Nordic travel plans August / September 2017

[funflair]

we have near total cloud cover, came in as the sun set, in theory you should get lucky down there if the rain stops, but we are about 1200 miles north of you, maybe more, we have not seen the for 2 nights now

a lot of good fortune is needed I think

And a lot of standing on the end of a pier, I might go to bed.

Night.

Martin

 

[DavidG58]

1200 miles!!!!! Wow , that puts a bit of perspective into it all doesn't it

and that is a straight line, possibly 1500 or more driving miles, we have just gone over 3000 miles since we left home not quite three weeks ago

 

[Debs]

Oh yes I know we are lightweights but don't rub it in

Martin

As if I would Martin

 

[DBK]

It should have been visible almost anywhere in northern Europe, I don't think I've seen this graph so high. Any time after midnight was good. But very disappointing if you had clouds.

 

[irnbru]

David please say you seen the lights last night. They shone brightly in Scotland

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[DBK]

A couple for the birdie helpers please

View attachment 184338

View attachment 184339

View attachment 184340

My guesses are:

The top one is a juvenile Wheatear. There is a feint eye stripe and some colour on the cheeks and throat which are good clues.
Middle one ordinary Song Thrush, not a Mistle as the breast pattern doesn't look right and the Mistle Thrush is not normally found on the north Norwegian coast. But I'm not 100% sure on this one.
The swans are Whooper Swans I think. The key is the shape of the yellow on the bill. On these it appears to project under the nostril. On a Bewick the black bit goes straight across the bill as if it had dipped its bill in ink.

 

[DavidG58]

last night proved to be a mix of all sorts, we stayed up till 11:30 no sight of a thing, far too cloudy and rather disappointing to say the least, but we got this of the moon as it rose, but then we went to bed

just after midnight three phones went off with text alerts, looked out still cloudy but I went out for a look, still far too much cloud to see a thing, but I did get this with the moon a little higher

back to bed, until 2:00 the phone all went off again, this time predicting KP6 which is pretty huge, so came out to similar but slightly less cloud and we realised we really could see more stars and had by far the best sighting we have had, only a couple of photos, looked more than took pictures, and they could get boring

as I went to bed it was starting to get light, so I waited for a little a took this from bed

a very special day / night was had and today is already looking as good, still in shorts / T shirt and pretty much full on sun 14C at 9:00

 

[Debs]

Good morning Norway from a slightly damp Notts

Those pics really give a feel for what you've seen David - have a great day x

 

[Kim H]

Wow @DavidG58 what a great light show you had and managed to capture with your camera! We were up at 3am in cloudy Lancashire....there's no better alarm clock than the sound of a dog being sick . Nothing but cloud and then torrential rain sadly. It's lovely and sunny now..........but we're not in shorts

 

[Figaro]

Northern lights seen in Scotland last night apparently

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[irnbru]

David this was taken in Edinburgh last night. You can see the new bridge in photo too.

 

[DavidG58]

@irnbru that is a classic modified or enhanced shot, but lovely image

mine are still hand held with only a slightly reduced shutter speed , what we saw is what you got

 

[DavidG58]

this is the simplified display of the chart @DBK shared yesterday, I have never seen such a high prediction, but not much use to us with the sun up in the sky still but this says that right now if dark the aurora could be seen in the whole of the UK

 

[Jasz]

Thanks David, we're on the Northumberland coast now so I'll be down on the beach this evening with my camera and tripod (rather cloudy at the moment but hopefully will clear later)

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

this is the simplified display of the chart @DBK shared yesterday, I have never seen such a high prediction, but not much use to us with the sun up in the sky still but this says that right now if dark the aurora could be seen in the whole of the UK

View attachment 184696

Well we're driving up to tann hill inn ( highest pub in GB) as I type so you never know we may be lucky too . If we can stay awake and not drink too much ale !

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[jumartoo]

We've no chance in the south of Norway unless the rain stops and the sky clears. Anyone seen a pink elephant???

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

Thick cloud up here at Tan Hill ( and it's raining) so doubt we'll see any lights . There's another two MH here too .

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

How frustrating !! This was earlier on .

I think there will be too much cloud .

 

[DavidG58]

Virtually no internet here so text only for now. We are in Eggum more here than we have seen so far, like a village camp site some cycling in tents some MH's and a caravan 100NK night but we also had to pay the same again for A + R who are sharing our MH but driving a hire car. That is working better than I expected, but of all the people you could ever have to share with these two would always be my choice

We had another great aurora show last night, took some more photos but will save you from them.

Got LPG yesterday from a motor home dealer in Svolvaer thanks Judith. Had a quick look at prices of used MH"s here which are pretty high but similar to us. We regularly comment on how many drives have MH's on them and how they are nearly all new, as I said earlier in the thread there seems to be plenty of money here.

On the LPG it's about as expected 21 litres day after we swapped cylinders. But 99p / litre but should have enough to finish the trip!

We are planning to go to A today the tourist capital (trap) of the Lofotens. But weather forecast for tomorrow is some rain, what is that all about, not seen proper rain since Germany

More or less going to plan time wise. A & R fly back on Wednesday very early we are looking at a site for 2 nights to finish their trip and they will drive back to airport on Tuesday about 200 miles. We will start our own trek home on same day closer to 3000 miles

Will update further with photos of travel for last 2 days when we get some decent internet

 

[jumartoo]

So happy for you that you've seen the light(s).

Hope you can get parked in Å. The parking is at the end of the road just after a short tunnel. We were stuck behind a coach who was stuck cos he couldn't get round a corner because of bad parking. So once we got moving we kept going through and out! Will be looking at what we missed from your piccies!

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[moulin 87]

So happy for you that you've seen the light(s).

