed up from the Half Moon Inn to the South Downs Way, via Plumbton Bostall. The return walk took us through Ashcombe Bottom towards Blackcap.

Some of yesterday’s group can be seen in the picture, heading across a typically chalky South Downs field.

There is a ‘Camping Special’ in today’s Guardian and in it I get to lay an old ghost to rest. The first question I was asked was, ‘What is your favourite camping song?’

I can still remember being at prep school and finding the surname, ‘Gooley’, was proving an unwelcome additional burden to the trials of growing up. Chants of Ging Gang Goolie echoed for what seemed like about two years.

At the time I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to laugh, cry or sing along. If I remember correctly I tackled it with a mix of nonchalance, introspective sulks and racing around trying to punch people on the nose. None of these were very effective and so it is all the more extraordinary that I do have a fondness for this song. However testing those early years were, in a school that made Lord of the Flies look like a perfect…

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