ONE Hong Kong eclipse-chaser in Britain hoped to beat the danger of the country's famously bad weather by viewing the eclipse from above the clouds.
David Tang, who works as a solicitor in London, planned to take some friends up in his light aircraft and fly along the line of totality as it passed across the south-western edge of England.
But a delay in getting back from a business trip to Hong Kong meant he was not able to get his Piper Arrow four-seater aircraft into the air in time.
'I learned to fly more than 10 years ago and for my training I learned about navigation and a little bit about astronomy so I was really looking forward to seeing something that I have read so much about,' said Mr Tang.
So instead of being able to see the full eclipse of the sun, he had to settle for a view from the roof of his London office, where the moon obscured 97 per cent of the sun.
'I could see the moon eating away at the sun and it became quite cold. It did not get as dark as I had expected but all the same it was a very special feeling,' he said.