Sólarhringur: a farewell to summer [journal]
Orcas at midnight in the Lofoten Islands, Norway
A word with no real, meaningful English translation, Sólarhringur translates simply as "sun circle" referring to the beautiful 24 hour sunlight of Scandinavian summer. It's not the same as midnight sun, which refers only to the phenomenon of sunshine in the midnight hours, and "24 hour day" doesn't really sum it up either. The Greeks know what's up, though, and refer to the phenomenon as nychthemeron, which means "lasting a day and a night".
While that light stopped two weeks or so ago now, I feel like the last day of summer - fittingly bright and orange and casting long shadows in the afternoon - is a good time to say goodbye to it.
Midnight near Dynjandi, Iceland
I've known long days. A good summer's day in Melbourne sees sunshine until 10pm. After that, though, the sun truly does set.
In June, in the north of Norway, the sky would glow a vibrant orange for long hours overnight. We stepped out from our tent one night, shortly before 2am, and saw strangers walking along the beach holding hands. The light, the temperature, the people walking around - it could've been 2 in the afternoon. It was easy to lose track of time.
In July, and we'd moved a little further south, down to Iceland, and nights saw perpetual dusk. From 10pm until sunrise, maybe 4 or 5am, the sky was a mix of pinks and blues, like the sun was rising and setting all at once.
Overlooking Kvalvika Beach at midnight, Norway
Tomorrow is the first day of autumn, which means two things: 1) I'm not going to Hogwarts - which is a shame - and 2) I only have one short month left in Iceland before I head home. I'm spending a lot of time writing, a lot of time reading, walking the nearby cliffs and cuddling with our resident studio cat. If anything changes, I'll keep you updated (*I also got a pretty nasty case of bronchitis... probably from all that ocean swimming).
Cruising near Bodø at midnight, Norway
Lots of love xxx
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