Aurora Hunting: Chasing the Aurora Borealis



Photo by Image by McBeaner

While we go back into restrictions in many countries due to Covid, this late-fall and early winter if you are lucky enough to be at a certain latitudinal line in the northern hemisphere, or the southern (Australis Lights), you can see a spectacular show of ribbons of lights in the night skies. We see our sun’s solar winds colliding with the Earth’s atmosphere, which is changing in composition, and we get amazing ribbons of spectral dancers. Places to see the this amazing show include the Shetland Islands and mainland Scotland, in the 52°-55° latitudinal lines, and Ireland is also well situated to see these amazing light displays.

The Aurora Zone

Countries within or near the 52°-55° latitude are considered the best places to observe the night time light show. However, if the geomagnetic activity is high (Kp index) the lights can extend further. There is not a season per se for the lights, however winter is usually better with longer nights. And as far away from large cities as possible.

Scottish Sites: October to March

Isle of Lewis, Harris, and Skye (North), Orkney and Caithness . The farthest Northwest part of Scotland: Applecross Peninsula, Lochniver, Ullapool. Cairngorms range, Galloway Forrest Park, Perthshire

Coast of Fife, Morray Firth , Nairn, Cairn o’ Mount

Ireland Sites: Best months September and March

County Donegal, Inishowen Penisula and surrounds. County Kerry, Kerry Dark Sky Park. County Mayo, Mullet Peninsula (Standing stones and Northern Lights), Downpatrick Head. County Sligo, Mullaghmore 

Iceland: All of it

Norway: The Lofoten Islands, Nordkapp, Kirkenes, Tromsø, and Svalbard

Canada: In some places you can see them 240 nights out of the year

Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, and Newfoundland Labrador


Image by Martin Solhaug Standal

Share your Aurora hunting stories.

The Aurora Australius Is a Wild Night of Lights

Seven Epic Spots For Stargazing In New Zealand

E-Scooters: Blessing or Environmental Hell?

Yes, the last few tourist seasons have seen a growth in the electric scooter (E-Scooters) for hire schemes. Every tourist town has them. From Portland to Seattle, Vancouver B.C., Dublin, Edinburgh, and of course London and Rome. It started with bicycle rental schemes, hire a bike and pedal through town. These are not as annoying or fraught with danger, while one must consider not having a bike helmet is a bit of a danger. The problem is, someone takes it a step further and goes for electric scooters. And they are everywhere and have become the bane of many a township. The concept of a mobile transport with electricity you can just grab seems so eco friendly. But is it really?

It seemed innocent at first, but very dangerous if you drive a car. Many impromptu riders don’t dress for visibility or take good road precautions, much less obey traffic rules. Tourists come from all over the country and other countries, and usually the riders of these electric scooters are very young, ages 10 to 25. They do not obey local traffic laws, ride the scooters on sidewalks. And the minute they run out of electric juice, they abandon them, everywhere they can. In Portland, Oregon alone the police have pulled 50 E-Scooters out of the river. Its seems because they are small and disposable looking, that is what people do with them. Apparently the fact they need recharging doesn’t seem to enter the minds of the riders, or the responsibility of planning a route where you can leave one scooter to charge and pick up another is apparently too taxing on young brains.

From Austin and Denver to Chicago and Nashville, citizens have thrown them into trash cans, traffic, and yes, rivers and lakes. The practice has become so commonplace, in fact, that you can find dozens of accounts on Twitter and Instagram dedicated to their destruction. – Conner Cawly

So, why do cities allow these scooters to operate? Or are they clamping down? Or why is it people sick of the scooters are throwing them into rivers and damaging our ecosystems? Police have taken it in stride, asking that you not park the scooters in rivers. How can you make riders more conscious of others and not leave them stranded under over passes, peoples yards, and the middle of the street? Image result for e scooter logo

We expect a bicycle etiquette, well many bike riders have become very militant lately of their right of way and treatment in traffic. However, they adhere to safety rules and self police on dedicated bike routes. The E-Scooter crowd goes anywhere and everywhere, without thought to rules or curtesy. Let’s go to Copenhagen, a city known for free thinking and a very laid back atmosphere. They are not so happy about the recent epidemic of drunk and disorderly E-Scooter riders. It has become quite the thing to get really drunk and grab a scooter in town. Denmark has had enough. They cracked down and made over 20 arrests, citing alcohol and recreational drugs abuse. So beware friends, the police are ticketing in Copenhagen and other cities. The fines start at $300.00 and go up. But San Francisco, the ever on top of it City County city I lived in for years, has topped the list. They have sued, and won a great sum of  money. Now they have a permit system, and will crack down on offenders and have banned several operators from the city.

