Total solar eclipse ‘awe-inspiring’ for Achill man

UP CLOSE ?A shot of the Eclipse over Westport at 09.10am last Wednesday morning.?Pic: Paul Mealey

Total solar eclipse ‘awe-inspiring’ for Achill man


Anton McNulty

AN Achill man who was in the Faroe Islands to witness the total eclipse of the sun has described the experience as one of the most awe-inspiring things he has ever witnessed.
The Faroe Islands, along with the Svalbard islands (a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean), were the only two populated places in Europe where the totality of last Friday’s solar eclipse could be seen. The next total solar eclipse visible in Europe will be on August 12, 2026.
Achill man Finbar Cafferkey was one of 8,000 visitors who travelled north to the Faroe Islands to witness the total eclipse. The native of Cashel, who is now living and working in Copenhagen, witnessed the phenomenon on a hill south of the capital Tórshavn, in a place called Argir – a name with its origins in the old Irish word for summer pasture, ‘airge’.
Speaking to The Mayo News, Finbar said the experience was ‘almost apocalyptic’.  An experienced traveller, Finbar explained that when he heard there was going to be an eclipse in Europe, he felt compelled to make the effort to see it. The sight was well worth the 38-hour ferry crossing from Denmark, he said.
“The eclipse was one of the most awe-inspiring things I’ve ever seen, I could not recommend it more,” he said. “There was maybe 100 others on the hill and thousands more visible around the town, along the roads and on another hill to the north. At first the darkening was noticeable but gradual from 8.40am, but at 9.40am, when the totality began, things got fast. It got dark very quickly, as if the daylight was being sucked out to sea. As my sister Maeve would say, it felt apocalyptic.
“All the streetlights came on in the town below. There was a little blue in the sky to the north and west but all else was dark. There was a lot of cloud about so we had only intermittent views of the eclipse before this but luckily the cloud broke as the totality came to an end. It was an awesome sight and I felt very privileged to witness it,” he said.
Finbar explained that when it suddenly got dark, he saw seagulls heading for shelter, and then  taking off again when it brightened.
“I met a few Faroese people who work abroad and who came home especially to see it. The celebrations afterward were mighty; they like singing and dancing here as much as ourselves,” he observed.
For those not fortunate to travel to the Faroe or Svalbard Islands, the west of Ireland was one of the best places in Europe to see a partial eclipse, with over 90 percent of the sun covered by the moon as seen from many parts in Mayo.