California Club Meet Lapland and Northern Lights Trip / Meet for 2018

[dayslikethis]

That’s nice and central... if you haven’t been before and want to see the lights get out of town and away from the city lights ... hiring a car even for a day is a good option , they will have studded tyres ... suggest you head west towards tromvik and get a clear view to the north / west not obstructed by mountain...apologies if you know all this , in my opinion car hire is a better bet then a northern light tour , these tend to be very costly and noisy , missing the beauty of the silence of the lights ...

Next few days lights might be good if yiu get a clear sky ...

GEOMAGNETIC UNREST: The sun is leaking solar wind from a peppering of small coronal holes now facing Earth. The resulting breeze of electrified plasma, blowing ~450 km/s, is causing geomagnetic unrest around our planet's poles. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for intermittent auroras mixed with waxing moonlight on Jan. 27th.

Thanks for the tip - hope I'll be able to post a photo on our return. I'll give some serious thought to the car hire idea.

 

[PaulW]

Following we are off to Norway Sept would be good to try and tag on to some of this

Thx

 

[Tracy Paine]

This trip sounds amazing! If only we hadnt planned this years’ trips!

 

[Niborn]

Following we are off to Norway Sept would be good to try and tag on to some of this

Thx

Please let me know if you want to do that ..........

 

[Dottie]

Really nice! Just looked at my calendar, and I will only be able to squeeze in a week in September … I guess it is too short, but I really would love to go. As I recall you posted similar last year?

I probably have same time constraints but please keep me on the list....

I'd really love to go on convoy to the lofoten islands....maybe another year?

 

[MattBW]

I guess for us the question is how long is the minimum to make it work? We could maybe manage 2 weeks but not much more which makes me wonder if a road trip is even feasible. Very interested though.

 

[Jubilado Tim]

View attachment 29361 View attachment 29359 View attachment 29360 Hi everyone,
I am planning my tour of Lapland at the moment particularly to take pictures of the Northern Lights, which I’ve done 7 times before , each time with improving success and I now know the region well and how to take good pictures of the lights . Although this time will be the first in the Cali.
I’m leaving late autumn probably the middle of September. It’s not too cold , all season tyres will be fine especially if they have the snowflake, just in case . Although snow normally hasn’t fallen at this time . The Equinox is thought to be one of the best times to take Northern Light pictures .
The drive will be up through Sweden and then a stay on the west coast of North Norway , an idyllic place I know well and is ideal for Free California Camping . I’ll be posting more details about this place . I think it’s particularly good because it’s much warmer then yiu might imagine in this spot , the Gulf Stream makes a huge difference. Briefly near there I also intend to hire a village house in a small fishing town , just to clean up properly. This house has 5 double bedrooms and is also in a magnificent location with a simply amazing viewing place for Northern Lights , it’s at 68 lattitude, that’s right under the lights , as you see in the pictures .

I know a good few locals in the village and I’m sure we will be made welcome . Then a move up to the North cape with more free camping . Finally down into Finland to stay near Ivalo near the Russian border . its much colder in Finland so I will hire a very comfortable large 4 bed cabin with a large sauna , I belong to the club there and I have about an 60% discount on the cabin rates if another is required , they have two to four bedrooms options all ensuite. I will be using the Cali to stay out in whilst waiting for the lights, again I know where is best for viewing. After that straight back down to the South again , with a few well planned stops in nice places.


Does anyone want to join in their own Cali for all or part of this trip ? Costs will not be too high and common costs shared on an equal basis between participants.

Please just register interest with me if you’d like to come along . More details will follow soon , some of these will depend on numbers so I’d like to get a general idea first .

