The Moon passes directly between us and the Sun. It is a coincidence that it works at all: the Sun is about four hundred times wider than the Moon and also about four hundred times further away, so from here the two discs look almost exactly the same size.
The Moon casts two shadows. The outer one is wide and covers most of a continent, and inside it you see a partial eclipse. The inner one, where the Sun is blocked completely, is only about a hundred miles across and races over the ground at thousands of miles an hour.
Stand inside it and the Sun vanishes, the temperature drops, stars appear and the corona comes out. Stand a hundred miles outside it and none of that happens, however impressive the percentage sounds.
Your eye adjusts to brightness in a way that hides the difference. At 99% the surviving sliver of Sun is still thousands of times brighter than the corona, so the sky stays blue and the corona stays invisible. It is not a nearly. It is a different event.
A total eclipse happens somewhere on Earth every year or two. The next two after this one are 2 August 2027 and 22 July 2028. But the dark strip is narrow, so any particular town waits centuries between them. That is why people travel to meet one.
When the Sun goes dark it is only about nine degrees above the west-north-west horizon. Hold your fist out at arm's length and that is roughly ten degrees, so the Sun will be sitting about one fist above the skyline. That is why a single row of trees can ruin an otherwise perfect spot, and why a darker street does not help you at all.
Roughly how high the Sun sits above the horizon at Valladolid when it goes dark.
These times are for Valladolid. They shift by a minute or two depending on exactly where you stand.
Eye protection stays on. Shadows sharpen gradually.
The bright solar surface disappears for 1m 32s.
The Moon's shadow is already moving towards the Mediterranean.
Eye protection goes back on before the bright Sun returns.
Use certified ISO 12312-2 eclipse glasses whenever any bright part of the Sun is visible. Cameras and optics need purpose-built solar filters.
Never stop on a road, dry vegetation or an emergency route. Arrive early and follow local parking instructions.
Stand where you intend to watch at the same bearing. Terrain data cannot see every tree, building or temporary structure.