IN SEARCH OF ENLIGHTENMENT?

From heralding a good harvest to predicting war and famine, and from a fearsome battle between fire-breathing dragons to the lights marking the way to the celestial world, the natural phenomenon that we call ‘Aurora Borealis’ or the ‘Northern Lights’ has baffled and entranced us mere mortals, in equal measures, for thousands of years.

The modern scientific explanation – the interaction of electronically charged particles in our atmosphere – may be a little basic when compared to the idea of the spirits of the departed playing a heavenly game of football with a walrus skull (check out the aurorazone for a great overview of all the myths!) but one fact is undeniable. The best place to see ‘Aurora Borealis’ is from a low-lying, north-facing vantage point with little or light pollution. Not only do the Orkney Islands fit the bill very nicely – but October, when the seasons begin to change and the long dark nights return, is a great month to go in search of enlightenment in our dark island skies. And Orkney even has its own name for the lights – the ‘Merrie Dancers’.

Orkney.com has a great online guide and recommends the Brough of Birsay, Inganess Bay, the Ring of Brodgar and Wideford Hill as well as Broch of Gurness (a favourite of photographer, Kendra Towns) as good vantage points.