Upcoming highlights include:

The Art of Mapping – Artists Claire Brewster, Dahlia Elsayed, Susan Stockwell and Heidi Whitman will give 10 minute introductions to their practice and cartography in the arts at the Air Gallery

The Geography Camp – A sleepover for people who like geography! As a camper you can expect to get up to missions, challenges, scavenging, hiding, gaming and playing.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes – Join one of Britain’s foremost explorers (click here to read walk‘s recent interview) at the Royal Geographical Society for a talk about his latest book and extraordinary travels.

You can find out more about the festival and upcoming events as they’re confirmed at www.londonmappingfestival.org/whats-on

Image: detail from an antique map of London by Braun & Hogenberg.

This comprehensive and richly illustrated guide has everything you could ever wish to know about navigation. It’s very good at the basics, for example reading environmental clues such as landscape and wind direction, as well as understanding maps, demystifying global navigation satellite systems and navigating in different habitats. The author is an experienced mountain- rescue team member and offers advice not just on what to do if you get lost, but also a good practice approach to emergency management. Andrew McCloy

Want to brush up on your navigation skills in time for a summer of hiking? Cotswold Outdoor have once again teamed up with Ordnance Survey to stage a series of free workshops around Britain on how to confidently use a map and compass out in the field. After the massive popularity of last year’s workshops, the number of sessions has been doubled to 15 and will run throughout April, May and June. Tickets are available in person or over the phone from the relevant Cotswold Outdoor store, and every participant is entitled to a 15% discount on OS maps purchased on the day. Check out your nearest workshop in the full schedule below:

04 May 2011 Birmingham Piccadilly Arcade, 105 New Street, Birmingham, B2 4EU

10 May   Knightsbridge 92 Brompton Road, London, SW3 1ER

12 May   Chester 82-84 Foregate Street, Chester, Cheshire, CH1 1HB

19 May   Newcastle 60/62 Northumberland Street, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Tyne & Wear, NE1 7DF

24 May   Milton Keynes Eldergate, The Portway, Milton Keynes, MK9 1EP

25 May   Holborn Unit 1, 311/318 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7BN

2 June   Tunbridge Wells 95 –97 Mount Pleasant Road, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1QG

7 June   Cambridge 6-7 Bridge Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 1UA

9 June   Guildford 2-3 Friary Street, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 4EH

22 June   Exeter Darts Farm Shopping Village, Darts Farm, Topsham, Exeter, Devon, EX3 0QH

The tiny but conspicuous constellation Lyra is easy to locate at this time of year; its brightest star Vega being prominent a little to the west of the overhead point during September evenings after sunset. This group of stars was known to the Arabs as an Eagle of the Desert, to the Native North Americans as a Vulture and to the Romans as a Harp, although the most famous legend attached to Lyra is that of  the Ancient Greeks who identified the group with the harp given to Orpheus  by Apollo  so that he could play music to the Argonauts.

The leading star in the constellation is the brilliant blue-white Vega. Shining from a distance of around 26 light years, making it one of the Sun’s closest stellar neighbours, Vega is destined to play an important role in the distant future, at least as far as Earth-based observers are concerned.

The north celestial pole is currently marked by the star Polaris, which is situated in the constellation of Ursa Minor (see previous blog on Ursa Minor). The Earth’s axis is currently pointing towards Polaris, which means that if you were stood at the North Pole, Polaris would be located directly overhead. The daily rotation of our planet on its axis makes the rest of the stars in the sky appear to travel around Polaris, their paths through the sky being centred on the Pole Star.

However, the position of the north celestial pole is slowly changing, this because of a ‘wobble’ in the Earth’s axis of rotation. This wobble is known as ‘precession’ and is similar to that of a spinning top which is slowing down. Precession is caused by the combined gravitational influences of the Sun and Moon on our planet. Each resulting wobble of the Earth’s axis takes nearly 26,000 years to complete, the net effect of precession being that, over this period, the north celestial pole traces out a large circle around the northern sky. For northern hemisphere observers, this results in a slow change in the apparent location of the north celestial pole. Polaris will eventually relinquish its position and Vega will become the Pole Star some 11,500 years from now.

Much further away than Vega is the blue-white star Sheliak which shines from a distance of around 900 light years. This huge distance means that the light we’re seeing from Sheliak set off on its journey towards us just a few years after the Battle of Hastings! Of particular interest in Lyra is the star Epsilon. If you have really keen eyesight, and the sky is dark and clear, you may notice that Epsilon is a double star. Binoculars bring out both components easily. However, larger telescopes reveal that each of the two stars making up the Epsilon system is actually double again. The fact that the Epsilon system contains four stars was first noticed by the astronomer Sir William Herschel in 1779. The two pairs are both binary stars, the members of which orbit each other. Epsilon is also known collectively as the ‘Double-Double’ star.

Delta is another naked-eye double with stars that are blue-white and orange-red in colour. Although these two stars are wide enough apart to be seen without optical aid, binoculars may be needed to bring out the individual colours of the stars. Binoculars may also be used to resolve the two stars forming the double star Zeta. Lyra lies quite close to the Milky Way and the whole area around Delta and Zeta is rich in faint stars and is a marvellous sight through binoculars, providing the sky is reasonably dark and clear.

