Astro Holidays

[ianpwilliams]

I was looking for astronomy holidays online, and I found this:

http://www.astroadventures.co.uk

It looks pretty good to me - good prices, good equipment (they have an EQ6 SynScan so hopefully I would know how to operate it having an HEQ5 SynScan), dark skies, opportunities for both visual and imaging etc. The only possible issue would be whether the skies were clear!

Has anyone tried this, or anything similar?

[thunderchild]

Good morning  here is a link hope this helps   http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/232111-anybody-visited-here/.  I have just tried to contact them but no answer. good luck  Stu

[ianpwilliams]

Thanks, sounds pretty good, although a car would be a necessity.

[AndyKeogh]

Good morning  here is a link hope this helps   http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/232111-anybody-visited-here/.  I have just tried to contact them but no answer. good luck  Stu

A map of the location can be found here  http://kimworthycottage.co.uk/Holidays/Map.htm

Looking on Google earth it can be found at  50:53:48N   4:24:23.2W

Never been there  but  thanks for pointing it out.

Andy

[symesie04]

Looks pretty good. By the way if your looking for good astro holidays you might want to contact one of the members on here. Olly Penrice. He has a holiday setup on the edge of the French Alps. Little light pollution and good chance of clear skies. He has a large collection of quality scopes including Taks and is a extremely good astrophotographer. Rates are excellent as well. I have never been but many have and the feedback is excellent. 

Site:http://www.sunstarfrance.com/

Hope Olly doesnt mind me pedalling his holiday home.

[Mick J]

Has anyone tried this, or anything similar?

As the other thread, have visited twice a while ago, only question is will the sky's be clear (check the moon good luck with the rest) - if they are then they are good and dark, Tony & Murray are enthusiastic and helpful, lodges are spotless, parking is good. Both times the other lodge was taken by holidaymakers so we had everything to ourselves, there is hard standing next to the obs if you want to set up your own tackle. Some local walking, local pubs/villages/shops are a drive away.

Have also stayed with Olly - wonderful and more chance of clear sky's and warmer, gite at the end of a lane at the end of a track at the end of a road, shops a good drive away.  Also had a holiday cottage on La Palma a couple of years ago, only a camera on a tripod for us but the sky's were fantastic weather was hot etc, just a bit more difficult/costly to get to. there are places on La Palma to hire mounts/scopes/etc but we did not follow any up.

I have seen this on the web and know there are other places in Spain and Namibia looks outstanding............. dreams    

These were the among first images Jordan ever took, Tony left him with the obs/equipment once we knew what was what. Nice.

[Scooot]

My brother and our wives booked both lodges at Astro Adventures in Sep 2012 for a week. We had 2 or 3 dark clear nights and spent the evenings mostly using the 20" dob. We had a great time, I seem to remember we couldn't get a full view in one direction with it, think it was northerly, because of a hedge or something, but it wasn't really a problem. We also had an Astro Photography tutorial one night and Tony took a great image of M101 with my Canon 450 Dslr.

As mentioned the lodges were very comfortable. The nearby pub in Bradworthy had good food if you don't want to cook and there's a few local shops for provisions.

[ianpwilliams]

Looks like there are lots of options!

[recceranger]

Ian,

Both the Mrs and I went to La Palma (Canaries) 2 years ago and it was fantastic.  All inclusive, with astro intro lesson and visits to island observatories £1000 for 7 nights flying from Manchester.  The clearest skies I have been under

[Mick J]

Ian,

Both the Mrs and I went to La Palma (Canaries) 2 years ago and it was fantastic.  All inclusive, with astro intro lesson and visits to island observatories £1000 for 7 nights flying from Manchester.  The clearest skies I have been under

That's very good, we paid more putting flight (Manchester direct - but probally same flight), booking 2 bed/bath cottage 2 weeks, then cooking, eats out, beer, car hire.... end of the lane again, seemed like the middle of nowhere, no lights at night,  looking back I think it was the flights that seemed a ripoff, cottage/car/food was good value.

Loved the place/people......  long way up to the observatories and back.

[chris_suffolk]

The clearest skies I have been under

Went on a Trans Saharan holiday a few years back - not an astro tour - but  I remember never seeing anywhere so black. Some days we were 100 miles+ from the nearest village!!

[bambuko]

I only live round the corner and when it doesn't rain it's great part of the world, but statistically it rains here a lot

[ian_bird]

+1000000 for Olly Penrice's place.

http://www.sunstarfrance.com/

Been there twice. Unbelievable skies. Unbelievable images. Unbelievable help from Olly in showing you how to process the results.

And best of all? Unbelievable food from Monique. I would go there during a global cloud storm (i.e. now in the UK) just for the food.

He has great kit - plus a 20" Dob for visual - and one of the best location in Europe for dark skies. I know my way around the night sky - but at Olly's there were so many stars I could not recognise a single one. There were just so many.

Did I mention the food? Go - just for the food.

Cheers

Ian