About Dark Sites....

[halli]

I have never visited a dark site - too convenient in the back garden I guess - although quite light polluted.  I have also had security concerns .  However after reading some of the responses in this thread, I feel more encouraged to take the plunge !  

I had put some serious though into potential locations and a good way of exploring in the first instance without visiting the site is to drive around the country lanes using Google street view (in conjunction with aerial satellite views)  which I found really useful to pinpoint with some detail where  suitable set up locations might be and the coverage is excellent. 

I would then visit the location and it was uncanny how using Google in the first instance made you feel that you had actually driven there before !

[estwing]

Spent hours doing this combing Elan and Skye...

[bish]

Star Parties at dark sites are good. It may mean a long drive but you can meet up with like minded people, probably learn something new and hopefully get to see a decent dark sky. Of course the draw back is that it might be cloudy when you are there - but you should still enjoy it.

[niallk]

23 hours ago, mikey2000 said:

Or do people really park their cars down B roads and unload the kit into a farmer's field? 

Yup! I set up on the side of a hardly used little access road in a small lay by area that's there to allow two cars to pass

It doesn't qualify as a dark site tbh, but it is only 10 mins drive away, and a huge improvement over my back garden.

[JonC]

Some clubs have agreed access to dark sites, one near me uses a wildlife reserve and have also found a campsite that's very dark for the south east. I have a rural college near me, they own a huge amount of countryside so I am going to approach them about using one of the car parks out on one of the more remote farms.

 

Just be aware if your looking at countryside sites you might get approached by the police or farmers / game keepers. Cars in unusual places late at night tend to get noticed, I have gone out with framers to investigate cars down estate roads, on a few occasions it been errr courting couples.

 

The first night of owning a telescope I encountered the local doggers, being a bit dim I had set up in a carpark on the edge of a country park. Took me a while to figure out why I kept getting approached by cars, sticking a red light on my head probably didn't help.

[mikey2000]

Wow!  What a lot of replies!    It seems like I definitely need to get out and about to hunt for a dark sight.  I don't think Mrs would approve - I occasionally get called back indoors as she's heard a police helicopter hovering about somewhere.  "You should come in  - there are bad people about tonight".  If I said I was going out alone to a lonely field, I think she'd probably have a heart attack!  I think I'm reasonably lucky that I live at the edge of a small town so the sky can get quite dark anyway.   It's nice to know I can pop in for a cup of tea and I have no issues with getting mains power to my mount :-)

 

Maybe my best way forward is to find a local club and meet some like minded folks then head out as a group somewhere.  

[mikey2000]

36 minutes ago, JonC said:

 Took me a while to figure out why I kept getting approached by cars, sticking a red light on my head probably didn't help.

Now that made me laugh!

[laser_jock99]

Really dark sites are hard to find in the populated south east of the uk. My suggestion would be to go a bit further afield for a weekend or longer maybe camping or hire a cottage?

[RedCanary]

I'm very lucky to have a sister-in-law who lives in rural S. Norfolk, about 25 mins drive from my heavily light polluted garden in Norwich, so I not not only have access to dark skies but to regular supplies of tea and biccies.

[Cosmic Geoff]

Does anyone know of a dark-ish site to the West of Milton Keynes? I'd rather consider a site where access is legal and the location isn't scary.  Close enough for a drive out when a clear night is forecast.

[Stub Mandrel]

On 06/02/2017 at 21:32, mikey2000 said:

other mishaps like being chased of by a disgruntled herd of cows. 

It's happened to me - well several inquisitive bullocks actually!