Putting Things In Perspective With A Solar Eclipse

These past few months have been tough. First my Mum died in March, followed by watching my Dad deteriorate in front of my eyes until he passed away at the end of July. Only four months between them. My world has been turned upside down with all of this, so Jay and I have been doing whatever we can to keep sane – running, spending time with friends and getting away when we can.

Normally life just ebbs and flows along, but after watching your parents pass away it brings your own mortality into sharp focus. We all have a finite time on this planet, and some days it just feels like we’re wasting that time. But then other days I just don’t want to do anything, let alone get up in the morning.

In the past I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression, and these past few months it’s been hard to tell depression from grief. Jay has been amazing helping me through all of this, a frequent shoulder to cry on and voice of reason. But sometimes I need more than that, I need to escape. So we’ve done quite a bit of that this year. Squeezing trips in between the times we needed to be here.

We’ve only been away in Zagan, our motorhome, for three weeks this year, and I feel bad about that. However, I know his time will come. He’s just patiently waiting for us to find the headspace to plan a tour away in him. Those three weeks we were away he was used more like a caravan – we drove him there, parked up and he didn’t move until we came home.

Still it meant we could have a lovely week-long break at nearby Carsington Water – and could still be home within the hour if needed. Our fortnight in Whitby was just after Dad died, as we knew, from experience with Mum’s death, that there was nothing we could do until his death certificate was signed.

We nipped over to Wales for a week in a cottage overlooking the sea, we stayed in an apartment for the weekend near Bakewell in Derbyshire, and had a couple of nights in London mooching around China Town and taking in ‘The Lion King’ at the theatre. But the trip that made the biggest impression on us, so far, this year was the four days we spent in Mallorca in early August.

I first witnessed a total solar eclipse in 1999 when the south coast of England was clipped by one. I can’t say I saw it, as the day was cloudy, but as the light dimmed and the birds went silent it left a lasting impression. When I heard last year that there would be an eclipse in Spain in 2026 I set about looking into where to go to see it.

The path of totality went right across the top of country, but I decided to plump Mallorca, which would be the last place that would see it before the sunset. The flights with Ryanair were £200 for both of us from our local airport at East Midlands – which I thought was a pretty good deal for August. Our ‘basic’ fare allowed only hand luggage that would fit under the seat in front of us, so we both bought a bag each designed to fit and were surprised how much we could fit into them. I’m sure these will get a lot more use in the future.

Looking at a map of the island, the best place to view the eclipse would be on the west coast looking out across the sea. After looking into transport and accommodation costs in that area, I opted instead to stay close to the airport, and plumped for S’Arenal on the east side of the Bay of Palma. Keeping my fingers were crossed that the sun didn’t set behind the hills across the bay before totality was over. I bought 50 pairs of eclipse glasses in June while they were on offer for £13 – we took four pairs with us and I gave the rest away to friends and family so they could see the partial eclipse here in the UK.

We arrived in Mallorca on August 11th, the day before the eclipse, and left two days after. We’d have loved to stay longer, but we’re both rubbish in hot weather – instead of lounging by the pool, we spent most of our time enjoying the air-conditioning. I paid extra at the hotel for a sea view room (£420 for 3 nights) and when we arrived we rushed out onto the balcony as it was 24 hours until totality. Our location gamble had paid off, the sun was just above the hills, but there was also quite a lot of cloud just above those hills, and the sun soon disappeared behind it – eeek!

Our hotel included unlimited brunch from 8am to 1.30pm, so we got up early, had a large breakfast, explored the local area on foot before it got too hot, then headed back to the hotel for a 2nd breakfast/brunch. The buffet had everything from pastries and cereals to continental cheeses and hams, full english and even some local pizzas. With unlimited hot drinks and fruit juices we were so stuffed we retreated to our room for a lie down in the cool.

News reports and alerts told of closed roads across the island, mainly those heading to the west coast or up into the mountains. However, the road running behind Playa de Palma – the massive beach just a couple of minutes walk from our hotel – was also closing, as were the slip roads into the area from the motorway. Bus services were diverted and a special ’00 Eclipsi’ service was running to bring everyone from Palma our beach which turned out to be an official viewing area.

