Details of the solar eclipse here: the map on this page allows you to pick a location and see precise timings etc (for british summer time, add an hour...).
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=20260812

**Raises hat to anyone who was involved in the railway's considerable provision to help bring people to Cornwall-and-a-bit-of-Devon for the 1999 eclipse.**

While this one's not total from there, and the eclipse is toward the end of the day rather than the middle, Land's End is about 300 miles off the path of totality, where the moon's shadow will be tracking along said path at over 2000 miles per hour.

People viewing this from Lands End will have the shadow on the upper atmosphere in plain sight - along with an element of absent reflected light from the ocean - though also looking in the direction of the 96% obscured-but-not-to-be-underestimated sun. Given a clear sky there are likely to be visual effects as the moon's distant umbral shadow passes beneath the deep partial eclipse. Visual effects in the form of a sense of motion, and this may give you thrills, and you may find that they're multiplying. Alas, I suspect that this will not be so noticeable from much further east in the UK, though perhaps...

Lands end being what it is, its worth bearing in mind that Penzance itself is tucked in its bay behind high ground. Away from the rail system, the Lizard is about the same distance from the path of totality and somewhere on its western coast... the environs of Poldhu perhaps... might well offer a better... visitor experience.

Turning to August 12th trains & looking to return the same evening, there are a couple of trains from Penzance up-country as far as Plymouth, but anything further would involve the sleeper. Thoughts extended to the people on the train that leaves at the moment of totality with connections as far as Bristol.... and Yeovil Junction.

Mark

 
You'd do better looking to be travelling *towards* PNZ at a section with westerly views from the southern windows....between 1900 & 1930 - max at around 1913.

 
The isolating qualities of train travel aside, the Cornish main line might include nine miles of viaduct but I think we know what the train would be alongside at the crucial moment.

Mark

 
I recall seeing the 1999 eclipse from the cliffs very nearly at the southern most point in Devon.  I'm planning to view Wednesday's from somewhere near there too. 
Not being quite a total one, there's not the same level of hype and media lead doom mongering about the inability of the region to cope with the expected influx of visitors which ultimately didn't materialize (probably in part as a consequence of said media overkill). 
It'll be interesting to see how busy it gets where I am.

 
On August 11th 1999, we completed the purchase of our first home in Melksham - No. 404, The Spa - an old semidetached 4 story Bath House from 1814 that was listed (grade 2) and we bought as a wreck.  We stood outside as it went dark in the middle of the day and listened and saw the rooks from the rookery in the neighbouring property start calling and with some concern as it became night-like for the m.

 
I took the family down to Penzance on Eclipse day 1999. We travelled down on the 06:25 from Exeter - normally a three car unit, but on that day, it was 11 Mark I coaches hauled by a Class 66. As history will tell you, it was cloudy and raining at Penzance, but it still went dark. Had we gone to St Ives or Newquay, the skies were clear!

 
A train to Plymouth organised by Pathfinder Tours that we picked up at Bristol. For the actual minute or so of totality, the clouds in the direction of the sun disgraced themselves - two minutes later they parted once more. However, obscured sun aside, the utterly unsettling appearance of everything else - and the behaviour of the wildlife - the eclipsed sun is only a smaller part of the experience and with a complex sky the lighting effects are overwhelming. After which we headed up to Gunnislake and back as that's pretty special too.

From the travel point of view the railway was... busy. A Network Rail helicopter on standby at Exeter, but the only disruption to the Pathfinders train was on the return as someone in the environs of Wellington saw fit to vandalise something (on another train) but management were on standby to sort issues so not much delay from that.

Mark

 

What a day for you... Wednesday will provide almost the same depth of eclipse though at a different time of day, perhaps tell the rooks as 1999 will be a bit of a folk memory for them.

It's odd, the amount of light provided by a mostly obscured sun's disk. After the 1999 event, someone kindly provided me with a set of figures from a data logger that they'd set up at Carn Brea (the hill near Land's End rather than the one above Redruth). Despite, subjectively, the light levels dropping during a partial eclipse - while also gaining peculiar qualities - that plunge in light levels during the total phase then comes as more than a bit of a shock - and then, if partly cloudy, the abruptly dynamic appearance of the sky as the shadow tracks across...

Mark

 
Nobody is mentioning the original War of the Worlds story 

 
Are you thinking of King Solomon's Mines perhaps?

