Direction indicators

[Tony]

There’s been some excellent points made in the celestial navigation thread, some of them have prompted me to think more about all the ways that we can tell direction.

What signs and observations help people find a direction? :Thinkingo
The growth of Moss was mentioned, there’s also ant hills, tree growth, but I bet there’s a whole lot more, which ones do you use and how reliable are they due to different environments etc?

This is another of those skills that we can start locally, just around our homes and then expand further into the wilderness…. :chill:

 

[TheViking]

Churches tower always point west over here, don't know about England. :?:

 

[arctic hobo]

It's a very rough guide unless you're going a very long way, but rivers always flow roughly south except in Russia and northern Norway. Plus to find people, follow them as there are always many times more settlements on rivers, and historically 90% of people lived on coasts.

 

[jake trg]

I know i'm probably a bit thick ,but could you please explain how a church tower always always faces west ,surely it would change depending were you stand in relation to the tower .P.S sorry to be a pain :roll:​

 

[TheViking]

P.S sorry to be a pain

Not at all. :biggthump

I know i'm probably a bit thick ,but could you please explain how a church tower always always faces west ,surely it would change depending were you stand in relation to the tower​

The towers direction is straight west, always. The other end is then east. Then you could mark it somehow in a 90 degrees angle to get north and south. Hope that helped. ​

 

[jake trg]

thanks Andy i,m with it now :rolmao: I will have to check it out over here

 

[bothyman]

Andy

That took a while for me to work out :yikes:
I think I know what you mean.
The altar always faces East and the spire is at the opposite end usually where the entrance is??
Have I got that right?? :roll: not being a Churchgoer I never thought of that one.

Nice one

MickT (Scotland) :biggthump

 

[TheViking]

Andy

That took a while for me to work out :yikes:
I think I know what you mean.
The altar always faces East and the spire is at the opposite end usually where the entrance is??
Have I got that right?? :roll: not being a Churchgoer I never thought of that one.

Nice one

MickT (Scotland) :biggthump

Hehe, never go there myself, ever.

Yeah altar facing east. :biggthump

 

[beachlover]

The tower is not always in the West. For example, Westminster Abbey has its tower at the crossing of the transepts and is nearer the East then the West.
A better bet may be the altar in the Eastern end, but then again this may only apply to older churches, as newer ones are not always oriented in the traditional manner. It may also be cheaper to buy a compass given the entrance fees at some churches!

 

[Justin Time]

In Wales the Church Towers always point UP! :?:

 

[TheViking]

In Wales the Church Towers always point UP! :?:

:rolmao:

 

[tomtom]

its easyest to remember that the main entrance of a church faces south.. the alter is in the east and the tower is on the west end of the church.

 

[hootchi]

Great threads Tone. :super:

Err.. Maybe an obvious one but hasn't been mentioned yet. The Sun. It rises in the east and sets in the west. :biggthump Also locally I use the sea as a Northern indicator. It can be normally be seen from where I am and I always know my orientation relative to it. I once got quite disorientated when I went to the south coast. :roll:

 

[Wildpacker]

Sun navigation does rather rely on being able to see it though. It's amazing how cloud can massively disguise it's true position. Only during daylight hours though...

I used to have one of those lrdg sun compasses designed to bolt to the dashboard. Never used it but it looked impressive.

 

[Danceswithhelicopters]

Have a look at houses in general and farmhouses in particular. If not forced by outside influences-street shapes, neighbours, most have the frontage facing south to get the best of the sun. Especially true on older properties built by sensible people! Try it.

PS Try then going to the house and asking which way is south.....

 

[arctic hobo]

Great threads Tone. :super:

Err.. Maybe an obvious one but hasn't been mentioned yet. The Sun. It rises in the east and sets in the west. :biggthump Also locally I use the sea as a Northern indicator. It can be normally be seen from where I am and I always know my orientation relative to it. I once got quite disorientated when I went to the south coast. :roll:

The sun? I know a country not far from here where sometimes the sun never sets and sometimes it is never seen. A bit hard to judge direction then! :?:

 

[tomtom]

The sun? I know a country not far from here where sometimes the sun never sets and sometimes it is never seen. A bit hard to judge direction then! :?:

i know a bunch of countrys where theres no churches....
its probably the case with all these indicators that they only work when you can see them :?:

 

[bambodoggy]

i know a bunch of countrys where theres no churches....

Thanks Tomtom....not sure if you meant that to read funny or not but it certainly cheered me up, don't know why but it just tickled me!

 

[bambodoggy]

I have no way to explain this other than to say intuition/subconcious mental tracking (as in keeping account rather than actually tracking I mean)....as in I almost always have a rough idea of which way is which....I have no idea how I know....I just seem to... at night if it's clear I often do a quick check with the Great Bear or Plough or Ursa Major or whatever you want to call it and it's a nippy evening in hell when I'm wrong....

I've heard things about Shamen and Aboriginies "feeling" their way when they navigate....now I'm not for a moment claiming to be able to do this but I do think there's something in it...and maybe it's an elevated and more refined method of my mental navigational fumblings.... :?:

Prevelant wind can be used with caution....best to look for grass growing one way rather than just feeling the wind.
Lichen often grows on the south side of trees....

I think it was in the Dirk Gently book "Long Dark Tea-time of the soul" where he discusses the fundamental interconectedness of everything.... and through this he explains that if driving and he gets lost, then he simply picks a car that looks like it knows where it's going and follows it....now he does admit he may not get to where he wanted to go but he does have a point when he continues that he always gets where he's "supposed" to be :super:

 

[Pict]

OK I got it. If you're lost, go to church. I couldn't agree more. I think the church has been saying that for a long time.

One thing that really messed with my sense of direction was moving to the southern hemisphere. The sun here goes through the northern sky at mid-day. This turns me around 180 degrees. For instance I know in my head that I live north of the city but in my mind it is due south. I've lived here for a total of seven years and it hasn't made a difference.

I just spent a year in the States and my sense of direction worked great. I think such things get buried really deep in the brain. I'm very dependant on a compass down here.

I found out the hard way that comapsses have to be made for the specific hemisphere they will be used in. All of my North American compass needles pop up at an angle and rub on the face. The needles are weighted to align themselves with the magnetic field in the vertical and horizontal planes. If you switch hemispheres it throws them off. That part wasn't included in my public school education. Mac