Best wishes

These pictures were taken in the same locations

View attachment 29361 View attachment 29359 View attachment 29360 Hi everyone,
I am planning my tour of Lapland at the moment particularly to take pictures of the Northern Lights, which I’ve done 7 times before , each time with improving success and I now know the region well and how to take good pictures of the lights . Although this time will be the first in the Cali.
I’m leaving late autumn probably the middle of September. It’s not too cold , all season tyres will be fine especially if they have the snowflake, just in case . Although snow normally hasn’t fallen at this time . The Equinox is thought to be one of the best times to take Northern Light pictures .
The drive will be up through Sweden and then a stay on the west coast of North Norway , an idyllic place I know well and is ideal for Free California Camping . I’ll be posting more details about this place . I think it’s particularly good because it’s much warmer then yiu might imagine in this spot , the Gulf Stream makes a huge difference. Briefly near there I also intend to hire a village house in a small fishing town , just to clean up properly. This house has 5 double bedrooms and is also in a magnificent location with a simply amazing viewing place for Northern Lights , it’s at 68 lattitude, that’s right under the lights , as you see in the pictures .

I know a good few locals in the village and I’m sure we will be made welcome . Then a move up to the North cape with more free camping . Finally down into Finland to stay near Ivalo near the Russian border . its much colder in Finland so I will hire a very comfortable large 4 bed cabin with a large sauna , I belong to the club there and I have about an 60% discount on the cabin rates if another is required , they have two to four bedrooms options all ensuite. I will be using the Cali to stay out in whilst waiting for the lights, again I know where is best for viewing. After that straight back down to the South again , with a few well planned stops in nice places.


Does anyone want to join in their own Cali for all or part of this trip ? Costs will not be too high and common costs shared on an equal basis between participants.

Please just register interest with me if you’d like to come along . More details will follow soon , some of these will depend on numbers so I’d like to get a general idea first .

Best wishes

These pictures were taken in the same locations

 

[Jubilado Tim]

Sounds a great trip, we could be interested, please add us to your mailing list for update.

 

[dayslikethis]

Currently in Tromso and was on west coast last night at Sommaroy. The northern lights were absolutely amazing.

 

[Niborn]

Good stuff , glad you got out of Tromso , did you hire a car in the end ? It’s a great spot there and it has a free motor home site with toilets . It’s in a perfect location for the lights on the same Island as Tromvik .

Did you have time to check out the camping spot ? I think it’s next to the little restaurant, near the hotel .

Hope you got some pics to share ? Here is one from last night from Marianna , who does tours and she was on the same island too last night ? Perhaps you went with her , I know her and her Scottish partner George I think , she actually comes from Tromvik and if you are going to take a tour here are the amongst the best ..

 

[dayslikethis]

View attachment 29634 Good stuff , glad you got out of Tromso , did you hire a car in the end ? It’s a great spot there and it has a free motor home site with toilets . It’s in a perfect location for the lights on the same Island as Tromvik .

Did you have time to check out the camping spot ? I think it’s next to the little restaurant, near the hotel .

Hope you got some pics to share ? Here is one from last night from Marianna , who does tours and she was on the same island too last night ? Perhaps you went with her , I know her and her Scottish partner George I think , she actually comes from Tromvik and if you are going to take a tour here are the amongst the best ..

Our first night was in a minibus to west coast, 7 hours and nothing. Our second night was to a base camp at Sommeroy and sky was gin clear. Lights appeared for about 3 hours and by 11pm they sky just exploded with colour. Didn’t drive as roads were very icy in parts. I would absolutely like to make the Cali trip but can’t commit just yet. I will try and upload some shots but have had a problem doing that recently.

 

[dayslikethis]

Last night 31/1/18

 

[T6 CFO]

Stunning! Thanks for the pics.

On the trip later this year.

Mike

 

[Niborn]

Fabulous.... so glad they came out for you ...

 

[dayslikethis]

They came out again - just had to post some more photos. Norway is absolutely stunning!

 

[T6 CFO]

Wow!!!!!

One of the things I’m looking forward to is seeing the stars.

Mike

 

[kurienp]

Wow! Simply brilliant pics. Thanks for sharing.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[dayslikethis]

Fabulous.... so glad they came out for you ...

Still looking/costing your September trip. I may drive and collect wife at Tromso airport before 30th Sept. Flights are quite cheap from UK, we shall see. I'm having a serious look at routes /fuel costs/tolls etc. Our last week in Tromso makes it even more attractive to go back and visit. Don't commit us to any accommodation at the moment but I'll keep you posted.

 

[tanne]

so happy i found this .... northern lights on my bucket list for next year , so that's a good start for planning