To think you either have a sense of direction or don't?

Agree completely. It drives DH nuts. He can orient himself in a new place so easily. I can’t do it where I’ve lived for 20 years!

Mine is rubbish. My kids play team sports and I drive them to away matches and I honestly don't know how I'd have managed before satnav. DH's is excellent - if he's driven somewhere before he'll remember the route, even if he's only been there once and it was a couple of years ago!

Yeah I’m surprised by this too. I have a terrible sense of direction, but I have google maps running as sat nav for every journey I drive and if I’m walking somewhere new. There are times when I need to set off and see if my blue blob is moving the right way and to turn around if it’s not - but I never struggle to navigate by following it, and it’s never taken me to the wrong place - and I’ve relied on it in many countries and in many towns and cities.

I don't drive, but have a good sense of direction on foot, and am good at map reading etc. BUT what I absolutely don't have is an ability to easily distinguish left and right. The words are completely arbitrary to me.

I was once on the ring road of a major city (pre sat nav) and (correctly) chose an exit based on the fact that the sun was setting in that direction and I knew I needed to go West 😂

My grandad was notorious for getting lost in a town he’d been visiting since he was a small child and I think I’ve inherited that sense of direction and so has DD1.

Apparently 10% of the population doesn’t automatically know their left from right (I’m one of them!) and I’m sure it doesn’t help with navigation. I don’t think that’s surprising really, how many people automatically know North and South? Left and right are kind of the same thing.

Mine comes and goes. Sometimes I just know we are heading in the wrong direction. Other times I feel like crying as I'm so lost 😆 I actually spent two hours once trying to head north out of London in my car. I gave up and called my dad. I grew up in London but apart from being able to navigate the Underground, I'm pretty much useless trying to walk or drive anywhere.

All of my DHs family have a terrible sense of direction. They all also think in words rather than pictures and I wonder if the two are related.

I have a ridiculously spot on sense of direction.

Always have. Think it's something I got from my dad.

However for some reason other people will insist on ignoring me and going wrong before they take my word for it. Even though they know I'm always right!

I just smile and nod and let them crack on!

Really!? I think it’s a godsend and incredibly accurate!

I struggle hugely with this, especially inside buildings - I often walk the wrong way in the office at work for example. I have to be really clear with people that I CANNOT give them directions if they are driving me home or driving to my house.

I also have some coordination issues and terrible handwriting, so in my case I’m pretty sure it’s undiagnosed dyspraxia behind all this.

@Swiftie1878 I disagree. I find Google maps a pain for trying to find my way around streets on foot and judging by the number of videos on line showing people trying to find their way around using it, and changing direction from one second to the next, I don't think I'm alone in that!

Google Maps is your friend!

I'm the same, OP. My brain just doesn't function in the same way as the brains of people who are good at directions. I do drive though. I use a satnav.

I agree with this. My dh has no internal compass and doesn't seem to picture where he is on a map. We can drive to to the coast and he will say is that France when we are looking north towards Wales. He can happily follow a road map but won't have imagined which bits of the country he's passed through on the journey. I love maps so I like to look at them and visualise the landscape before I go anywhere.

Totally agree. I have no sense of direction and it takes me far longer to memorise routes for driving than it does others.

If I come out of a shop I have to look at landmarks to work out which way I came from and need to turn.

I was once standing in my living room and for some reason needed to know if the door to my flat faced the same way as the front door to the block. DH just "knew". I had to stand there and actually walk around making the turns I would to go down the stairs around the corner etc to work it out.

DB and I were once at a tube station in a part of London we had never been to before. One of the not actually underground ones. I was looking around for the lights to work out which direction the train would come from. DB laughed because again he just "knew" based on the direction we'd entered the station and turned since then etc. Witchcraft to me.