Possible South Wales Group Star Party

[Matthew]

It's quite a small site David , there is a field there which has excellent views which is away from the statics and tourers but it has no electric hook ups.Theres 2 other sites closer to home which has low light pollution so im going to check them at night to see what their like

[garethmob]

i do like the sound of that mat... i wonder what the chances are that we could set up near the leccy but relocate to the far side of the field for observing? leccy could be cars and batterys i cant think of anything really needing leccy appart from the caravans

wheres the other 2 sites to?

[Matthew]

One is the other side of Brecon but not as far gaz and the others out towards monmouth but looking on the light pollution maps they both look pretty good.If we go to the black mountains I may have a static so I can charge everyone's power supplies

[garethmob]

oooo thats a good idea wich LP map are you using iv seen a few but i always forget where they are

[Matthew]

Ok one of the other possible sites ive been looking at is www.pencelli-castle.com. The only real source of light pollution is Brecon which is 6 miles away but looking at the light pollution map the campsite should provide good views of the night sky.If you look at the site plan i was thinking we could use the area labelled ' the oaks' this would cater for motorhome/caravan/tents all with electric hook ups.Ive spoken to the owner today and he has cofirmed the skies there are dark and that other astronomers use the site for observing.But we would have to change the date to the first or second week of october.Im going to have a look there tomorrow night to check out the campsite and to see if it ticks all the box's.This site should give us a good base for a star party and facility wise its the best ive seen so far.........so have a look and let me know.

[bcfcciderhead]

Looks good to me and not to far.......thumbs up from me.

Nice work Mat

[Mr Flibble]

I like the look of Pencelli and the Black Mountain sites Mat. I've biked along the canal through pencelli and its just a tiny hamlet so as long as the campsite itself isn't lit up like a stadium it should be pretty dark . I know the route up to the top of Pen-y-Fan from there if anyone is interested in a little day hike

[Matthew]

Looks good to me and not to far.......thumbs up from me.

Nice work Mat

Im glad you like the site Dave

I would be up for a early afternoon hike David.The likely date for this campsite would be Friday 12th - Sunday 14th but i know a few members want to come earlier and stay longer but i can sort that out once i know everyones happy.I will contact all intrested members over the next day or so concerning the site and dates

[Helen]

Pencelli is a brilliant site Mat. Mike stayed there with our nephew a few years ago and Mike reckoned the toilet block was better than that at his health club!! I also checked it out as a possible location for an SGL star party. The skies were brilliant, although the one downside was that the horizon is quite high because of the mounatins (unlike Lucksall's really flat horizon). The site owners did say that they didn't take large groups (I think they were worried about stag parties and the like!), but if you can clear with them that we take over a whole section then I think it would be ideal. The facilities are a different class to the Black Mountain site.

Helen

[Matthew]

I spoke to the owner Helen and hes was very accomadating i told him there would be about 10 of us and explained what we wanted to do,and he was more than happy to have us.My only worry was the skies.I will set up a booking page later where everyone can post their requirements,i will phone the owner next week then.There is one area called the oaks on the site plan which is a mixture of caravan and tent pitch's which all have electric hook ups i thought this would be ideal.