The natural Navigation: The Right Course, Naturally

My thanks to all who came to my talk at the West London Aero Club at White Waltham last night. It was great to get back to my ‘alma mater’ after a few years away. How the memories came surging back. Those who frankly find sentimental blog posts too much to bear are advised to read away now.

My first visit to this august and historic grass airfield was a birthday present ‘trial lesson’ back in 1987. I got my licence there about thirteen years later and it was where I proposed to my then girlfriend.

I had originally planned to propose before an RSC production of Romeo and Juliet that we went to see in Stratford-upon-Avon two weeks before. I had the ring in my pocket, the champagne was ready, we were sitting on a rug on the grass, bathing in sun by the river… and then I baulked.…

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A belated thank you to everyone who came to my talk at the Marine Studios in Margate a week ago, and another thanks to those who also bought a book afterwards.

I arrived an hour early and walked down to the beautiful beach and went for a swim (yes that really is it in the photo). I then dried myself off in the beach car park, with the car radio on as I listened to Andy Murray losing, valiantly, to Rafael Nadal. A more British experience would be hard to imagine. I walked up to the Studios to give the talk, watching a kid go beserk after dropping an ice cream and feeling the sand between my toes.

Whilst very vaguely on the subject of swimming, the Independent invited me to be on their Best 50 swimming spots in the UK panel. The results can be found here.

Thanks to everyone who came to hear my talks and buy the book at the Outdoors Show yesterday. I will be giving the talks again today and on Sunday at the following times on the stage at the Wilderness Camp:

1.15: The Wonderful World of Natural Navigation. A quick peek at a couple of the journeys that led to my passion for the subject, including the transatlantics, and then a whirlwind tour of lots of techniques that you can use yourself.

4.00:  Navigating Using the Night Sky. The ways we can use the stars, moon and planets to find our way. Introducing the ‘celestial sphere’, which despite its name is a great way to simplify the night sky.

I will be signing copies afterwards so bring yours along if you already have one or hopefully there will be some left to buy later at the show.

Hope you can make…

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A really great crowd came to my talk at the Oxford Literary Festival yesterday. The room was packed, which is always exciting. It did mean that the temperature levels rose as oxygen levels fell, but enthusiasm for the subject never waned. In this sense the admirable audience took the sun as their model, not the moon. Thank you to everyone who came to the talk and for making it one of those days that gives a writer a warm feeling, one that lasts outside the room, in the cool fresh air.

Book update… Amazon and Waterstones online are now restocked. The second reprint should be ready by next week, so any supply problems should start to ease then.

Welcome Radio 4 listeners! You have found your way to the home of natural navigation on the Internet. (A podcast of my walk with Evan Davies for the Today programme can be found here. The short article that I wrote to go with the interview and the video that accompanied the broadcast can be found here.)

The book reviews are starting to come in:

‘In a sat-nav dominated world, where GPS and a host of other acronyms designed to get us from A to B have overtaken paper maps, it is refreshing to meet someone who understands technology, but prefers to find his way by practising the rare and ancient art of using nature’s signposts, from puddle patterns to shadow lenghths… I’m hooked. Back at the beech, I make a mental note of emerging bluebell patches, forming an internal map that I’ll use to find my way…

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Another enjoyable Beginner’s Guide to Natural Navigation course at the RGS yesterday. In attendance: a patent attorney, paraglider pilot, academic, film maker, doctor, retiree, vet, town planner and optical assistant to name a few.

Among the off-piste topics that we discussed there was talk of whether we sleep better aligned North-South than we do East-West and also the idea that the expression, ‘follow your nose’ may have some science behind it: humans have iron oxide in their sinuses which may account for some experiments that have shown a magnetic sense of direction in humans.

Lest I forget, I will be giving a series of talks to launch my book in March. The date and venue for my talk at the Oxford Literary Festival has been confirmed:

Wednesday 24/3 12:00, further details and tickets available here.

Hope to see you there!