West-facing observation locations in North East England?

[jarrahead]

Hi all,

This is my first post here so apologies if this isn’t the right topic to post this thread on.

I’m a fairly new astronomer and use a Skywatcher 200P Dobsonian Classic, and had great fun with it. I’ve so far been able to get great views of Jupiter, The Moon, the Pleiades and also the Orion Nebula. All have been imaged from a heavily light-polluted location (central Tyne and Wear) but I don’t feel this has impeded viewing significantly. 

Saturn is currently in the evening sky, but it has been too low to image with the scope. I’ve also tried to find Uranus, the Pinwheel Galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy, but it is difficult to locate any of these due to the light pollution washing out certain stars I intend to use as waypoints in the sky to locate these objects. 

Consequently, I’m looking for a sufficiently dark location in or near the North East with an unobstructed view of the West/South-West sky (hopefully to see Saturn before it disappears this month). I know of a few good areas with almost zero light pollution locally, namely Derwent and Kielder reservoirs, although their hilly locales still make it difficult to see objects low in the sky. 

Does anybody here have suggestions over appropriate locations? I’m happy to travel an hour or more, as long as the roads are safe and I won’t have to carry my huge Dobsonian too far from a parking location! 
 

Thanks in advance and all the best,

JM.

[Bongo]

Hi. I don't know of any specific spots, I'm afraid, but it might be worth checking out the North York moors? Not *too* far from your location, hopefully...

https://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/visiting/whats-on/dark-skies-festival

https://www.darkskiesnationalparks.org.uk/north-york-moors-events

You'd hope there'd be at least one suitable location in the whole of the moors. 🙂