2022 Spring Galloway Star Camp

[Uplooker]

Wednesday til Sunday😬

[Physopto]

1 hour ago, Uplooker said:

Wednesday til Sunday😬

Oh Dear !!!

How will Damian survive the wait for a hot meal 🤣

[estwing]

Wednesday till Sunday fer me also..

[mapstar]

On 12/02/2022 at 13:06, Physopto said:

Oh Dear !!!

How will Damian survive the wait for a hot meal 🤣

I'll do fine derren don't worry about me just make sure you bring Annette 🤣

[mapstar]

On 12/02/2022 at 12:04, Uplooker said:

Wednesday til Sunday😬

Sunday night is set to be crystal clear 😉

[Physopto]

🌩️

9 hours ago, mapstar said:

Sunday night is set to be crystal clear 😉

Didn't know you were related Damian 

Michael Fish your long lost Uncle then?

💦 💨 💭 🌩️ 🌪️

I hope NOT 🤣

Only good weather allowed.

[mapstar]

This years star party gate crashers  (Dudley and Eunice) look like they are attending early ( must've got the dates off kenny 😁) so all is set for the clear skies. 

[gilesco]

I was looking, not because I'm planning on going this year, but wanted to check on prices of hiring a Motorhome (which would need to large enough to hold various kit, and also small enough to be driven by a B license holder). I worked out it would probably be a 10 hour driving trip, so would probably have to break it up into 2x5 hour stints.

I also looked at the Camp Site website, and that looked pretty reasonable too. But I did notice that it appears fully booked. Do they generally blanket book this period for the star party, and you have to book your pitch by some other means, or is it actually full up? - I do worry about the weather, as I'm not a regular camper / motorhome user, so stars excepted I'm not sure I'd enjoy it in the cloudy and wet!! And it is certainly too early to judge what the weather will be like in two weeks time.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

7 minutes ago, gilesco said:

I was looking, not because I'm planning on going this year, but wanted to check on prices of hiring a Motorhome (which would need to large enough to hold various kit, and also small enough to be driven by a B license holder). I worked out it would probably be a 10 hour driving trip, so would probably have to break it up into 2x5 hour stints.

I also looked at the Camp Site website, and that looked pretty reasonable too. But I did notice that it appears fully booked. Do they generally blanket book this period for the star party, and you have to book your pitch by some other means, or is it actually full up? - I do worry about the weather, as I'm not a regular camper / motorhome user, so stars excepted I'm not sure I'd enjoy it in the cloudy and wet!! And it is certainly too early to judge what the weather will be like in two weeks time.

Regarding the Motorhome I have done this twice now but never actually got to a star camo due to covid or one time it was flooded.
But very much depends on where you hire from and what you hire.
I would say as a ball park figure you are looking between £600 to $1000 for a weeks hire.
You can get some campervans a bit cheaper, but still around £500 and even more for the genuine VW campers, and what put me off a bit was that if spending a week in them in generally coldish weather (as most events are not in Summer)  you are in a small space that more than likely you cannot stand up fully in and sometimes the bed is really in a tent in the roof.
So for a motorhome with some comfort there are websites that basically are hiring out private owners vehicles and tend to be a bot cheaper than the dedicated hire places. But I guess until you pick up the motorhome you do not know how comfortable it really is unless you check it out first s the pictures could be years old. Also I first hired mine from one of these sites and when the event was cancelled I lost all my money no refunds or transfers.

So for the second event (which was cancelled due to covid) I hired from a reputable local firm and they were great as I got every penny back when the event was cancelled.

Another thing to think about is whether to hire the motorhome locally or drive in your car and hire one local to the campsite. I tend to favor the second option for a couple of reasons:

• Saves a bit of cash on fuel as car usually far more economic than the motorhome.
• Used to driving car and saves a bit of worry driving a huge bus you are not used to and probably have something like £1000 excess you will have to pay in case of an accident.
• Makes the timing easier. Normally cannot pick motorhome up till at least midday and often not till 2 or 3 PM. Also need to return it usually for 10:00 am on last day.
  So if you have a long journey to campsite then you either have to pay for two extra days hire, to allow you time to load it up and get to and from campsite, or you arrive late at the campsite and cant get in if its dark (easily anyway) because its a no lights policy.

Just some things to think about but price wise (which was your question) I would asy between £600 to £1000 for the week with refundable deposits of certainly a few hundred quid, maybe £1K.

Steve

[Jiggy 67]

25 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Makes the timing easier. Normally cannot pick motorhome up till at least midday and often not till 2 or 3 PM. Also need to return it usually for 10:00 am on last day.
So if you have a long journey to campsite then you either have to pay for two extra days hire, to allow you time to load it up and get to and from campsite, or you arrive late at the campsite and cant get in if its dark (easily anyway) because its a no lights policy.

I have hired a motor home for the last two Galloway do’s and I would again, camping isn’t for me these days, but the above is absolutely correct, due to to times of pick up/drop off I have to pay for 2 extra nights where it’s just parked outside my house. I have found the hire companies to be very inflexible on this.

However, speaking to Leslie last time a local guy has started hiring out motor homes close to the site which would negate this problem

Edited February 16, 2022 by Jiggy 67

[gilesco]

18 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

drive in your car and hire one local to the campsite

That certainly makes a lot of sense, I also have seen that some rentals only allow a certain number of miles per week e.g. 500 miles, and then charge a fee £0.25 per extra mile travelled. Your price points are borne out of what I've discovered, ballpark is £500 - £1000 for a decent set up, with power hookup and fittings, anything less than £500 seemed to be more of a van conversion, sometimes just limited to being a mattress in the back!

