The total eclipse of the sun, which will turn day into night, will prove a massive tonic for local tourism and generate some awesome problems as hundreds of thousands of visitors pour into the area. 
   Eclipse mania is expected to catch the mood of the nation, with the South West bearing the brunt of the invasion. Experts predict that Britain will grind to a halt that morning. 

The solar eclipse will be the first in Britain since 1927 and the last before 2090. 
The whole of the South Hams, it now emerges, will be covered by the band of total darkness. When 'eclipse fever' first surfaced, it seemed that deepest Cornwall was the best place to go. 
    But scientific predictions covering Devon and Cornwall show that Prawle Point will be just as good as Land's End. The South Hams most southerly point will witness the maximum eclipse for two minutes and four seconds. 
That's only two seconds less than Penzance and Falmouth, which lie directly on the central line of 'totality' of the 156-kilometre wide 'shadow' as it sweeps over Europe. The northern limit of the shadow will stretch from Port Isaac to Teignmouth, so the further south you go - the longer the eclipse remains. 
 
  Wembury will be the first place in the South Hams to welcome the spectacle - with a partial eclipse at 9.58am. 
It will become a total eclipse at 11.30am, but the duration of '100 per cent obscuration', revealing a full solar corona and streamers, will depend on where you are. The timing could vary from 72 seconds ( at Buckfastleigh) to just over two minutes (at Prawle). 
Full daylight will not return until 12.43pm, so the overall experience will last two and a half hours. 

This is how the total eclipse will track eastward across the South Hams (showing the starting time and duration): 

• Wembury: 11.13.41 (1 min 42 sec)
• Ivybridge: 11.14.00 (1 min 41 sec)
• Salcombe: 11.14.09 (2 min 01 sec)
• Kingsbridge: 11.14.10 (1 min 56 sec)
• Prawle Point: 11.14.11 (2 min 04 sec)
• Totnes: 11.14.22 (1 min 31 sec)
• Dartmouth: 11.14.28 (1 min 44 sec)
• Brixham: 11.14.37 (1 min 35 sec)

 Media interest will soar into orbit nearer the day so anyone living within a three to five-hour drive of the South West might suddenly decide to come down and see the once-in-lifetime spectacle for themselves. Although many people are booking accomodation in advance, thousands more could take to the road at the last minute. 
 And that is the scale of the problem for local authorities and emergency services. 

 Cornwall County Council has taken the lead in preparing for the massive invasion. Senior emergency planning officer Steve Winston spelled out the details when he addressed South Hams Council's key policy committee. 
 "We are not encouraging visitors to come to Cornwall", he said. "All the interest is happening on its own - and the South Hams will suffer just the same. We have to organise a strategy to encourage people to stay away if they don't have accomodation. 
 "If we have hundreds of thousands of people trying to travel down on the arterial roads, there will be a lot of people disappointed on the day. We will end up with the mess they leave behind and the problems they bring, such as homelessness." 
 Council leader Cllr.Mrs. Doreen Flood admitted: "I have a vision of people getting down as far as they can, stopping on the hard shoulder and creating chaos." 

 Some predictions have estimated an influx of a million people, said Mr.Winston. While he found that difficult to believe, he said that Devon and Cornwall could expect between 300,000 and 500,000 extra people in the area during the peak week of August. (The South Hams normally attracts about 684,000 visitors a year). 

 Many hotels and camping sites were already fully booked, and many people would sail here by boat, he added. The QE2 was stopping off at Falmouth during a cruise and four other cruise liners were planning similar ports of call.