We had some old friends staying this weekend and decided to laugh in the general direction of the forecasts and go for a walk in the woods. It was dry for half an hour, but then the clouds moving over our heads, and visible in the gaps between the near-bare trees, changed their scudding direction by almost ninety degrees. This was the starting gun for a predicted and yet sudden change in our weather fortunes. We turned at our halfway point, the 18th century Nore Folly perched at the edge of the woods and looking out over Slindon and the south coast. The rain came down hard, and then harder still and then the hail came too. The upside of such weather is that you don’t have to be cold and wet for long before you feel you have earned a three course Sunday lunch and hours spent reading the papers…
The natural Navigation: The Right Course, Naturally
Winds of Change
23 November 2009 by Tristan Gooley
Weather to Go East
06 June 2009 by Tristan Gooley
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.
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.
beach birds book cloud clouds compass contrails courses dawn direction east equinox full moon gps horizon jupiter land rover latitude lichen moon moss natural navigation nature navigation navigation course navigator north orion polaris royal geographical society sea senses shadow shadows Sirius south south downs southeast stars sun sunrise sunset trees venus walkers wayfinding west west sussex wind wind direction
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
BBC Sciences & Nature- Making money from Peruvian bird poo September 2, 2010An island off Peru is making money from selling bird poo to use as organic fertiliser. […]
- Hurricane prompts US evacuations September 2, 2010Evacuations begin in areas of the US East Coast likely to be hit by Hurricane Earl, which has strengthened to a category four storm again. […]
- Weather clash causes snowy winter September 2, 2010The collision of two major weather events can explain unusually large snowfall in the US and Northern Europe, researchers say. […]
- Greatest free-kick 'was no fluke' September 2, 2010Physicists explain one of football's most spectacular free-kicks, showing that Roberto Carlos's 1997 "impossible goal" was not a fluke. […]
- Old star wallows in 'steam bath' September 1, 2010Europe's Herschel space telescope spies an aging star that has surrounded itself in hot water vapour. […]
- Stone Age funeral feast unearthed September 1, 2010The remains of a huge 12,000 year old feast have been found in a cave in Northern Israel. […]
- Fishermen welcome new sole quota September 1, 2010Fishermen from Suffolk and Essex have welcomed a new quota agreement which allows smaller boats to start catching sole again. […]
- Video reveals Titanic's condition September 1, 2010New pictures have emerged of the shipwreck of the Titanic, almost 25 years since it was first discovered. […]
- Ancient reef uncovered in Pacific September 1, 2010An ancient reef may provide scientists with clues about what will happen to coral when sea temperatures rise. […]
- Earthquake recorded in North Sea September 1, 2010An earthquake is recorded in the North Sea about 155 miles east of Aberdeen. […]
- Making money from Peruvian bird poo September 2, 2010
Archives by Month:
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008