The Northern Hemisphere is currently placed in a prime position to view a major meteor shower. Taking advantage of this, we went camping last night to see the stars, some meteors flying by & ultimately sleep under the stars. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere & are forecast a clear night (England has such a forecast), we encourage you to go to try to see the meteor shower tonight.
We picked the Mill House campsite near Worcester to have a low travel time while minimising light pollution. We have finally cracked the code for comfortable camping, having a plush double sleeping bag 🙂 After pitching up, having dinner & watching a movie, the clock struck 10 PM & the onset of darkness began. We positioned our heads near the tent entrance lying down & began staring at the sky.
It hardly took a few minutes before we saw our 1st meteor flashing across the sky, leaving a temporary streak of light in the night sky for a second. But what was really surprising & eye-catching were the number of much slower moving meteors. They did not leave a streak of light behind but we could follow them for much longer. To our eyes, it did not seem to follow a straight line (akin to a drunk meteor’s path) but it’s more likely that we weren’t seeing properly in the low light.
Our 1st show ended at 11:30 PM when some clouds rolled in. We took a nap till the peak time of 1 am at which point many more stars were visible & we saw a few more meteors streak across the sky. We did not have the equipment or the expertise to capture any photographs of what we saw (the best we could manage were grainy star trails) but will share a nice Instagram image of the meteor shower (courtesy Getty Images). The meteors are the lines deviating from the circular star trails.
Tiny star trails that showed up on our cam, for comparison 😛
We should add that it is a romantic experience to share with your partner ❤ There is nothing like nature’s vastness & grandeur to make you feel lucky to be able to share it with a special someone.
Worcester
We transited through the city of Worcester (that gives it’s name to Worcestershire sauce) to get to/from our campsite. We had imagined Worcester to be a small town with a special shop that makes the sauce being the highlight, we were wrong. It has a busy high street (for a weekday afternoon) as seen in today’s magnificent sunshine.
Worcester Cathedral is the top attraction of the city with good reason. Firstly entry is free which sets it apart from other magnificent cathedrals we have come across (York Minster & Westminster Abbey). This cathedral is massive (the largest we have seen) & was built across a period of 400+ years (1084-1504). It’s gorgeous inside with it’s stained glass, ornate structures & seemingly infinite space. A photography permit costs £3 & we bought one to take the following pics (on top of the featured image).
Section of the ornate roof imposed with a cross
Human for scale
Tip: You can climb about 230 odd steps to the top of the cathedral tower for £4 for some panoramic views of the city.
Worcester Food & Drink
We had just lunch in Worcester but what a lunch it was. We finally got our hands on some Jamaican food for the 1st time after leaving the US courtesy of Jamaica Wah Gwaan The chicken curry was perfect but the jerk chicken was almost orgasmic with the jerk spices staying on your tongue long after you have swallowed, the way it is supposed to be! Definitely check them out if you are in town for lunch.
Curry chicken (L) & Jerk Chicken (R)
Located just outside Worcester, Mill House is a pretty large campsite next to a very narrow river but giving access to the nearby Severn river. Very low light pollution makes it good for stargazing on clear nights. The only knock is a constant hum of traffic from the next-door motorway.
UK Campsite Link: http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/reviews.asp?revid=1809
Distance from public transit: 3 min walk from a bus stand served hourly by Diamond bus 303. Frequent trains go to the connecting rail station Wocester Foregate street. Took us less than 1.5 hours to get here from central Birmingham.
Price: Very reasonable at £7.50 for a small tent with 2 ppl, no car (prices based on number of tents, not number of ppl)
Toilets & showers: Clean blocks for men & women consisting of 4 toilets & 2 showers per block.
View:
Notes: The campsite has a small shop with basic supplies (crisps, drinks, etc), some produce (eggs, sausages) & what reads off as a fantastic full breakfast only on Saturday, Sunday & Bank Holiday Mondays (we couldn’t have it on our Friday morning here).
Beyond our horizons 