In 1999 my best friend, who I have known for 42 years, and I went to Prawle point in Devon on the south west coast of England, hoping to see the only total solar eclipse in our home country in our lifetime. Unfortunately it was cloudy so we did not see it. 18 years later I travelled to the USA to meet another friend who lives in Colorado and we drove to Wyoming to see the total solar eclipse on the 12th of August. The weather was perfect so I got to see my first total solar eclipse. I still felt I needed to see one with my mejor amigo, I actually mentioned it to him just 4 days after the U.S. that there would be 2 eclipses visible from Spain, one in 2026 and one in 2027 but we didn't start officially planning for it until 2024. After some deliberation we settled on my mates suggestion of a city called Burgos (which is a lovely city) And now it is done and we got to witness one of nature's most stunning spectacles together. The vibe was really nice as well, a mix of nationalities, mostly European, some Americans, but here there were no boundaries or political divisions, we we all one, experiencing this together in friendship and harmony. The trek to our chosen observing site, which we recced the day before, was pretty hard going, distance wise not to far, just over a mile from the apartment we rented, but both of us are somewhat unfit, and the temperature was 40C (which is actually the highest temperature I have experienced in my 49 years) plus it was all pretty much uphill and we were carrying our equipment plus as much water as we could carry. We couldn't stay up to watch the Perseids as we had an early start in the morning to get our train back to Madrid for the return flight to the UK. We sat outside near the apartment once we got back and tried to see at least 1 meteor but the light pollution plus the time being before the most active period meant we saw none, we had to call it a night. Hopefully I might make my total solar eclipse hat-trick next year possibly in Gibraltar.
