‘Unable to tell morning from afternoon, I felt my sense of time opening up’: a (mostly dark) winter break in magical Swedish Lapland

With just a few short hours of daylight, the usual boundaries marking time fall away in Abisko, one of the most reliable places to see the northern lights

Looking over the edge of the snow-smoothed canyon down to dark rushing water, we thought we saw a moose or a reindeer, but it could have been a rock. The light was fading fast so it was hard to tell. It was time to turn back; we didn’t want to get lost in the wood, or fall into the river. By the time we’d retraced our steps to Abisko, the blue world had turned to black and dust-like snowflakes whirled around the little village. Back in our hotel room after our expedition, I looked at my phone – it was only 2pm!