Nature’s Altimeter
The next time you get the chance to look across a valley to a high peak, make sure to enjoy your view of nature’s altimeter.…
Tag: wind
What’s the difference between ‘windthrow’ and ‘windsnap’ in trees?
And how can they help me find my way in the woods? Both ‘windthrow’ and ‘windsnap’ are names given by foresters to trees that have…
Pacific Island Navigation
There was a near perfect ripple map on a very windy West Wittering beach yesterday. The different wave patterns on each side of an island…
Clues and Signs in Trees – New Animation!
Here is the third in the short series of short animations. Hope you enjoy! If you missed the Water one, you can find that on…
How to Read Water – New Animation!
Here is the first of a short series of animations that I will be publishing over the coming weeks. Hope you enjoy!
Newcastle Alumni at The Athenaeum
My thanks to Newcastle University for inviting me to speak to my fellow alumni at the prestigious Athenaeum Club last Thursday. And thank you to…
A Cherry Blossom Map at the Hepworth Wakefield
My thanks to everyone who came to my talk at the Hepworth Wakefield gallery last week. And to the University of Sheffield team for organising…
The Effect of Wind on Breaking Waves
The way waves behave is a big subject. But here we’ll look at just one simple aspect, the way the wind shapes breaking waves at…
How to Navigate Using the Upper Winds and Clouds
I have written in the past about the basics of using the weather to navigate. Here I’d like to offer a couple of tips to…
Wayfinding with the Polynesian Voyaging Society
Something a little different today – a guest blog. I am very grateful to Hye Jung Kim and all the team at Project Wayfinder for…
The Supermoon and Tides
Tides are at the greatest range near a full or new moon and these are called ‘spring tides’. This is when the sun and moon’s…
How to Read Wave Patterns at the Coast
I took this photo from the South West Coast Path in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, a few days ago. In it we can see…
Adventure Sports Podcast
I recently did a podcast interview with Mason Gravley of the Adventure Sports Podcast in the US. (Interview begins about 5.40 mins in.) There are…
How to Navigate Using Snow Strips
As is my habit at this time of year, I like to get out early after any overnight snow. The tracking opportunities are spoiling and…
What is a Slick Line?
Slick lines form on water when a very thin layer of oil spreads out across the water. The oil dampens ripples creating calmer patches. Over…
The Wind and Lower Plants
My thanks to Jamie Abbott for this email: Dear Tristan,My name is Jamie Abbott, 28 from Suffolk. Having read your book ‘The Walker’s Guide to…
Evolving Views
With bumps on the road, hopefully each year we grow more enlightened in our view of nature and our relationship with it. But there is…
What is swash?
Swash is the name given to the waves that rush up the beach after a wave has broken. They are intriguing little waves that inhabit…
The Snow Shadow Compass
There are two main types of snow compass: those formed by wind and those formed by sun. Here we will look at snow compasses created…
Equinoctial Gales
There is a widely held and strong belief that gales are more frequent at the equinoxes, but the observations don’t really support this. According to…
What is Fetch?
The definition of the word ‘fetch’ is simple: The distance that wind travels over open water. But why do we need to know that? Spend…