The natural Navigation: The Right Course, Naturally

Happy Winter Solstice One and All!

Here’s an interesting solstice fact for you: the Earth is actually receiving more solar radiation at this time of year than at any other time. This is because the Earth does not orbit the sun in a circle, but in an ellipse. In the northern hemisphere winter the Earth is at its closest to the sun, a point called ‘perihelion’, but in summer it is at its furthest point, or ‘aphelion’.

The Guardian have published a little article on the timing of the winter solstice.

However, my favourite solstice image is on a different page. The same technique used in the photo on that page, from the same position, but on the summer solstice would probably not catch the sun at all, or perhaps just a glimpse of it in the top corners.

At this time of year the sun is always…

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I don’t know what you’re going through in your part of the world, but here in southern England there have been all the symptoms of a passing cold front recently. It has turned colder and there have been extreme changes of weather, with stormy downpours. The sun is out at this second, but the grass is poking up through a mat of hailstones.

I took this photo of an isolated cumulonimbus cloud and it shows one of the culprits in action. Spied on a horizon, this is exactly the sort of cloud that  should send a walker, sailor or pilot rummaging around in a bag for a Plan B!

There is a review of the book in the Irish Times this morning. If I’m honest it is the sort of review that, from an author’s perspective, a cold front can do little to dampen. Did they know that…

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I landed back at Gatwick last night following an accidental visit to Tenerife.

The wind has been my friend on so many occasions recently, a dependable breeze helping me on my way through the woods or the clouds scudding overhead pointing the way home. It was probably time that it reminded me that it is not just in the business of helping me on my walks.

The plan was simple: I wanted to use a one week gap in the diary to get out to one of the wildest spots within five hours of home to do some natural navigation research. Days one to six went well as I walked, mainly without reference to map, compass or GPS (all were within reach), around the dramatic volcanic landscapes of La Palma in the Canary Islands. More details to follow here over the coming weeks, including photos of the incredible ‘

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