The Greatest Light Show on Earth

“Where are we going, where are we going???” I said.

“If I told you that it wouldn’t be a surprise anymore. Just pack some warm clothes and your camera. And make sure to remember the tripod.”

For weeks I had to endure the tortuous agony of not knowing where we were going on our first anniversary trip, until finally, one dark Saturday mid-November morning we got up at stupid o’clock and set off. I was teased with various clues along the way until just before reaching Gatwick when the puzzle was solved. We were off on a plane to NORWAY!!!

Tromsø to be more exact, just inside the arctic circle. If we were lucky we might even be able to see the Northern Lights!!! At this point I nearly burst with excitement. I’d wanted to do this for ages!

Many people visit the region and never see the lights. We were lucky and saw them two nights in a row! I guess it helped that our cabin was next to a fjord at Ersfjordbotn and far enough away from the bright lights of Tromsø.

The lights themselves were weird and beautiful and mystical and magical all at the same time. They looked like clouds but moved like spirits. I could go on about magnetic fields and sunstorms, but I prefer to think of them as magic space rainbows dancing through the night sky.

They start with a green glow on the horizon, which gets brighter and brighter…

…until they eventually fill the whole sky.

Awesome! In the true sense of the word.

“Quick, come and have a look at this outside” I excitedly called after waking on our first morning refreshed after the late night of light hunting. “The sun is just coming up and the light’s gone all magical on the top of the mountains!”.

Little did I know that there was no hurry. At that time of year the sun only just manages to peep above the horizon and in the short 4 hours of daylight the day runs directly from dawn to sunrise to sunset to dusk, so the light is always beautiful. While we were there it never got higher than this…

But still we went out, walked further than planned and climbed what felt like a giant mountain, until Rob broke through some ice and soaked his foot with icy water and we turned back, but not before soaking up the stunning views that surrounded us.