Posted in Blind Traveller, Blind Travelling

Summer Adventures

Posted on by One Vision

Not being able to drive makes for little adventures.

A jaunt to the seaside making our own way there with our backpacks, with a plan & excitement to do this by ourselves.

Usually Richard & I have been on an already organised holiday, with an itinerary.

We booked the flights the last holiday & the company we went with booked the rest. The taxis, The night in Rhodes, The ferry to the island of Tilos & the apartment stay.

When we go on the coach trips they are all arranged before booking.

This time we were invited by some friends to come along to Thornwick Bay Caravan Park in Flamborough, for a long weekend.

Now, not being able to drive makes us have to sit & make a plan to see if we can manage it.

Both of us stopped driving due to our declining eyesight.

It’s the first time we’ve really ventured out to do this.

Because Richard is severely sight impaired, he has a Blind Travel Pass. This gets him & a companion (Me) free travel on buses & trains in the West Yorkshire where we live.

We managed very cheekily to get to Doncaster, which isn’t far away from us, but in South Yorkshire, for free ☺️

Then from Doncaster we took another train to Bridlington.

Such a beautiful old station!

From then we had to find a supermarket to buy our provisions for our stay.

Then we had to download the Nippy App for a taxi to take us to the Caravan Site. Bridlington don’t use the Uber App.

Once we got there in our caravan we were very happy with ourselves. This may seem silly to some, but for us it opened up a whole new way for us to know we could try to get anywhere that we fancied. It gave us alot of confidence in ourselves.

We found out later that there was a bus service that came onto the caravan park. So when we left we had a go on that to learn what to do there.

All in all, we’ve looked back & both agreed that travelling there with a successful plan, that was enjoyable & not the stress fest we thought it would be, made the holiday.

We are excited to do it again and would certainly recommend venturing out if you’re nervous about getting out there whether you are visually impaired or not.

VD View from caravan window. Dark clouds & thunderstorm.View from caravan window.Sunny view from train.Taxi pulling into caravan park.Fairground swings moving.2 pints on a table.Traveling train.

Posted in Useful Information

Safe viewing for the Solar Eclipse

Posted on by One Vision

I’m seeing a lot of posts on social media asking for eclipse glasses as a lot of places have sold out (please make sure they comply with ISO 12312-2:2015(E) as they are just useless otherwise and you are risking your eyesight)

To safely witness the Solar eclipse on Wednesday the 12th of August if you cannot find any glasses. You can view it indirectly by finding abit of cardboard, piece of card or plain sheet of white paper.

Make a hole in the middle of one of your pieces of cardboard, card or paper. (When I did this with my Son, I used cardboard as it was easier to manage)

Place the piece of paper on the ground or hold it within your shadow.

Stand with your back to the Sun and hold your cardboard till the sunshine passes through the hole and projects the image onto the paper. This may take a bit of time to get used to it but it’s very effective and safe.

You can also make a pinhole camera or enclosed box projector. Many how to make videos for these, are on YouTube if you just search for these phrases. Maybe a fun thing to do with the kids getting them involved.

Please be safe if you’re wishing to view the eclipse.

Whilst looking directly at the Sun whilst unprotected the damage will happen and you won’t know it as it will be painless. 

If you’d like to read up on my more in depth Solar Eclipse blog, it’s on my previous post here, on Instagram and my website at http://www.onevisionblog.com.

PD A cartoon Sun shines onto a piece of cardboard with a hole in the middle. this then shines onto a piece of white paper with the image of the Sun and Moon projected onto it.

A cartoon Sun shines onto a piece of cardboard with a hole in the middle. this then shines onto a piece of white paper with the image of the Sun and Moon projected onto it.
PD A cartoon Sun shines onto a piece of cardboard with a hole in the middle. this then shines onto a piece of white paper with the image of the Sun and Moon projected onto it.
Posted in Useful Information

UK Solar Eclipse 2026

Posted on by One Vision

On the 12th of August, there will be a partial Solar eclipse in the UK. This will happen shortly after 6.00pm reaching peak coverage between 7.05pm and 7.16pm.

This is where our Moon is at the perfect distance away to block the Suns light out by covering its disc either partially or completely.

In the UK, the Sun will be 90% to 96% covered by the Moon. Most being in the South West of the country.

The weather for Wednesday the 12th is predicted to be very warm. It will still be light by then too, so great conditions for watching this amazing event.

There won’t be a total solar eclipse until 2090. There are partial solar eclipses before then with varying degrees in the UK.

3 September 2081, where up to 99% of the Sun will be obscured.

2030 – 50%
2053 – 40%
2066 – 60%
2075 – 70%
2082 – 70%
2088 – 40%

There is also a handful of more minor eclipses taking place.

Solar and Lunar eclipses come in pairs, with a Lunar eclipse always coming two weeks before or after a Solar eclipse.

A Lunar eclipse occurs when Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon, and the Moon falls in Earth’s shadow.

Also interestingly. A 90% partial Lunar eclipse will be visible from the UK on 28 August at around 3.33am.

The Moon will move further into Earth’s shadow until the maximum of the eclipse at 5.12am, when approximately 90% of the Moon will be in Earth’s umbra, the darkest part of its shadow. The moon will appear reddish because it’s being illuminated by the Sun and the atmospheres light is being refracted.

Please PROTECT your eyes and DON’T look directly at the Sun whilst it is in the stages of being eclipsed by our Moon.

You can however use certified eclipse glasses that comply with ISO 12312-2:2015(E). Please make sure they are safe and certified, as many won’t be and this can ruin and effect your vision permanantly.

Your retina can be damaged irreversibly.

And take it from me. It isn’t nice.

Never look directly at the Sun or use cameras, telescopes, or binoculars without the proper Solar filters.

Following the 1999 total Solar eclipse. The Royal College of Ophthalmologists reported around 70 cases of people experiencing vision problems after watching the eclipse. Around 40% had looked at it for less than a minute.

Just because there’s no pain, doesn’t mean it’s not causing irreplaceable damage.

Ordinary sunglasses won’t be strong enough to filter out the harmful rays either. However dark lensed or polarised they are.

You can also view it using safe projection methods.

By making a pinhole camera or using the paper method and viewing it by watching the eclipse on white sheets of paper. I’ll do another post about these methods.

PLEASE remember. When totality has been reached. The Sun is covered to some extent. In this case only partially covered for those in the UK. You can look at a TOTAL eclipse with CAUTION. But this isn’t total.

This isn’t just stationary. It looks it. But we (Earth), the moon and sun are still moving around space.

When it has finished. Something called the Diamond Ring appears. Ending the eclipse.

Extremely bright blinding light will stream out and catch a lot of people off guard.

Please don’t risk your precious eyesight without taking precautions.

PD A photograph of pink and blue sky. A cartoon solar eclipse with the grey Moon passing the orange and yellow Sun. In the foreground, the back of a cartoon woman with long blonde hair looks towards the Sun. She wears a green backpack and a turquoise top.