Bongo Fury

mister munkey wrote:Is overnight parking allowed?

Thinking of heading there for Friday sunset.

Overnight parking is NOT allowed on Ainsdale beach.

However we have stayed in the past. Rangers turn a blind eye as long as it doesn't look like you are staying ie. don't put up an awning.

We were approached by the police, only for them to warn us about a few unsavoury characters that had been spotted in the dunes.

Watch out for the boy racers as well. Not uncommon to find the burnt out remains of a car on the beach.

Don't forget it will cost you £3.50 (or more because of the Airshow) to get onto Ainsdale.
Quite a long walk (almost 3 miles) from Ainsdale to the Airshow site but you won't have to pay if you don't actually go into the Airshow arena itself. You will get some good views as you are almost walking down the display line. A few years since I walked down the beach so i don't know if Health Safety concerns are stricter now.....

Got to proceed with extreme caution on this one I think. Turning up on the day sounds like guaranteed chaos and slim chance of us gathering successfully. Going the night before sounds good but where on earth can we camp up (if we can at all - I imagine caravan sites will be chokker) and then move on to the airshow without horrendous snarl up probs. I love airshows but I hate the traffic chaos that always seems to go with them.

Lets keep talking up to the wire before a final decision?

Is Birkdale beach not nearer to Southport. Think it is walkable from there. They charge to get on the beach too, at least during the day. Was there few years back and you could not walk onto the beach without a ticket. We watched from the windows in JJB gym. hatris

mikeonb4c wrote:Got to proceed with extreme caution on this one I think. Turning up on the day sounds like guaranteed chaos and slim chance of us gathering successfully. Going the night before sounds good but where on earth can we camp up (if we can at all - I imagine caravan sites will be chokker) and then move on to the airshow without horrendous snarl up probs. I love airshows but I hate the traffic chaos that always seems to go with them.

Lets keep talking up to the wire before a final decision?

Makes sense mike, of course it would be hard to organize a meet like this, (nobody has organized this, it was just "thrown out there" so to speak) But i'm really interested in taking this concept forward... Given the airshow and all the associated traffic/lack of parking spaces etc, i realize that it'd be a miracle if we could find a place to park next to each other, and take in the show as we chatted bongo's or whatever, as far as im concerned, i'll be simply heading "up that way" both on saturday and sunday, and i'll simply keep my eyes peeled for any bongo's! I'm sure that if a few of us "found" each other, we could make a half decent day out of it? My priority will be, head for southport early!

hatris wrote:Is Birkdale beach not nearer to Southport. Think it is walkable from there. They charge to get on the beach too, at least during the day. Was there few years back and you could not walk onto the beach without a ticket. We watched from the windows in JJB gym. hatris

I've heard of birkdale beach, but never been to that one, do ya reckon that could be a possible meeting/parking area harry?

Birkdale Beach Access.

Sadly can't make this one as working the whole weekend Would have been a great mix, Planes, beaches & bongoes at a North West meet. Ah well, there will be other times

Regor wrote:Sadly can't make this one as working the whole weekend Would have been a great mix, Planes, beaches & bongoes at a North West meet. Ah well, there will be other times

Sorry to hear that roger...maybe next time mate....

Can anyone join this

snow_kiter wrote:

mister munkey wrote:Is overnight parking allowed?

Thinking of heading there for Friday sunset.

Overnight parking is NOT allowed on Ainsdale beach.

However we have stayed in the past. Rangers turn a blind eye as long as it doesn't look like you are staying ie. don't put up an awning.

We were approached by the police, only for them to warn us about a few unsavoury characters that had been spotted in the dunes.

Watch out for the boy racers as well. Not uncommon to find the burnt out remains of a car on the beach.

Don't forget it will cost you £3.50 (or more because of the Airshow) to get onto Ainsdale.
Quite a long walk (almost 3 miles) from Ainsdale to the Airshow site but you won't have to pay if you don't actually go into the Airshow arena itself. You will get some good views as you are almost walking down the display line. A few years since I walked down the beach so i don't know if Health Safety concerns are stricter now.....

When did they start charging to go on Ainsdale beach or is just on the airshow days? We didn't pay last time we met there.

Working both days unfortunately,so cant make it.

Brian n Jean

mobilecat wrote:
When did they start charging to go on Ainsdale beach or is just on the airshow days? We didn't pay last time we met there.

They only charge when the summer zone is in place. Normally you can drive almost a mile down the beach to the next barrier.
Zones change around early April and October.

Apparently this is to give the beach a "rest" after the busy "summer" traffic. And it gives the kite buggies a lot more room to play....

snow_kiter wrote:

mobilecat wrote:
When did they start charging to go on Ainsdale beach or is just on the airshow days? We didn't pay last time we met there.

They only charge when the summer zone is in place. Normally you can drive almost a mile down the beach to the next barrier.
Zones change around early April and October.

Apparently this is to give the beach a "rest" after the busy "summer" traffic. And it gives the kite buggies a lot more room to play....

ah ha

Harry spotted a portacabin being put in place at the entrance to Birkdale beach today so I would expect the price of parking there has just risen.

caz wrote:Can anyone join this

I'd say so - and it'd be good to see you. I'm still 50/50 on whether I'll get there, let alone figuring out how we could gather successfully. Main reason is I HATE traffic jams even more than I love aircraft. I was persuaded many years back, against my will and when we lived only 12 miles from Farnborough, to take the car there instead of the train. It took me 5hrs to get home - 3 of them to get out the car park. I've been scarred for life.

But maybe Southport won't be that bad. And maybe I'll be motivated to get my lazy *rse out of bed early enough to get in the queue early.

Incidentally, the FAQs on the Southport Airshow website I came across seemed to be saying the Vulcan will not be there either Saturday or Sunday