Deep Sky Camp - Fri 22nd to Mon 25th May

[Fay]

Well, it was a good, interesting , weekend.

I thought it was a good site & it would be better under normal circumstances & not a bank holiday.

The facilities were good & cleaned regularly, lights were not too bad. There is a light behind the cabin that was dumped in the middle of the field, which hid it, so not sure how much it would intrude if it was not there.

It was not too far.

[JohnP]

Well I guess I can't really comment too much as I was only down there for a few hours on Sunday night.... however, my initial impressions....

1. A bit too busy for my liking (but I guess would be a lot better during week on non-bank holiday especially towards end of season)
2. A lot of lights so couldn't really get dark adapted for visual stuff - probably not an issue for imaging
3. Lots of smoke from BBQ's etc. but again probably bank holiday weekend related.
4. General equipment concerns with all those people walking around etc.
5. Facilities looked good although to be honest this has never really bothered me much at either Pennies or Tuesnoad but that's probably cause I am a dirty 'bar- steward'....that can go without a shave or shower for a night.
6. I guess being a public site would be difficult to participate in the traditional extra DSC activities... shooting, koom Fay, Thermite.... etc.. etc...

I still think that Pennies field is best I have been to. If I had to choose between Tuesnoad & Woodland's for imaging I would probably say Tuesnoad even though the shit really annoys me....

John

[Carole]

I only came for the day and my impression was that it would be a good camp if we were away from the trees and there were less people there.  There was a lot of light coming from passing lamps and neighbouring tents/caravans which will hopefully diminish if we went at a quieter time.

We were also a bit disjointed with Liz and Duncan being separated.  Would like to try this camp out of season, do you think they might open up for us if we went say the weekend before and/or the weekend after it opens to the general public?  I guess we would need to give them a minimum fee to do so.

I quite liked the passing interest from Jo public.

Carole

[JohnP]

I quite liked the passing interest from Jo public.

Well I would say on the Sunday night I was there if Jim had got a £1 for everyone that looked at Saturn through his scope he'd be well on the way to financing his next astro buy... I'd say it's OK when you are setting up/ aligning etc. but would be a bit of a nightmare if you were imaging & had all those people walking through etc.

[Mike]

We are considering the purchase of a Minitron Video Camera for public sessions. That way the scopes can all be protected behind windbreaks or something like that with one scope hooked up to the Minitron going to a monitor so the public can see what the scope is looking at. That way imaging scopes would be protected. The majority of the public come in the earlier part of the night so it is not usually a problem.

Also, this was an unusual weekend in that it was a Bank Holiday plus there was good weather, which is pretty rare. The last time we were at Woodlands was in a July weekend and pretty much had the whole of that corner of the field to ourselves. There was also no problems with lights or bbq smoke. We'll just make sure that we don't do a DSC on a BH weekend from now on.

[The Thing]

I liked the camp, clean and tidy despite the number of campers and we have an ally in the warden (with his lovely little 'scope) so we should be able to reserve whatever spot we want. There was quite a lot of skyglow from the Maidstone direction (north east). There seemed to be less from Ashford at Tuesnoad.

The public interest was nice and tailed off after the kids went to bed. On an ordinary weekend it would be better. It was a good thing I had my windbreak to set up my scope behind as there was no other OAS bod for 50 metres! I won't be booking a hookup pitch again. Where's a good place to buy leisure batteries?

I think if the scopes were behind windbreaks and a little further from the trees (next to the chalet?) it would be an improvement as there would be less interest (out of sight...) and also passers by with lamps would be less intrusive.

A definite place to return to.

[Tony G]

I thought the venue was great for the facilities (especially for the women of the society), and for letting ordinary campers see the delights that so many take for granted (and I don't mean drunken astronomers) the heavens above, but like what was said earlier, we have done without the shower block and toilets up until now.
We also have to consider the noise towards other campers, because as we are aware of the younger variety of the human species (Finlay) during the day and the evening, many people must be aware of us late into the night, (as we experienced on the 1st night), and so have to respect that its their holiday aswell.
I personally think that we should still be looking at other avenues to hold our DSC's, as we are more able to do what we want, and not disturb anyone, whilst still enjoying our usual activities i.e. shooting, fireworks,  campfire's etc.
But all in all, a good venue and would be happy to use Woodlands until maybe we find a alternative.

Tony G

PS................ This is getting mighty close to the (my) leisure battery thread for replies.......

[Fay]

Who is Finlay?

I like what Jim said, he said that DSC Camp suffers from institutionalised tourettes!!!!

[mickw]

Who is Finlay?

Finlay, I'm your daddy now.

Finlay you've broken it now.

Finlay that's not yours.

Finlay get out of there.

Finlay stop crying.

Finlay do you want some peach.

Ring any bells ?

Certainly pulled my chain 

[Fay]

oh I know now, the one who was going to throw Teddy on the fire!

[Ian]

the only finlay I know is a fire engine.

Thinking back, I think the families around us were remarkably tolerant considering...

When I first drove onto the site I thought it was a refugee camp and almost went home again. But as it turned out, that many people wasn't the problem I thought it might be. I suppose the question is, how often are DSCs going to clash with bank holidays? Especially sunny ones

I think after a while we might miss the freedom to do silly things, but not coming home covered in sheep sh1t is a big plus.

[mickw]

Throwing teddy on the fire - I forgot that 

The kid has potential 

[Ian]

crash!

there goes the longest thread record. Sorry Tony, you're history now mate...

[mickw]

Ding Ding Ding - dick alert
How do I post actual "pictures" here.?
I've only done links as below.


http://picasaweb.google.com/Mick.Welham/DSCPic#♦

I had plans for captions, but as the pictures don't work, am having a beer and sulking

[Mike]

Woohoo !!!