On 05/03/2015 09:18, Graham Easterling wrote:
Indeed, and 99% is totally different to 100%. In 1999 it was a very memorable effect as total darkness raced across the sea, plunging from just dim to virtually dark in a second. I had an ex member of USW camping in my garden at the time.
Some lucky people on the Lizard actually got a break in the cloud at the right time.

I heard that there was a view of the eclipse through thin cloud over at
St Ives and St Agnes.

I was near Falmouth for the eclipse on the line of maximum totality. We
stayed up the night before and watched the most impressive meteor shower
I had ever seen under one of the starriest skies I have ever seen. We
thought it would lead into a superb view of the eclipse but in the end
the sun was covered by thick cloud. It was still impressive as a wall of
darkness (the moon's shadow) raced across the sky and then you are
suddenly plunged into a very dark twilight for a couple of minutes
before a wall of light races in from the west. It did go gradually
colder and colder as the morning progressed and during the eclipse it
went really chilly with a keen wind suddenly blowing.

My parents were at Sennen for the eclipse and briefly the cloud broke
enough during totality that they saw the eclipsed sun and a few stars.

On my travels back to Devon I stopped off at a friends house in
Teignmouth. They had an excellent, clear view of the eclipse with just a
small amount of cloud. Though the length of totality there was much less
than in Falmouth. I should have stayed at home!!!!

Oh well, the post-eclipse party in Falmouth was good (from what I
remember of it).

--
Nick Gardner
Otter Valley, Devon
20 m amsl
http://www.ottervalley.co.uk