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, then make sure you tune to the series, All Roads Lead Home, which will go out on BBC2 in October.

If you’d like to learn more about natural navigation in the meantime, then have a browse of the website or my book on the subject.

The Natural Navigator Pocket Guide is out now!

Who is this book for? How does it differ from the original book? How big is it? So many questions!

First the jacket blurb, then my take on the book:

‘Starting with a simple question – ‘Which way am I looking?’ – Tristan Gooley blends natural science, myth, folklore and the history of travel to introduce you to the rare and ancient art of finding your way using nature’s own sign-posts, from the feel of a rock to the look of the moon.

With Tristan’s help, you’ll learn why some trees grow the way they do and how they can help you find your way in the countryside. You’ll discover how it’s possible to find North simply by looking at a puddle and how natural signs can be used to navigate on the open ocean and in the heart of…

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The Natural Navigator has gone on sale in Germany!

Der natürliche Kompass, Mit allen Sinnen unterwegs.

Last night was the inaugural meeting of the Night Navigators Club. This is a ‘loyalty club’ for all those who have been on any one of my courses in the past – or those who come on one in the future.

For three years I have been pondering how to solve a tricky riddle. There are so many people who would love to learn about the night sky, but it is very hard to organise an outdoor course for this in this country because the weather is so unreliable. I need to sort the dates for my courses at least a few weeks in advance and it is impossible to predict the conditions that far away. Also, the best times of the year for star, moon and planet-gazing are not the best times for weather. Mid-summer is great for many outdoor activities, but with the late sunsets it is not…

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I’m just back from six days in Cairngorms in the Scottish Highlands.

In the foreground of the first picture you can probably make out some indentations in the snow and ice. On first glance these impressions can look like footprints, but they are actually grooves and ‘tongues’ that have been carved and sculpted by the prevailing local winds.

In the the second photo, you can see that in this case they are giving a reliable indication of west/east.

In the book I explain how these tongues are used by indigenous Arctic people, like the Inuit, and how they come to know the different characters of the tongues and therefore which winds, and, critically, which wind directions have formed them.

Happy New Year!

At times like this, I sometimes wonder what the Earth and Sun would say to each other if they could talk. They would watch us celebrating this annual moment at such an arbitrary time…

Sun: I could understand a party at either solstice…

Earth: Yes, or one at either equinox. Would make good sense…

Sun. Quite. But to pick a day about a week after one solstice…

Earth: Very strange.

Sun. Yes. They are a very strange lot.

In this picture of a beech tree in Wiltshire, we can see both moss and lichens thriving in the moist air close to the ground. Water evaporates constantly from the ground and moisture-loving organisms, including mosses, lichens and algae, will be found close to the ground regardless of aspect.

Direction can be found by looking for clues above this area or sometimes by getting to know the lichens…

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Day in, day out, paths experience a different life to that of their verges.

Very often there is undergrowth on each side of a path, sheltering one side of them from the sun’s drying rays, but their exposure to and shelter from wind also sets them apart. This can be seen most clearly when snow or frost is thawing. The path will either thaw first, or, as in this picture which I took about ten days ago, they hold onto their snow for longer.

As I mention in the book, this is something that can be of value when walking at night. If the path is big, bold and broad like this one (an old Roman road) then no help is needed in following a path at night, but if you are following one of those less clearly defined snakes in the grass then all help will be welcome.…

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There was a ‘mini-review’ of the book in yesterday’s Sunday Times Culture section’s seasonal selection of the books of 2010. Here it is in its entirety:

My book is being published in the US in January. I’m very excited and not a little curious to see how American readers react to it.

I can’t think of a book that has hurtled more determinedly into the gap between the two faces of America. Is it a country of ‘drive 100 yards to the mall’ or ‘head west’, the pioneer spirit and Henry David Thoreau? Of course it is both; I have seen someone in Florida drive between two shops but stay in the same car-park, but I have also watched someone who thirsted so greatly for the outdoors that they died in front of me in Arizona.

British readers will know that this is not a book about physical exertion, but one about thoughts.

Here is a sneak preview of the US cover. What do you think?

The US edition can be pre-ordered on

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My thanks to all the GQ readers who came to my natural navigation talk at Molton House in the West End last night. Thanks also to Monkey Shoulder whisky for hosting the night.

I am fortunate, my work takes me to all sorts of places: deserts, mountains, universities, bookshops, islands, offices, clubs, societies… but never before had I been invited to a venue that describes itself as, ‘a sybaritic haven’.

If talking about the natural world in such a quintessentially urban venue was to some extent a clash of cultures, then it did not seem to phase readers of GQ, who beat the tube strike to pack the place out. There were lots of good questions at the end of the talk. Notably a series of ones enquiring about the difference in abilities between men and women. It wasn’t an all-male audience by a long way and,…

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