Trentepohlia
This orange/rust-coloured algae, trentepohlia, thrives in moist shady places and – with the usual cautions – can be used as a clue to finding north.…
Tag: natural navigation
Light, Life and Direction
Take a close look at the picture above. Notice how there are areas of with low plants – in the foreground – and areas of…
How to Cross a Park Like an Explorer
I wrote an article for the Independent newspaper this week on ‘How to Cross a City Park Like an Explorer’. It gives a taste of…
Deducing Direction from Dog Defecation
This is not an April Fool’s post. Instead this is about the most extraordinary piece of research that I have come across in many years…
Extraordinary Winter Clues Competition
The outdoors can feel less exotic in winter and to counter this I thought I would run a competition to get us looking a little…
Nature’s Radar
Nature’s Radar, my academic paper on natural navigation observations during a small boat voyage in the North Atlantic has just been published by the Journal…
Wall Street Journal Book Review
The Wall Street Journal has recently reviewed The Natural Navigator book. Here is a taster: “…as the title of his deeply poetic book—”The Natural Navigator”—suggests,…
A Unique Sense of Place
Navigation is about knowing where you are as much as working out how to get to where you want to be. A lot of the…
Snow Wonders
One of the most rewarding things about natural navigation is that it shuns any attempt by the seasons to quieten things down. There are many…
Sunrise and Sunset Direction
It would be true to say that I would not be writing this blog if the sun rose in the same place each day. In…
Country Tracks BBC1
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…
Orange Lichens
This photo, from my recent and gallette-packed French summer holiday, shows the distinctive orange lichens that have daubed a southern-facing wall of Suscinio Castle in…
All Roads Lead Home
I’m just back from a week in Cornwall, where I have been helping the BBC with a new series called, ‘All Roads Lead Home’. It…
Back from Achill
After an intense week of scouting in northwest Ireland with the BBC last week, I felt a little weary come Saturday morning. We had covered…
Finding South Using the Stars
Finding South Using the Stars In the northern hemisphere Polaris, the North Star, tends to get all the attention when it comes to finding direction…
Natural Navigation and Sunscreen in One Tree
I recently came across this short video by Michael Barton. It contains a neat natural navigation tip and bushcraft at its most fun. Click on…
The Smelliest Clue
One of the natural navigation techniques that ocean sailors have used for centuries is noticing that the incidence of flotsam and jetsam increases, on average,…
Sneak Preview
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…
Finding South with Orion’s Sword
On my night walk earlier, the stars were on great form. I like to use lots of different techniques for fun and practice, but Orion…
Not Quite Full Moon Rising
Another very enjoyable Beginner’s Guide to Natural Navigation course at West Dean College on Saturday. There were sailors, walkers, a forager and an army officer…