The solar eclipse is a one-and-a half hour drama, an awe-inspiring phenomenon that most of us will never see in our lifetime, and a unique experience for those lucky enough to live in its path. Britain last experienced a total solar eclipse in 1927. There will not be another in Britain in your or my lifetime.
The 100 km wide path of eclipse totality makes its European landfall on the Atlantic Scilly Isles, described by me in a previous article. It cuts its dark swathe across Cornwall, the south western tip of Devon, to Alderney in the Channel Islands off the coast of Brittany in northern France. From there it passes over the Champagne growing area of France, Bavarian Germany, Salzburg, City of Mozart in Austria, Lake Balaton in Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, the Black Sea, before crossing over central Turkey on its way to the Bay of Bengal where it ends at sunset.
Most of the northern hemisphere will will see a partial solar eclipse. But it is the awsome mystery of eclipse totality, when the moon blots out the sun and the earth goes silent, that will draw visitors to Britain's West Country to witness and marvel at a spectacle so eery that the Ancients thought it to presage apocalyptic calamity.
The Scilly Isles, mainland Cornwall, and Devon, are enjoying the height of their tourist season in August at the time of the eclipse. Casual visitors who arrive without making prior accommodation arrangements are likely to have problems at the best of times during August. The abnormally large influx of additional eclipse-chasing tourists makes it essential to book ahead. self-catering properties, hotels and guest houses, or caravan and camping sites will be booked to overflowing.
The likelihood of finding any eclipse accommodation on the
For my money high summer in Cornwall and Devon is best enjoyed inland away from the coast. In August the Westcountry coastal resorts are packed to bursting with family holidaymakers.
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