I’ve seen the Northern Lights before, of course. In fact I’ve a really good record – 5 out of 6 determined attempts to see them have resulted in photos of the aurora! This shot from Norway is still one of my favourites…
But I’ve never seen them in the UK before. This may be my best chance yet! The only problem is, such forecasts are unreliable and it may all be a wild goose chase…
Logistics: The forecast is for “storm” (ie highly active) conditions possible for 48hrs from Sun midnight. But even if it reaches forecast levels, the chances are the lights will only be visible in Scotland or further north. And that’s quite a long way to get in a day!
Flights? I look at flights to Norway, but tempting though it is, I can’t afford £500 to Trondheim, or £1100 to Tromsø, before any other costs are added in. Nor can I get to London in time to catch the flight either. A cheap flight to Northern Scotland, the Orkneys or Shetlands perhaps? But no, the Northern Isles are also £500 and hard to reach in time. Inverness for £120 from Birmingham at 4pm sounds much more promising…
Gas canisters and arriving by plane late on a Sunday: Oh, but it’s a Sunday… And as for obvious reasons gas canisters aren’t allowed on planes, that means I’ll need to buy one for the stove when I arrive. But being Sunday, that’s not an option… Everywhere will be shut. So no dinner, no hot drinks, no hot water bottle for the planned wildcamp (while I wait for the lights to appear!). And local info says it might still be -10C overnight regardless of the forecast. That’s not an option then.
Driving? Driving up in the campervan would normally be my best option – but it’ll be a 12hr drive, then staying awake overnight, possibly two nights, then a 12hr drive back home again. That’s just a recipe for falling asleep at the wheel. To do that I need more time available for sleeping!
Trains? Final option, I’m sure it’ll be too expensive, but how long does the train take and how much does it cost? Aberdeen and Inverness nearly £200 – that’s pricey and I’d have to leave at 10am to get there with any spare time to find a good location. Which means I need to be packed an hour ago. Oh…
The cunning plan: Ah, just thought of a cunning plan… The train to Edinburgh is very fast – at 4hrs it’s far quicker than driving. But it’s quite slow beyond there… How about taking the train to Edinburgh, then hiring a car from the station to drive the rest of the way? That seems a workable plan!
Of course it’s not quite that simple, I end up having to hire the car from the airport as I’ll be too late arriving at the railway station, and that’s an hours hike across Edinburgh. Oh and watch out for those limited mileage options – I’m sure I’ll be doing more than 100miles a day! But I manage to throw together enough things in time to catch the train and find a cheap enough car (£12 a day a bargain, this could be cheaper than using my own aging and inefficient vehicle!) and catch a train heading north.
To be continued – with photos from the trip in the next post!