Did you get a good view SuePJ ?
I was shocked by the power of the sun. Even with 90% covered it didn’t really go very dark, not as dark as I thought it would. It did knock the temperature down from 34 to 32 though!
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Sorry to have to say this but I thought it was a damp squib … Cloudless sky in Bretagne excellent view and only a slow dullness before a little brightening .. maybe it was because it was near night the birds just went into dusk mode. I recall the one in was it 99 which was in midday and the effects were more noticable
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We noticed a distinct drop in the temperature, mind you, it was 35°C when it started, and during the maximum cover, the shadows went all kind of flat, and the colours definitely washed out, which was kind of weird (but totally logical from a physics perspective). Back in 1999, I was on the Île d’Oléron, at Boyardville, and the sky was covered, so we only saw fleeting glimpses through the clouds, i.e. zilch, although it did get colder. Yesterday’s show in comparison was way up there in my astronomical experiences, even if cover was less awe inspiring than I’d expected.
Partials tend to be a bit like that. As @plod says even the 4% of sunlight that got through is still many times brighter than, say, a full moon.
Chez moi in the UK we had sunny skies all day until it mattered, then the clouds rolled in to block the view 
Impressive here being practically a full cover as we are right on the Spanish border and near to the path. Spent a lot of time making sure the little ones wore their glasses and that was another saga as all local chemists had run out but one, two communes over had a delivery at lunchtime. When they opened at 2.30 there was already a queue but managed to get 7 pairs. Trouble with living in a big holiday region, you have to remember visitors also wanted them and the traffic last evening on the road to Canet was bumper to bumper. We are not stupid enough to try and get on the beach there this time of year with very little parking anywhere so spent it with the in-laws as they are higher up than I am. The temperature drop was very noticeable from the high 30’s too when it went dark-ish
I watched the sun rise this morning and can confirm that it is all present and correct, no bits missing.
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I am sorry for the many who might have expected, but did not receive the ‘full’ eclipse experience last night. The clue of course was the lack of the word ‘total’ in the build up and few - especially the tourist industry - went out of their way to explain exactly what not to expect.
Last night was not even a close competitor to the magnificance of the August ‘99 total eclipse seen from Devon.
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I was Le Havre and I saw the April 2023 one in WA.
Delighted to say Amazon delivered our glasses during the day, so we were well prepared. Set up our table and chairs in the shade and picnicked behind the weighbridge barn where they store the maize and so only had to walk to the side of the barn with our glasses to get an excellent view and keep a check on progress. The glasses worked well and in some ways the most impressive bit was as the eclipse started and we could clearly see the moon beginning to take a bite out of the sun.
I wonder what passing cars thought? 
Like others have said, we were surprised how light it remained even at the maximum but it was interesting to watch how the crescent crept up from the lefthand side to a narrow strip along the top and then re-emerged down the righthand side.
We took the colander and some paper as an experiment and really have no idea how anyone made it work! Glad we had the glasses.
Sadly no Perseids later. I really can only be certain I’ve seen one when it goes across the sky with a long tail. The ones coming straight towards us I can’t detect. Each time I thought I’d seen a distant flash of light it turned out to be a plane!
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Sounds like it was well worth all your efforts. Our experience was very similar to BillyB’s, the clouds rolled in and zip, even the birds just carried on flying about as normal
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Really good clear view from Di’s deck here in Cornwall - we had a mini eclipse party for 9 people and everyone got to see it (via the proper glasses).
I set up my Dwarf 3 smart scope and filmed a timelapse video which I will post once I have edited it a bit - the tracking wasn’t perfect so the footage is a bit wobbly in places!
I also livestreamed from the Dwarf 3 to the TV so those who preferred to do so could watch it indoors.
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Sadly 
, 16 hours ago, on the night that shall not be mentioned ever again. ( Dramatic, I realise ).
After all the effort put in place, to actually see, and photograph at some part the E%£*&#e.
We had total, thick cloud cover through out the entire time.
We saw nothing with our stupidly expensive dark glasses.
On the other side of the coin, I did get some pretty pictures of clouds with silver linings, and solar flare hitting the earth. Towards the end, at actual sunset, I started taking some photos of the red sun as it dropped and just as it touched the horizon.
I have taken so many photos of sunsets over the last 35 years and have over 50,000 photos kept on my laptop.
Suddenly, my camera froze, then wiped every single photo on my SD card clean… I was beyond mortified, I had photos on that card of some of my now passed on pets, That I hadn’t downloaded because of some personal reasons.
There was nothing wrong with the camera, it still worked?!
Suffice to say, that abruptly squashed my enthusiasm for the rest of the whole night. So, the hubster drove me home, and I was back, and sat in front of the TV before complete darkness, feeling really disappointed 
.
That was my first outing in 2 years.
I’m handicapped, housebound with other disabilities, my hubster is my carer, and I only usually leave the house for the Dr’s, or hospital appointments. 
That’s why I was so excited, I could see/do this, without having to get out of the car.
Bummer.
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Oh no, that’s such a horrible surprise, commiserations.
OMG! That’s awful. I am a total tech numpty but I know sometimes that things can be recovered by tech people? Worth asking AI perhaps?
And what a shame for the evening. We were pleased to have seen it, but it won’t go down as one of the special events in our life so unless you are in total eclipse area it wasn’t really that dramatic.
@JaneJones Yes we did see it get a bit darker around us, we were out on the flat plains, and to the left of our view, there were about 30 windmills, and the white flashing lights on them that we hadn’t really noticed up until then caught our eye and I took some photos of them, just because! 
.
But like you say, the Eclipse wasn’t as spectacular as 1999, which was actually fabulous!
But regarding the SD card, I think when they go, they go. 
I’m also a technophobe. But with my camera’s, I got my 1st camera at 9 years old, 54 years ago, they are one of my special interests. 
Now, it’s all over anyway. I’m just mourning the loss of my beloved pet photos, 
they’re more personal, and that makes me feel sad that I didn’t upload them sooner. Or even use that particular SD card with them on?
That’s my fault. 
You live and learn, don’t you? 
Whatever you do, note the warnings not to take photos during the eclipse 
(note the very yellow light)
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I accidentally wiped clean a hard disk in my computer but managed to retrieve the bulk of its contents.
Have a look at -
https://www.cleverfiles.com/howto/recover-deleted-photos-sd-card.html
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It is unlikely that they are truly gone, and very likely that competent data recovery professionals could get them back for you. Though generally not a cheap service.
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Agreed. But well worth doing. 30-35 years ago I paid £500 to recover a data from a hard disk.
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