Totality was due around 8.30pm local time, but figuring it might get busy on the official viewing beach front we headed down around 6pm. Road blocks were in place and armed police stood around in groups chatting. We picked a spot on the sea wall and set up camp – by camp I mean put down a couple of towels as several hours on a concrete wall, even a warm one, isn’t easy on the bum.

Slowly the crowds began to build. Around 7.30pm the police helicopter was began to circle above and the crowds continued to swell. Eclipse glasses started to go on as the moon encroached on the sun from 7.40pm. You couldn’t see it with your naked eyes (honest I didn’t peek, much) but I could with my glasses – and evenutally once I found the right settings, with my phone.

Over 50 minutes the moon covered more and more of the sun, turning the ambient light a bit dimmer and the air a tad cooler. Right up until the very last tiny sliver of sun was covered, it still just looked like a normal day with the the sun shining – then the magic happened. As the moon totally covered the sun, off came my eclipse glasses and I took a couple of photos using the auto setting on my phones camera. I then sat and watched.

I can’t decribe how it felt to see the sun disappear, but it put everything into perspective. We’re but a tiny dot in this massive universe. As a chill went down my spine I shot a short video to try to capture the experience.

I had also set up our GoPro on the wall between us, not really expecting it to capture much as the sun was just a tiny dot. I was amazed when we reviewed the footage later that it had captured what we didn’t see. We’d been so busy looking at the sun, we didn’t see the shadow of the moon as it crossed the earth – but the GoPro did.

As soon as the sun began to reemerge from behind the moon, it dropped into the clouds hovering over the hills – a few minutes later it was gone behind the hills, and the crowds along the beach hit the bars and restaurants. We found ourselves a cheap cafe and tucked into tapas from the display on their bar – my limited Duolingo Spanish ensuring we got something tasty. We could have eaten anything though, we still buzzing from what we’d just experienced.

The following day you’d never know it had happened – apart from posters still stuck to lampposts telling you not to drive while wearing your eclipse glasses! After breakfast (just one this time) we caught the bus around the bay to Palma.

It was so hot we coughed up to go into the cathedral for some cooler air, but it didn’t really help. We sweated our way around the town sticking to the narrow alleys of the old town – those Moors knew how to keep places cool. After a picnic on a bench in the shade, we caught the packed bus back to S’Arenal before hiding in air conditioning cool of our room.

Our flight home was early the next day, but that short trip left such an impact I’m already scouting out how to see the next total eclipse – which happens to be next year, so not long to wait.

Back home I’ve been emptying my parents house – my childhood home – and getting it on the market. Giving away their belongings – which has got progressively harder as the most sentimental stuff is always last to go. I’ve tackled mountains of paperwork to sort out my Mum’s Will, which placed everything into Trust, and Dad’s Will which fortunately didn’t. Probate has been applied for both and granted, and fingers crossed the house is now also sold.

For something to look forward to, we’ve treated ourselves to a weeks holiday in Turkey in the middle of October. We’re not sun worshipers who lie by the pool all day, so we’re trying an activity holiday. There’s loads of water sports included such as stand up paddleboarding, aerofoils, kayaking and snorkel scooters, as well as tennis, ebiking and fitness clasess. It’s something we’ve seen friends do in the past and always fancied trying but have been put off by the cost.

If you’ve read our blogs before you’ll know that in 2013 we set out to become financially free, and after achieving that we retired early aged 43 in 2015. We never planned or expected any sort of inheritance. My Mum was in a care home with dementia for several years and I expected Dad would need his savings for more support at home over his final years, but sadly he didn’t.

After meeting Mum and Dad in Benidorm on our first motorhome adventure in 2012, Dad said when he died he wanted to leave us enough money for a new motorhome so we could carry on travelling. He’s done that and a bit more.

We’re planning to use some of our inheritence for a few nice holidays – we’ve just booked a month in Lanzerote over Christmas and New Year as I expect that will be a difficult time to navigate. We might get a new motorhome one day, but we still love Zagan. So we’ll keep him for the time being, but have the knowledge that if something on him breaks Dad will help with the cost to keep us on the road.

Ju x