I chased the moon to France

In August 1999, I did something that seemed perfectly reasonable at the time.

I jumped on my motorbike and rode all the way to France to find the path of totality during the solar eclipse.

I was not going for a holiday. I had not planned a leisurely tour or booked a particularly good restaurant. I was chasing the Moon’s shadow across Europe.

A total solar eclipse can only be seen from a relatively narrow strip of the Earth. Stand outside that strip and you see part of the Sun disappear. Stand inside it and, for a few extraordinary minutes, daylight itself is switched off. You can easily see why it must have been so frightening in the past, before people understood.

Northern France was in that narrow path.

So I got on the bike and went looking for it.

When you think about it, riding hundreds of miles to experience something that lasts only a few minutes is not an especially sensible calculation.

But rare experiences change the way we calculate things.

We will travel for hours to see a favourite band. We will cross countries for a football match. We will get out of bed in the middle of the night to watch a sunrise, climb a hill for a view or drive through appalling weather because somebody we love is celebrating something important.

The length of the experience is not what gives it value.

Sometimes it is the effort of getting there that turns it into a story.

Twenty-seven years later, another remarkable eclipse is approaching.

On Wednesday evening, the Moon will once again pass between us and the Sun. From Britain, around 90 per cent of the Sun will be covered, making it the closest thing to a total eclipse we have seen here since 1999.

It will begin shortly after six o’clock and reach its maximum at around ten past seven. The light will change, the temperature may fall and the early evening will briefly take on that peculiar, special, stillness that comes when the natural order appears to have gone slightly wrong.

This time, I should not need to ride all the way to France.

And the sky has arranged a second event for later that night.

After the eclipse, the Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak. Earth will travel through a trail of debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle, producing streaks of light across the night sky.

The peak coincides with a new moon this year, which means there will be very little moonlight to obscure the fainter meteors. In ideal conditions, astronomers believe there could be up to 150 an hour.

A near-total eclipse in the evening, followed by one of the year’s finest meteor showers during the night.

Not bad for a Wednesday.

Of course, the British weather may decide otherwise. We could all spend the evening staring at clouds and confidently announcing that the sky is becoming brighter somewhere over Wales.

But that is part of the story too.

The moments we remember are not always the ones that went perfectly. They are the ones that persuaded us to do something unusual.

To ride a motorbike across France. To stay awake long after midnight. To gather everyone in the garden. To stop whatever else we were doing and look up.

That is one of the reasons I believe so strongly in getting people away together.

A large house becomes a base camp for experiences. Sometimes the occasion is planned months in advance, such as a birthday, reunion or anniversary. Sometimes it is something unexpected happening outside.

Someone notices the changing light and calls everyone into the garden. Eclipse glasses are passed around. Drinks appear. Children ask questions nobody can answer. Later, the outside lights are switched off and everyone waits for the first shooting star.

Even if the clouds win, you are still there together.

Our collection includes beautiful large houses around the UK, with the space for families and friends to gather, stay up too late and occasionally let the universe provide the entertainment.

You can explore them here:

https://www.luxurygroupstay.co.uk/

I do not know whether Wednesday will produce another motorbike-worthy adventure.

But I will certainly be looking up.

Thanks,

Neil Atkinson
Luxury Group Stay

0191 460 0707

P.S. Please only view the eclipse through proper eclipse glasses or another approved solar-viewing method. Ordinary sunglasses will NOT protect your eyes.