We saw the northern lights!!! Oh my goodness – spectacular!!! They are truly beautiful and definitely live up to expectations. In fact they are better than I imagined J

The lights were mesmerising to the extent that David and I stood there in freezing cold, with necks bent backwards, looking up in awe at the sky for good two hours, disregarding the neck cramps and icy toes.

The lights were right above us, stretching across the sky. They rapidly changed how they looked. One moment they looked like they were dancing up in the sky, swaying like a hem of a flamenco dancers skirt, then the next moment they would become more vague, like a mist or cloud made of light only to then collect once again and race across the sky, never looking the same twice.

Seeing the northern lights was all the more special, because we thought we might not be fortunate enough to see them at all this trip, basing on the ghastly weather forecasts for the upcoming week. We drove out of Alta in the South direction, hoping that by going further from the coast we’re more likely to encounter clear sky. It worked. We were lucky to find a gap in the clouds on the night of a solar storm and I’m so happy.

I have to admit that I had not been hopeful that we would see the aurora at all after looking at the forecast on the way to Alta. While there was a great looking spike in activity coming up, the weather looked disappointingly cloudy. Wednesday night looked the best possible evening and near to Alta the best location.

We chose our lay-by to stop in purely on the basis that we could see the stars in the sky. When we stepped out of the car we immediately noticed the green wisps in the sky clearer than we had seen in Lofoten. Within 5 minutes the sky came alive with sheets of green light sometimes in a bright powerful line, sometimes rippling across the sky as though caught in the wind, always with a shimmering purple edge preceding them.

The northern lights are different when you see them up close – a paler more ethereal shade of green than the photos would lead you to believe. Our photos certainly don’t do it justice – perhaps we will look up how to photograph them properly should we catch another display and have the wherewithal to do more than merely gape this time.