View of the Total Eclipse of the Sun in
Reims, France
11th. August 1999
Early in the year much publicity was given to the great numbers of people
expected in Cornwall to view the eclipse, so the decision was made to travel to
France for the event. There the area covered by the travelling shadow was
greater, with correspondingly smaller chance of congestion on the roads. Other
factors were the possibility of less cloud cover on the mainland of Europe, and
that the distance to be travelled from East Anglia to the path of the Eclipse in
France was shorter. Initially the site chosen was to be Compeigne about thirty
miles north of Paris. This historic site of the signing of the Armistice that
ended the First World War is set in a forested region, and seemed ideal for
witnessing the event.
On the day before travelling however the weather forecast was for extensive
cloud cover over most of the British Isles and France, so reports for France
were downloaded from the Internet, and Reims was forecast more sunshine than
Paris. This led to a change from Compeigne to Reims. After crossing into France
however and having seen a French newspaper with a more accurate map of
the path of the eclipse, it was learnt that Laon was nearer the centre line, and
would have a longer period of totality. Laon is also 30 miles nearer than Reims.
The motorway from Calais to Reims was fairly clear until we approached Laon,
when a 10-minute crawl in a traffic jam was our first sight of eclipse traffic.
Most of the traffic turned off into Laon, but we continued to the next exit, and
immediately found ourselves on an open hilltop with many cars already parked.
The slope was ideally placed, south facing with a backdrop of cornfields and
wooded hills, and with a road at right angles leading to a village nestling in
the Aisne River valley. We had arrived about two hours before the eclipse, and
walked about a mile down into the village of Berry au Bac for coffee. We then
returned to a viewing station near the hilltop at the roadside. Using our Mylar
Film viewers the eclipse could already be seen, and during the next hour we watched
the moon gradually moving over the face of the sun. The cloud cover was almost
complete, but thin, and the sun could only be seen from time to time through
breaks in the cloud.
Just before totality we had our last glimpse, with the sun appearing as a
mere hairline crescent before the clouds thickened again. Nevertheless the
change in the landscape and light was dramatic. To the west the whole horizon
became dark as night, although the eastern horizon was still bright. The
darkness from the west deepened and the light changed to twilight, and then
suddenly darkness fell over the whole countryside from horizon to horizon, and
night was upon us at midday.
It was a most awe-inspiring event. The darkness was blacker than the darkest
night. Because of the cloud cover there was no starlight, and of course there
was no moonlight whatsoever. Distant towns and villages were marked by their
street lights and night illumination, headlights could be seen on all the roads,
but nearby we could see no more than the people around us. The flashlights of
many cameras could be seen over the whole countryside, sparkling like fireflies.
The period of totality started at 12.25 in the afternoon and lasted for 2
minutes and 20 seconds. Then the darkness lifted as suddenly as it had arrived,
but full daylight did not return until after more than an hour later. Everybody
was most impressed by the eclipse; it was well worth the long journey. The width
of moon shadow was 68.75 miles and the speed of shadow over the ground was 2917
mph, according to the local newspaper.
When daylight had fully returned, we drove on the N44 back to Laon, stopping
on the way at a roadside mobile café for chips and lager (coffee for the
driver). At Laon we again ran into heavy traffic, and took 45 minutes to travel
about 4 miles to the A26 motorway. On the motorway also we encountered frequent
stoppages due to the heavy traffic, which only cleared after most of the cars
had turned off into the exits to Paris and Brussels, and we were then able to
continue to Calais with fairly normal traffic. These stoppages had delayed us,
and the rest of the journey was made at the maximum speed allowed in France on
the toll motorway. We arrived at the ferry terminal however with 20 minutes to
spare before the ferry left at 5.0pm. After check-in we drove directly on board
without waiting, and relaxed with a restaurant meal and on board shopping.
We disembarked at Dover at 5.30pm (BST), arrived at Layer-de-la-Haye at about
8.0pm and at Brantham at 8.30pm. At 17 minutes past 10pm. I was at back at home.
Distance Travelled 778 Miles.
Overnight stay at Formula 1 Hotel Arques/St. Omer.
Visit to the Crystal D’Arques factory shop in Arques to buy glassware.
Michael Ryder, Friday, September 17, 1999
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View of the Eclipse in Cleres, Rouen, France.
By Val and Chris Tappenden
We were interested to read about your eclipse experience.
We too were in Normandy, staying the night before at a friend's house at Cleres,
near Rouen. Their house is tall and thin and in the main high street.
They had to lower a bed out of the window and in through the front door as
obviously Chris could not get upstairs. There were about 14 of us on the
day, we all went up to the cemetery which is on a hill - luckily the cloud
partially disappeared at zero hour and it went very cold, and obviously dark.
Cocks crowed, cows mooed, owls hooted and dogs barked and we all cheered and
opened some champagne! Then we brought the dining table out into the
street and had a lovely meal to celebrate. The French thought we were mad
but all wished us bon-appetite! We returned to our house in Mayenne that
evening, but that was a mistake, as a 4 hour journey took 8 hours. The
Pont de Normandie (which makes the Dartford Bridge took tiny) was jammed solid
and everyone was walking about on it and having picnics, so it was sort of quite
good fun."
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