Hope you can get parked in Å. The parking is at the end of the road just after a short tunnel. We were stuck behind a coach who was stuck cos he couldn't get round a corner because of bad parking. So once we got moving we kept going through and out! Will be looking at what we missed from your piccies!

You didn't a great deal.. We walked round for an hour or less and moved on..

 

[moulin 87]

Virtually no internet here so text only for now. We are in Eggum more here than we have seen so far, like a village camp site some cycling in tents some MH's and a caravan 100NK night but we also had to pay the same again for A + R who are sharing our MH but driving a hire car. That is working better than I expected, but of all the people you could ever have to share with these two would always be my choice

We had another great aurora show last night, took some more photos but will save you from them.

Got LPG yesterday from a motor home dealer in Svolvaer thanks Judith. Had a quick look at prices of used MH"s here which are pretty high but similar to us. We regularly comment on how many drives have MH's on them and how they are nearly all new, as I said earlier in the thread there seems to be plenty of money here.

On the LPG it's about as expected 21 litres day after we swapped cylinders. But 99p / litre but should have enough to finish the trip!

We are planning to go to A today the tourist capital (trap) of the Lofotens. But weather forecast for tomorrow is some rain, what is that all about, not seen proper rain since Germany

More or less going to plan time wise. A & R fly back on Wednesday very early we are looking at a site for 2 nights to finish their trip and they will drive back to airport on Tuesday about 200 miles. We will start our own trek home on same day closer to 3000 miles

Will update further with photos of travel for last 2 days when we get some decent internet

We were at Eggum for the midnight sun which in mid June was quite high above the horizon..Perhaps 20 degrees..

 

[CWH]

We had another great aurora show last night, took some more photos but will save you from them.

Oh come on, David! What do you think we read your posts FOR??? (well actually the tales are quite interesting too... )

 

[DBK]

last night proved to be a mix of all sorts, we stayed up till 11:30 no sight of a thing, far too cloudy and rather disappointing to say the least, but we got this of the moon as it rose, but then we went to bed

View attachment 184543

just after midnight three phones went off with text alerts, looked out still cloudy but I went out for a look, still far too much cloud to see a thing, but I did get this with the moon a little higher

View attachment 184544

back to bed, until 2:00 the phone all went off again, this time predicting KP6 which is pretty huge, so came out to similar but slightly less cloud and we realised we really could see more stars and had by far the best sighting we have had, only a couple of photos, looked more than took pictures, and they could get boring

View attachment 184545

View attachment 184547

View attachment 184549

as I went to bed it was starting to get light, so I waited for a little a took this from bed

View attachment 184556

a very special day / night was had and today is already looking as good, still in shorts / T shirt and pretty much full on sun 14C at 9:00

Really pleased for you David! I've had a fiddle with one of your images, which is probably cheating a bit.

 

[DavidG58]

so now got internet, just about the best thing we found in Å you were both right

yesterdays drive first

finished up at Eggum and a walk along a path from the site

an amazing piece of sculpture that literally changed as you walked round it

followed by an awesome sunset that literally went on for hours

the last one taken on same exposure as northern lights, oh and we saw some of this

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[DavidG58]

and today

now off hunting a stop for the night, the campsite in A is closed and looks grim, one up the road is open and looks grimmer, we passed a couple of roadside pull offs that we are off to try out now

 

[Jasz]

Really like your last picture, you are getting plenty of practice. We hear the aurora was seen in Berwick on Thursday night. Last night, although we had clear skies above, it was cloudy to the North. I also checked at 2:30 and 4:30 with no luck. Not sure that I will tonight, as it looks similar at the moment

 

[TheCaller]

Glad the gamble of all that driving to see the Northern Lights paid off. I note that you didn't fancy a gamble on seeing a Norse Goddess, so took your own with you.

( I'm not liking the beard . Does your Bev like it ? Ralph grows one for Goth weekend. Ok to look at GROSS to kiss. )

It just needs a bit more time. Stubble is never good, even when fashionable, but it's an unavoidable phase. It'll be fine once it gets another 1/2" of growth. OH assures me that kissing a man without a beard is like eating strawberries without the cream.

My Bev is actually encouraging it but eldest daughter has spotted it on FB and says it has to go

Remind eldest daughter that she's several thousand miles away & doesn't have to kiss you until you get back. She's right of course - the stubble does have to go, but there are two possible directions that it can go in.

Also remind daughter that beards are once again the height of fashion. Ignore her when she says "Yes, but only on men under 30".

Brilliant thread David. I ought to go back through & add about 100 'Likes' - shame you can't do a bulk award to a whole thread!

 

[DavidG58]

Sunday we drove to the edge of the Lofoten, found a camp site open, bit grim, maybe the end of season but would have hated to be here in summer if busy, got a fjord side pitch though so nice view at least.

Had issues finding dump options for our low level exit black tank, but did find an excellent free dump and fill option on the harbour in Reine, where you could also park with no other facilities for £20, we decided to drive on and found an 'abused' layby / picnic area that technically said no overnight parking, but was so far out of the way and out of season nobody else came by except 2 Norwegian MH's already there a Norwegian caravan and three cyclists

yesterdays drive was mainly half decent weather, but it has now closed in and looks bleak for our last day on the islands, tonight we stop over on our first repeat location at Evenes, ready to drop A + R back at the airport at daft o'clock on Wednesday morning, we are even going to see if we can park at the airport (05:30 drop off) technically this is just to save them a days hire car charge, so I might renegotiate that bit, they can do a drop off for the car and take themselves

we hope the weather picks up a little for our last 2 days together, eagle sightings would be nice, one catching a fish in sight would be a bonus , aurora still a possibility and at the site we first saw one together would be nice

piccies from yesterday

 

[Granjan]

Just caught up with a weeks worth of posts and your fantastic pictures.
Great stuff.

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