Sunlight and Shadow
Bearing in mind that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, it will be comparatively easy to keep your right course by consulting the sun. A fair idea may also be gained of the time of day by the length of shadows, if you remember that shadows are long in the morning and continue to grow shorter until midday, when they again begin to lengthen, growing longer and longer until night.
To find the direction of the sun on a cloudy day, hold a flat splinter or your knife blade vertically, so that it is absolutely straight up and down. Place the point of the blade on your thumb-nail, watch-case, or other glossy surface; then turn the knife or splinter around until the full shadow of the flat of blade or splinter falls on the bright surface, telling the location of the sun.
An open spot where the sun can cast a clear shadow, and an hour when the sun is not immediately overhead, will give best results.