So how did such a great, eco friendly way of transport get so abused? If you support the environment, why leave them about like trash? Using logic, perhaps that app that allows you to rent the E-Scooter has a locator for safe places to park the scooter? Or, would that would would imply responsibility on the part of the rider? Most towns don’t recognize them as street legal, so some ride the sidewalks. Are you an angry citizen who has had enough? Instead of getting in their faces, or having a scooter rage episode, maybe educate. Contact the scooter companies and explain you want visible assigned places where they can be hired and returned. Contact your city and tell them that the scooters left on any corner should get fines toward the companies not picking them up in a timely manner. Many cities are already attacking the issue. Research a responsible E-Scooter provider where you are traveling to, and look at Yelp or other review sites. Talk to the local constable on the corner. Read articles for the city you are visiting and see what their official take is on the E-Scooters and which ones have a permit, and any guidelines they have so you won’t be fined money.

Please use responsibly, and safely. If you are traveling abroad, places like the UK have very old laws and some new ones on the books that monitor travel with such hedonistic devices. And they have very steep fines. Besides, if you are in such an exciting city, just walk. It’s much more rewarding. If you hire a scooter, use the app, find maps of bike routes and be courteous to lane sharing. You don’t want to go down some cobbled areas with small wheels, you’ll just upend.

Portland Police Pull 50 E-Scooters Out of River

E-Scooter Safety

San Francisco Crack Down on E-Scooters





Adventures in the UK, Punk, 1982

My Featured 45 for today is Crass’s, How Does it Feel. Crass is by no means for everyone, but they sure could get their messages across. They always had great cover art and posters from their singles.

In 1982, I was a punky 17 year old on my first trip to the UK. I was vagabonding for a month on my own. I was desperate to see where all my favorite punk bands had been and what influenced them, even if it was just to stand in the same city, hop record shops, and try to get to a show. I had to experience Carnaby Street, Camden Market, Portobello Road, and of course I had to travel and hit up other towns in the UK. I learned that each city had it’s own music scene after talking to local kids, each with it’s own flavor. I liked Joy Division, so off to Manchester I went. I then had to visit with some pen pals. So after that it was Wales.

I’ll never forget visiting with my pen pal. Ah, that ancient teenage custom of meeting people from around the world, before there was Twitter and Snap Chat. You dug around in the back of music Fanzines from the UK, the ones you might find in the import section at the record shop. You found names of people who liked the same groups you did. Hand wrote a letter, said “Hello, I found your name and you like some of the same bands I do. It’s hard to find this music here, I listen to college radio to get it. I’ll tell you about California Punk and Rockabilly, or Goth.” And so weird transatlantic bonds were formed. I would of course learn that not everyone you wrote to was how they presented themselves. That’s another story for another time.

A Discotheque in York

I was in Wales, that ancient city with Roman bits still strewn about it. My pen friend and I went down to the local all ages discotheque, me in all my crazy bizarre finery from the markets in London. Yeah, half my clothes got lifted at a youth hostel. London lesson. At least they didn’t get all the 45s I had picked up you couldn’t get back home. We sat in the disco, she with her Shandy, me with a Pernod and Ribena. Two lads started trying to get our attention. This was new territory for me. Boys didn’t give me the time of day at school or in California in general. The Gingery thing. So I let my pen friend handle it, they were Welsh and I figured I wouldn’t get it. But one wasn’t speaking Welsh, and he was in a soldier uniform. I picked up the accent finally. A Liverpool man. I had just gone through on the one day trip there. But he was speaking in tongues I didn’t get, very intensely. Finally his mate, probably seeing the utter bewilderment, and reminding his friend there was an American, tell me in my ear, “Don’t mind him so much. He’s just been through the Falklands business. He’s still not with us yet.” It was the short, fierce little war between Argentina and the British.

