Our first attempt to see the Northern Lights, a trip to Harriniva in Finland, was unsuccessful. It was a great trip, but we didn’t see the aurora. A second attempt was called for. This time we chose a different time of year - February rather than December - and a different country - Sweden rather than Finland. As we’d done all the usual daytime activities during our last trip, we opted for some more sedate activities. On one day we took a day trip to the town of Narvik in Norway (because if I can take a day trip to another country, I do just that). And on another, we had the day to ourselves to explore the local area this time.

This trip we saw the lights twice. The first occasion was our first night and they put on a brilliant performance dancing above our heads, looking like they were dividing the sky in two. The second occasion was when we’d gone out on a photography workshop where they felt a bit more distant.

They were beautiful, and it was totally worth two trips to experience them.