 

 

That graph is misleading, or at least its annotation is. The physical light level (in lux) varies almost linearly over most of the eclipse, with no sharp dip. It's the subjective brightness that we notice that gives the rather logarithmic shape in that graph. A cube-root-law model fits the eye better, but the shape on a graph looks very similar to logarithmic.

From what I recall, if you don't know there's going to be a partial solar eclipse, even a near miss, you probably won't notice it at all. Even if you are outdoors in bright sunlight, you won't be looking at the face of the sun so as to observe its shape change. The dimming is very slow and subjectively it doesn't darken much. That's why a total eclipse can sneak up on you, until at the last minute the world suddenly goes all dark. That goes for birds too.

 
After a previous solar eclipse it was reported that the children at local school, were banned from any direct observation of the eclipse, and only permitted to view it on TV.
Then it was declared, that even watching it on TV was only permitted if via dark glasses ! "we can't have too much safety"

 
I'm reminded that in Devon in 1999 the farming community joked that Cornish farmers would turn in for bed during the eclipse.  I'm sure that the joke worked similarly for Cornish farmers.

 
Which comes first though? Eclipse or bed?

 

I must see if I still have the figures - I hold my hand up to simply slapping them into Excel and asking it to plot a graph.

In one way the change in lighting during a partial eclipse wouldn't be noticed by many, things do go a bit weird though - shadows described as sharper, and the illumination gaining a metallic quality.

I've just looked out my photos of the March 20th 2015 partial eclipse and was surprised at how deep it was, yet, subjectively the hit to light levels though noticeable was as that graph might suggest. The light, though, did gain a strange quality and then of course all those little crescent shadows beneath trees.

Mark

 
I've seen no sign the main TV channels have picked up on the eclipse, at least not so as to get it mentioned in listings or EPGs. Which is odd, as while it may be "only a partial", it falls during live broadcast segments for most of them. The start coincides with news for BBC1 and ITV, and local news I'm sure will cover it. C4 news will see "peak dark", and for BBC2 and ITV1 that comes during sports OBs. I'm sure the technical side can make sure they have the right filters etc, but how will the commentators for the athletics in Birmingham or the football at Croke Park cover it?

Well, I just heard Steve Cram ask "will we get a view of the eclipse on Wednesday?" Andrew Cotter didn't know, but at least the commentators can set about doing their research (or getting it done).

 
The link has the path of the March 2015 eclipse. About 86% at Bath. Wednesday's will be ~93% at Bath, ~96% at Cape Cornwall.

Mark

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2015_GoogleMapFull.html?Lat=52.71505&Lng=-4.83316&Zoom=8&LC=1

 
Solar eclipse = less solar energy for electricity generation.

Mark

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/10/octopus-energy-electricity-solar-eclipse-washing-machines-dishwashers

 
From the BBC:

 
Not smug or anything but I bought solar filters for my camera back in February.  Earlier this week the same supplier had them advertised at 75% more then I paid.   

 

This could be why Octopus is offering me a reward if I use less power during the eclipse. I'll be somewhere on Exmoor, so no problem.

 

Are you sure? Did you get a smug filter too?

 

The decline should not be that serious, as it is towards the end of day when solar power declines in any case.

 
On the opposite end of that see-saw, the eclipse lands bang in the middle of the evening peak: electricity generation vs consumption data is going to be... absorbing**.

Mark

** Varies by individual and also, various different values of 'Absorbing'.

 

I very much doubt that there will be any serious consequences for electricity supply.
The eclipse has been known about for a long time, and any shortfall in generating capacity will be met by pumped storage generation, or by quick starting OCGT plant. Demand is reduced at this time of year if compared to winter.

 
I expect Falmouth to be busy as it's annual flying display is taking place at the same time as the eclipse. No Red Arrows this year but there are three separate display teams flying.
Truro - Falmouth branch half hour service extended to end of the day and FMT closed due the expected congestion

 
Yup, eminently predictable and able to be planned for. A useful 'Teachable moment' for consumers close to the start of the era of electricity consumption pricing by the half hour, though.

Mark

 
Up and down the country, the owners of gas-fired power stations will be sitting by the phone, willing it to ring...

Mark

 

Up and down the country those of us with solar batteries and arrangement to balance the grid are on notice to sell electricity from the battery to the grid between 6 and 8pm tonight!

 

Looking at the generation curves, solar does have a small bite taken out at its right-hand foot. But it has already dropped well down its cosine hump by then, so it would not matter a lot. With so little wind today there is a big CCGT intake in the mix and, with cross-channel, a missing 1 GW or so will barely register.