I had been hearing of the Crisis through my travels. I had heard something before I left home, and wanted to find out more. But this was the days of no Internet, and American filtered news, even more filtered than now. It was Ronnie Reagan and Thatcher. All about control. The conflict took place the April before I arrived, and cemented Thatcher for upcoming elections. The whole conflict was a mystery to me, and many tried to explain it to me, many of them older and very British. But the punk rock contingency was having none of it, and protests of the violence were being sung about in the music that was released that summer and fall.

I tried to be patient and sadly the young soldier with drink got far worse, and my friend and I had to make our escape. After that night, I felt terrible that such a young man had to go through such violence, and live with the people who had died because of the actions on both sides. I was determined to find out more about the punk scene in other cities. I had been told to try Edinburgh, and hunt record shops there. Maybe even get into a club. So next day, after dealing with Welsh friend’s bizarre Mum, I boarded a train for Scotland.


Inside poster art. Crass isn’t for everyone but they got the message across.

The Borders

After surviving the strange heat wave that had hit London a week before, I was warned to prepare for Scottish Summer. On the train I would find out what that was. I was scrabbling about lugging the case, my boots and short skirt, my punky self. Slipping and sliding on the wet floors. Trying to avoid all the leering men I kept encountering. Learning life’s mysteries of older men hunting young 17 year old girls. Definitely not something you tell Ma about when you get back. I  finally found a car with mostly women in it. Everyone was going about the weather. In those days, no WiFi to check the actual weather. But as we got closer to Scotland, you could see the bendy trees and debris flying about. Clouds dark as night. The train got thumped by gale force winds. Finally at the border, there was an announcement. All trains cancelled going in. We had to catch the train going back on the other side. Panic.

My Edinburgh Punk Rock history lesson was thwarted! Yes, it was really 4 years after the scene was really happening, but I still wanted to see the streets and venues these kids went through and fought in. I wanted to get in the record shops!

So after the insanity of trying to cram in on the return train on the other side, with no room for me, I found myself sitting on my case on the platform. A young station master strolls up and I ask when the next train will be. There is no next train, not for a few days maybe. Devastation. The Station Master says, ” I’ll call the Missus.” Apparently everything is solved with calling the Missus in the UK. The man came out and said his wife insisted that I stay with them. I was a bit worried as I didn’t know this person, but he was in uniform and looked very worried about my well being. So I was given my Tae and got on so well with their young child, that I was asked if I had baby sitting experience and sat for them while they went round the pub. The Missus wrote to my Ma to tell her I was alive. Sadly, I had to go back down to London and couldn’t get to Edinburgh after all of the trouble I had been through.

This year, a fabulous adventure of a exhibition featuring Scottish Punk and Post Punk music is going on at the National Museum in Edinburgh, Rip It UP! I cannot travel this year, but if you are, take it all in. Tell us how it is.

Got any great stories from 1976 to 1990 about your travels and experiences in the UK and Ireland music scenes? I would love to hear them. If you know any great Punk and Post Punk bloggers/blogs, give me a line. I would love to feature stories here. Got rare 45 and album poster art to share, send it to me, all credits will be made.

Rip It Up Exhibition at the Scottish National Museum

The Outlander Effect on Historic Sites: Careful How You Tread

skye3Last travel season I hit up tours in Scotland and traveled the Bonnie Prince Charlie trail as much as I humanly could on a three week trip. Let’s face it, as filming continues on the fourth season of Outlander, the hit book and television series from Diana Gabaldon’s famous book series, there are many film locations across Scotland, Prague, and South Africa. Enthusiastic fans of both the books and the television series have traveled in epic numbers to reach Scotland, Prague in the Czech Republic, and may be doing so in South Africa. So, what does huge traffic and a huge amount of filming locations to track down mean for travelers, and the environment they trample on? It means Scotland needs to figure out how it will continue to handle the increased human traffic in its borders. Each historic site has seen large increases over the last three years due to the popularity of the series and films.

