I thought you might enjoy this picture I took a week ago of lichen and moss growing on a disused fountain in a garden in the south of France. Nature doesn’t make compasses much easier to read, but just in case you’re experiencing a moment of doubt: the photo is taken looking from the south side of the fountain looking towards the north.
The natural Navigation: The Right Course, Naturally
Moss and Lichen Compass
28 February 2011 by Tristan Gooley
BBC Countryfile
29 April 2009 by Tristan Gooley
Recovering from a full and fun day filming with Jules Hudson and the team from the BBC’s Countryfile program. We were out on the South Downs and I spent the first two-thirds of the day teaching Jules some of the methods for navigating using nature and then ‘released him into the wild’ with a tricky challenge. If you’d like to know whether Jules managed to find his way using nature then it is being shown on BBC1 this Sunday evening (03 May) at 7.30pm.
I learnt plenty on the day too, Jules was an archaeologist by trade and a passionate historian, before becoming a presenter and his view of the landscape is similarly analytical to mine, but his senses are used to scouring for slightly different details. I learnt about how Wellington used to read the land in front of him, about hill forts and burial methods amongst many…
Welcome to the home of natural navigation on the Internet.
Natural navigation is the art of being able to find your way solely by using nature. It encompasses using the sun, moon, stars, weather, water, land, sea, plants and animals.
The Natural Navigator is the school set up by Tristan Gooley to research and teach natural navigation. It is also the title of his book on the subject.
If you would like to know more about natural navigation you can browse the website, read about Tristan’s natural navigation book, or listen to a BBC Radio 4 interview with Tristan.
BBC beech trees birds book cirrus cloud clouds compass contessa 32 courses dawn direction east equinox finding direction gps horizon jupiter land rover latitude lichen moon moss natural navigation nature navigation navigation book navigation course navigation courses north north star orion polaris royal geographical society sea shadows Sirius snow navigating south south downs southeast stars sun sunset trees venus west west sussex wind wind direction
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