The natural Navigation: The Right Course, Naturally

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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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.

The title of this post is not, for once at least, a reference to my style of blog-writing, but to the BBC Radio 4 program hosted by Clare Balding.

On Wednesday night I joined Clare and the Ramblings team for a walk on the South Downs Way; we headed west from Amberley, finishing at the Bignor Hill car park. We were treated to stars, planets and a full moon. I’ll let you know when it is airing, but should be sometime in June.

I felt hugely privileged and honoured throughout the walk, as early on Clare revealed that she has been embarking on walks for the Ramblings series for nearly 10 years, but this was the first ever night walk.

Did you know that in the UK a full moon rises close to southeast in summer and nearer to northeast in winter? (If you find viewing the full moon from the UK all a…

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The two pictures above show two sides of the same bridleway signpost on the South Downs Way. The arrows both point east and there is a clue to this in the photos. It is not in the lichen growth, which unusually is quite similar on both sides, but in the colour of the arrows themselves. The blue of the south-facing (but east-pointing!) arrow has been bleached more by the sun. The three main weathering clues are sun, wind and rain. The first will usually be greatest on the southern side, but wind and rain will usually leave their marks more prominently on the southwestern side.