 
Posting here from my desk in the west-facing study in our house in Nailsea, I can say that I was very underwhelmed at this eclipse.

I noticed a slight reduction in the exterior daylight, and there were just a few squawking birds flying about - but that was about it, really.

Chris from Nailsea.

 
Through an aluminium pinhole on to a white tee-shirt.

 
Well, that was interesting, I thought. 94% was a bit dimmer than I expected, but in terms of quality it was as much a modified dusk as an eclipse. Rather like the sun setting into a thick bank of cloud. I could see the whole thing trough an upstairs window, using my 1999 eclipse specs, and up to the interesting bit standing at the back door (but only because I'd cut down some bits of shrub and tree).

The light afterwards never did really return to being full sunlight, as it was already being modified by dusk. But it did turn off the porch light, which had come on as it thought it got proper dark.

Rather optimistically, I tried to get a photo with my "ordinary" camera and the very very dark glasses. Earlier in the day it was hopeless, as the camera insisted on focusing on the filter. But around gloomax there wasn't enough light on the filter for that, and the geometry was straighter, so I did in fact get a little image of sorts.

 
Just in case anyone missed it......

 
We took a look from the top of the road in an area with 95/96% totality.  The most interesting aspect was the strange quality of the fast fading light but even at only 4-5% of the evening sun, I didn't get dark.  We didn't manage to get any suitable eclipse specs so Sally, my other half, armed herself with a colander from the kitchen and a sheet of white paper which sort of worked. 
Still, enjoyed a conversation with another couple who chose the same vantage point as ourselves and was quite impressed with a the effort made by a considerable gathering of people I spotted on a nearby hilltop....hope it was worth the effort.

 

Special effect graphics worthy of "Eric" on Ask the Family!

 
Just a slight dimming here in Tilehurst. Had  I not been waiting for it, I probably wouldn't have noticed a thing.

 
For anyone planning ahead for 2081, I can report that the colander approach was only partly successful. I was eventually able to work out that I needed a greater distance from it to the piece of paper I used as a screen in time for the peak eclipse, and the diffusion of light around the edge of the moon diminished the effect of the claimed 90%+ eclipse by increasing the extent of apparent uncovered sun.

Here in the Goring Gap there was a considerable reduction in light levels, and a very welcome dip in the temperature.

 
At least I didn't miss this one. I was poorly and slept through 1999's total eclipse.

No eyewear to look directly at this one. I did the colander trick to show Mum, then headed out with Finn. It was like a very quick dusk coming down. We had some cirrocumulus here in Taunton that crossed the path of the sun during the eclipse.

Best I could do with my phone...

 
Yes, underwhelming here as well.
A bit less sun, cooler.  Then dusk!
Agree with Marlburian as well.

 
An eclipse of some sort would now have a 'tick' against it on my bucket list if I actually had one. Agreed that it didn't score particularly highly on the spectacular scale. The expected Sound Of Silence was completely ruined by Gulls & Magpies, which creatures frequently invade our peace and quiet around here.

We were on the lower slopes of Mount Teide in Tenerife for the 1999 eclipse but had no idea it was happening. Didn't matter because most of the island was shrouded in thick cloud.

 
With its view of the western horizon, I chose Weston-super-Mare to view the event.

Although it did get noticeably busier as we neared the time of the maximum eclipse it was by no means crowded and plenty of seats available.  I opted not to take a tripod with me so the shots were all handheld, although there were others there who were clearly making a production number out of it.





I did hear some reports of people's views elsewhere being obscured by cloud.   At Weston there were just a few towards the end.

 

That reminds me of Plymouth - the total eclipse arrived and the various seabirds that had been flying around blithely taking no notice of the evidence in front of their own eyes that something was about to happen. Complete panic and a series of rather hairy dives as they ran for cover and safety.

Mark

 
Liking those. Your phone seems very good at either not producing, or its suppressing, lens flare which in the case of a direct photo of the sun, the flare can actually be good at recording the sun's disk itself.

Mark

 
That last photo... a drop of cloud really helps. Sorry about your 1999 absence.

Mark

 
My phone's camera does have full manual settings so I dialled the exposure right down, set ISO to 50 and shutter down to 1/5000. Even with those settings I couldn't prevent blown out images. So I also used several ND filters. Ones from my old drone that I stuck over the phone's camera lens, held in place with sticky tape! Stacked ND1000+ND256+ND64. Still only managed one half decent shot.