The Arctic Circle
Since we've had a whole lot of stories about the dark (er, what with that being the topic and all...) I thought I'd share one about the light.

A couple of years back I rode a bike up into the Arctic Circle, the length of Norway.

Around Bergen, it's light til 11pm and dusky til 1am

By Hell, it's twilight all day round.

By Bodo, it doesn't get dark. At all. For about a month and a half in summer.

By god this fucks with your head. We got drunk at a bike rally, lay in the blazing sun at 4am and then began the long trip back down south.

Time lost all meaning. You could get up at 2pm, ride til 6am and set up camp. We did. Without the little clock on your dashboard, it could be anytime of the day.

You have to work very hard to keep hold of the plot. One of my travel companions didn't. He had a small nervous breakdown at the side of the road.

Of course, it's not always light. For a month and a half in the winter the sun doesn't reach above the horizon. Now that'd be something to experience. That and the Aurora Borealis. Anyone fancy a return trip up north?

I asked a Norwegian how they deal with the long hours of daylight, the relentless sunshine.

'We close the curtains, Englishman.'
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Thu 30 Jul 2009, 9:42, Reply)