DMU student sees the northern lights two consecutive nights in a row

A first year footwear design student was treated to one of those 'bucket list' moments not once but twice during a holiday in Iceland. Daniel Bellamy reports.

Heidi Walmsley, 19, studies at De Montfort University in Leicester and recently spent her mid-semester reading week travelling with her mum to explore the Icelandic culture in the heart of Iceland, Reykjavík.

Heidi said: “I saw the lights on the 24th and 25th of November. We'd booked a northern lights cruise trip, at one point the lights were there very faintly but just looked grey in the sky.

“As we docked up at about 11.20pm, I was about to walk down the steps and off the boat when I looked up in the sky and saw the northern lights appear.

“Immediately, I got off the boat and ran down the harbour to see them more clearly. Green ribbons of light danced in the sky as we watched.”

Although the northern lights are present at certain times of the year, it is unpredictable when they will be visible. It is not unusual for tourists to miss them or them not to appear at all.

However, Heidi saw them not once but twice in two days: “The second time I saw them was very lucky.

"I was walking back to my hotel along the sea front at around midnight and as I got to the viewing point, they suddenly appeared, even stronger than the night before.

"I felt very lucky to have seen them twice and just amazed to finally see them in person.”