2018 Outlander Locations Map 

Outlander Filming Locations and Travel Table

When people travel, they have certain expectations of where they are going. We want accessibility and that the location looks like it does in brochures and travel books. It will never look quite like it did in the film, series, or travel book you bought. When filming takes place, areas are blocked off, and dressed for scenes. It can also be exhilarating and frustrating to fans who traveled to hunt down their favorite series, to get a glimpse of behind the scenes or be close to a star, but escorted off the property. Film crews are trying to work and bring you your favorite show. The instant gratification of selfies and pictures while filming have made some fans go to extremes to get pictures. Everyone becomes a Paparazzi. Producers and studios want to keep the element of surprise for the audience, keep that storytelling secret for the reveal. This can lead to some conflicts. Hopefully as a traveller, you can help promote responsible observance and help keep the area picked up.

To add to it, the popularity of film and TV series like Outlander have lead to fans picnicking and causing erosion at historic sites such as Culloden Moor. At the Fraser stone alone, damage has been done due to trampling and it will now have to go through restoration of the surrounding soil to restore the erosion caused by multitudes of fans coupled with extreme weather. Let us not forget, this site has historic mass graves. Those that have fallen are due respect. Leaving tokens causes more work for the grounds staff.

Embrace Balance
When you are a guest in another country, or any historic site, you should always think about leaving it the way it was when you found it. As a society, we like to collect and grab things for remembrance. People also bring in things as tribute, and the curators then have to dispose of hundreds of items. Just think about how you might feel if something was defaced or trampled on and you could not enjoy it when you arrived.

Clan Fraser grave at Culloden damaged amid ‘Outlander effect’

NTS Applies to Extend Culloden Centre Hours

You should always check with a historic site if something is going on that day, or at the very least check out the local papers. Most historic sites have a web page with current conditions and closures listed. However, these may not get updated frequently. Face it, Scotland is now an ever increasing hotspot for film and television. There are websites for local papers and they love to cover filming and will tell you if filming is in the city, such as Glasgow, and what streets are blocked off. Also, go in mind that no matter how much perfect vacation planning you do, something is going to be blocked or not working at one of the places you really wanted to see. Adapt.

Channel 4 Bid for Glasgow

Budget and Transport
How can you get to cram in as many sites for filming a series as possible in a two week span and not blow what little budget you have? Could you do less damage and annoyance to the environment or any landowners if you took buses or bikes to a local site, and not hired a car? Face it, Outlander is an example of massive amounts of filming locations, spread all over Scotland, and some of them only accessible by car. Or are they? On my trips I was only able to make it to a fraction of the sites I could hunt down. I made it to several S1 and S2 sites, and then continued on the Bonnie Prince Charlie. How can you cram it all in? Some Outlander and Game of Throne tours will get you to many of the locations, but are expensive tours and booked very solid, months in advance. Make a list of the sites and find out how to get there on your own.

Roaming Rights in Scotland
Scotland has roaming rights. What that means in a nutshell, is that the public has the right to go to public historic sites without access being denied. Unless a historic site has hired itself out to be filmed in and is shut to the public. There are many historically significant buildings and sites that are on private land, or you may have to cross private land to get to it. Enter these at your own risk, property that has agriculture going on, many of these are adjacent to working farms. Private residences are not right to roam, even though a deer path may go through it. If filming is going on, and you are blocked, or you want to see the filming and think you can get around another way, watch it. Guards are posted and can make you leave.

Too Many Filming Locations
The best way to get to most of the filming locations is by car and hiking in. Problem is rental cars in the UK and Ireland are very cost prohibitive unless you are traveling with a group. Group tours can be expensive as well. Many of these sites are not happy with the excessive car parking, people damage, and noise occurring. So, is it possible to see these filming sites via train, bus and walking a bit? Yes and no.

On my last two trips, I divided up what I could according to the larger cities I visited, Glasgow and Edinburgh. I went two summers and still came back and had only seen a fraction of what there is being filmed in. To get in more sites and manage the traveling better, I started compiling a locations and places table in a Google Doc, with public transit accessible sites. I will be making this accessible to you, my fellow traveler. It’s a work in progress, so if you have had some good or bad experiences with public transit and Outlander sites, send me a line so I can add your info to the table.

It is possible to see many of these sites, if you plan around the larger cities and take trips in sections. Hiring a specialised tour will help, but you can get to many of these sites with planning and not be on a tour timetable.

Outlander Filming Locations

Outlander Travel Itinerary

Bonnie Prince Charlie Trail

Season Five Revealed for Outlander

Outlander Effect on Blocking Development at Culloden Site