So, if the warm summer evenings tempt you out to sample some of the wonders of the late-summer sky, check out Lyra. The Heavenly Harp certainly has a lot to offer and is well worth the efforts of the rambling astronomer! Happy stargazing!

Christopher Somerville,
£12.99, www.hodder.co.uk,
ISBN 978 1 444 70463 1

Things get started with a chance for you  to improve your confidence in exploring the countryside by gaining basic map reading and compass skills and discovering what can be done where. The event on Thursday 22 July includes practical sessions, so participants should wear walking clothing/boots. Booking is essential by contacting the National Park Centre in Dunster 01643 821835. Meet at Dunster 10am, no dogs please.

On Monday July 26 the whole family can join a National Park ranger to find out ‘who is eating who’ in the rockpools of Lynmouth and ‘what is hiding where?’ Meet on seafront opposite cliff railway, Lymouth SS722497 at 2pm for approx 2 hrs.

Finally, the Simonsbath Evening Deer Search on Tuesday 27 July offers the unique opportunity to try and locate the red deer of Exmoor. Meet at Ashcombe Car Park, Simonsbath SS774395-7 at 7pm for 2 hours /3 miles. Binoculars, walking boots/clothing are essential. No dogs please.

Please note there is a small charge for these events, for more information on any of them please call the contact number provided or the Dulverton National Park Centre on ✆ 01398 323841. You can also visit www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk for an interactive walking map ranging from easy to strenuous.

Using a lovely 360° panorama of the Castlerigg Stone Circle in the Lake District, Dave and Charlotte of the YonYonson web design agency have created Cardinal Points – a clean, simple and easy-to-follow set of lessons that will soon see you navigating like a pro. In lesson one, you pick a feature in the landscape and learn how to find it on a map. In lesson two, you reverse the process – something that can be very useful to know if you’re walking in thick fog.

If all that sounds a bit easy for you, download the advanced PDF for more (including a handy explanation of resection and aiming off) or why not pass it on to less experienced friends, family and members? With a Twitter feed to engage with walkers, Cardinal Points is a great introduction to the art of finding one’s way around safely – something we should all be keen to promote.

By compiling his everyday journeys onto maps, he has created a series of personal cartographies that reveals a unique and detailed interaction with space and time. After making the world’s biggest drawing of a pentagram by taking and tracking five airline flights over Europe, Jeremy has switched focus to the microcosm that is his back garden… tracing his travels on a lawn mower for his most recent exhibition at London’s Tenderpixel Gallery.

To coincide with the show, Woods will be giving a brief presentation on his current practice and other GPS projects. The talk will start at 6pm on the 19th, and space is limited so please RSVP to mail@tenderpixel.com by June 10th. For more, visit http://www.tenderpixel.com

This is the perfect tool for those wishing to navigate via nature’s own waymarks. Try placing sticks in the ground to read the sun (the joined mark from two shadows of equal length form the perfect east-west line), or staring at puddles to ascertain their colour (green at one end reveals plant matter blown by a south-westerly wind). You can even find your way to the centre of the galaxy (aim for Sagittarius which looks a bit like a teapot). It’s a call to readers to discard their maps and sat-nav and become natural navigators, rebuilding the relationship with nature that modern society has lost.  Sarah Gardner

Session 1: Paper map reading & compass navigation
This section will cover the beginner and intermediate paper map reading and compass work, including:
•    Understanding and interpreting the map
•    Developing an understanding of the OS grid
•    Introduction to the essential parts to the compass
•    How to complete a journey across mountain upland using map and compass, including:
•    Selecting suitable and safe routes across difficult terrain
•    Before departing, interpreting the expected ground from the map, and estimate the journey distance and time
•    Taking the correct magnetic bearing and travel using a variety of techniques.
•    Dealing with poor conditions and if it all goes wrong
•    The art of relocation

Session 2: Ordnance Survey maps for your PC & GPS
This session will include the following GPS & Digital Mapping discussion points:
•    GPS basics, how it works, and how it can help you
•    GPS capabilities
•    GPS as a safety tool
•    Introduction to GPS terminology
•    The importance of the map page

Session 3: Q&A
An informal and interactive session where trainers from sessions 1 and 2, surveyors/cartographers and additional Ordnance Survey staff will be available to answer your questions.

“Even with today’s technology, the ability to read a map is an essential for everyone from the leisurely walker to the experienced rambler,” says Mike Stevens, Retail Operations Director for Cotswold Outdoor. “Ordnance Survey are the perfect partner for us to team up with for the workshops, and offer people the opportunity to refresh their map reading skills as well as learning some new techniques.”

The workshops will be held in the following stores between March and May 2010. Tickets are free and can be picked up or reserved over the phone at the relevant store – you can find their details on www.cotswoldoutdoor.com.

31 March – Glasgow
7 April – Cardiff City
14 April – Exeter
21 April – Tunbridge Wells
28 April – Peterborough
5 May – Manchester
12 May – London Piccadilly
21 May – Keswick