I was also one of those able to get up in the middle of the night to watch an amazing sight. I spent over two hours sat in my garden in the wee small hours, very well wrapped up with a large thermal mug of tea.

In eastern England we were blessed with a completely clear sky and at 01.00, when I got up, it was bright enough to read comfortably outside. By 02.00 when the edge of the Earth's shadow started to eat away at Moon's disc (from the 11 o'clock position as I was seeing it) it was already very noticably dimmer. Even though the Moon's disc seems fully lit, at that point it was already fully in the Earth's penumbra (partial shadow).

Over the next hour the full shadow crawled over the face of the Moon until finally, just after 03.00, the high mountains on the rim of the Moon's disc (at the five o'clock position) reluctantly gave up the last direct rays of sunlight and, finally, I could see the muddy orange "blood" Moon.

At about 03.20 a thick bank of cloud came across and completely blocked out any view at which point I decided that I was cold enough and retired back to bed.

Oldfashioned.

so the eclipse was early in the evening and visible in a clear sky. No good photos though.