Would still like to hear the information on the Drumroamin site in particular, whether it is typical that it would be fully booked two weeks beforehand, as that issue pretty much puts it out of the question for me, unless the site was in a location where bad weather is the exception rather than the norm. We can't blame the campsite operators, they need to take the bookings when they can, and I hope they do well to survive and prosper in the future.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

I am finding that these events (talking all star camps not just this particular one)  do get booked up very quickly, I think many are regular visitors and they know when exactly to book and often book the same pitch each year.
Also because of covid many events last year, maybe even two years, were cancelled so people very eager to go this year, and some even paid for previous events that were cancelled and just rolled their booking over to this year.

I have booked for Kelling in Autumn this year and booked a few weeks ago but that was the same only a dozen or so pitches left (and Kelling is a pretty big campsite) I had no chance getting in the Spring event.

And I think generally you do have to ring the campsites direct and book for the star camps, if you look at these dates on their regular website it usually says fully booked even before they start taking bookings, and to get a good pitch you may have to book well in advance. Always worth a ring though weeks before as there may be last minute cancelations (but again there may be reserve lists in place - I am not sure).

This is my understanding bit take with a pinch of salt as like I said I have booked twice, once for the SGL star camp two years ago that was cancelled due to flooding and also this one last year that was cancelled due to covid. So still trying to get to my first event ( maybe I am a bit of a Jonah).

Steve

Edited February 16, 2022 by teoria_del_big_bang

[mapstar]

4 hours ago, gilesco said:

Do they generally blanket book this period for the star party, and you have to book your pitch by some other means, or is it actually full up? 

Generally Lesley shows in on the website as fully booked so it is exclusive to the star party. To get an appraisal on the actual availability just ring the site or post on here and I'm sure Derek will update with availability 

[Physopto]

Hi everyone

Mapstar is correct. The site is shown booked fully during a Star Camp specifically as it is only for Star Camp attendees.

Lesley does this on purpose so only those of us actual astronomers are allowed, i.e. no holiday makers or general public.

To book up you must phone Lesley and arrange your pitch with her.

She will tell you if there is space available.

Remember only 25 pitches are available to us:  Once booked there are no more.

At present there are a few pitches left, so book now!

I do not keep tabs on the number of pitches left as I would be phoning up every day.

I do phone up about once a month during the year and then each couple of weeks as it gets closer to the date.

 

Edited February 18, 2022 by Physopto

[Physopto]

OK folks,

Just checked with the site owner Lesley.

She has said that the revamping work they were doing to the toilets and showers is almost finished bar the cleaning down. 

So we are all ready for the start of the Spring 2022 Scottish Star Camp.

Officially it runs from the Monday 31st February to the Friday 4th March but there is the weekend as always promised for people who cannot get there during the working week. So the dates include the 5th and 6th March.

 

Meaning late attendees would be leaving early on the Monday 7th March.

it is the best I could do for this Star Camp.

Usually I could have included the prior weekend but because of the revamping work it was not possible this time.

 

There are a few pitches still going so if anyone wants to attend please book with Lesley ASAP !!!

Leaving it until too late is not a good idea.

 

So looking forwards to seeing you all, drive safely and get there in one piece....

Regards to all.

[jamie56]

Hi Dr Derren, 

Hope this finds you in good spirit, ( the golden stuff )  myself and my good lady may be down late Sunday nite all depends how our granddaughters get on at their dance competition,  if not Sunday then Monday obviously,  if you turn your hearing aid on I can phone you and let you know if you need to cook us tea. And supply copious amounts of amber fluids, take care bud c u all soon 

[jamie56]

Heading Monday, as granddaughter has dancecompetition on the Sunday and my dearest wants to go, if it finishes early we will head Sunday nite, keep the stew on the burner Derren, mayneed it to fend ofthe wind

[jamie56]

3 minutes ago, jamie56 said:

Heading Monday, as granddaughter has dancecompetition on the Sunday and my dearest wants to go, if it finishes early we will head Sunday nite, keep the stew on the burner Derren, mayneed it to fend ofthe wind

This was the original post must have fellasleep and its just woke up,bit like me

[jamie56]

Just got a zwo asi cmos, does anyone attending know who to create and save darks,flats and bias files, struggling to load and create these on registax and dss

Edited February 18, 2022 by jamie56

[Physopto]

YouTube ?

4 hours ago, jamie56 said:

Just got a zwo asi cmos, does anyone attending know who to create and save darks,flats and bias files, struggling to load and create these on registax and dss

YouTube maybe ?

[jamie56]

33 minutes ago, Physopto said:

YouTube ?

YouTube maybe ?

Yea possibly,  on site learning  astrophotography  not seen much about it, hopeing to be able to play about with it at lesleys 

[Physopto]

15 hours ago, jamie56 said:

Yea possibly,  on site learning  astrophotography  not seen much about it, hopeing to be able to play about with it at lesleys 

Aye..... We are all wishing for that...🌑

[Uplooker]

On 18/02/2022 at 17:59, jamie56 said:

This was the original post must have fellasleep and its just woke up,bit like me

What are ye like? 😂😂

[kenny k]

On 16/02/2022 at 12:28, mapstar said:

This years star party gate crashers  (Dudley and Eunice) look like they are attending early ( must've got the dates off kenny 😁) so all is set for the clear skies. 

Now ,now.Just remember who got 3 clear nights in by turning up early and you lot got p!@$¥# on.😉

[kenny k]

While im on trying to defend myself for being a premature attendee,im glad to say i will be attending for 2 nights...Friday & Sat.

Looking forward to seeing everyone & have a safe journey.

Kenny.