In search of the Northern Lights ....

Sommaroy was nice enough, but we were really only here for one thing - to try to catch a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights.

We had picked Sommaroy because it is supposed to be a good place to see them. Being a small island, with a low population, there is relatively little light pollution to get in the way, compared to Tromso or other cities.






Of course the biggest problems are the relative unpredictability of the lights, and the weather.  If the sky is covered in clouds, it doesn't matter how spectacular the lights may be, you aren't going to be able to see them! While we were at the hotel on the Friday evening, we saw many people arriving just for the weekend, and as it turned out, the lights didn't appear at all over Sommaroy those days. They may have booked onto a chase the lights tour, and found them that way, but there is no guarantee of that succeeding either.

So did we see them - yes. We had a few tantalising glimpses the first night, and sadly nothing in the later days, but nights two and three were brilliant. The first night of them they were fairly solid green lines through the sky, but created some fabulous patterns. the second night, they were more colourful, with purple in them, and they literally danced, flickering across the sky.

I'm not going to say anything else about them, I'll just leave you with a photo or two!