Not in the UK. More like 6 hours to get somewhere in Scotland or Wales thats not populated at relatively high density. Even then ive never seen the milkyway apart from on a greek island in the middle of nowhere. The UK is as denseley populated as the densest New York state in the USA. Europe is very different to the USA on what the impact of a hundred years of industrialisation has meant.
That's not really true. There are a fairly large number of "Dark Sky Discovery Sites" where there are laws controlling the amount of light pollution, and where you can see the Milky Way really well. You're probably not more than an hour or two from one, and a few hours from a "Milky Way Class" site. I'm fortunate enough to live quite near the Kielder Park International Dark Sky Zone.
They've got a 'milky way class' site about 5 miles from Croydon, good luck with that!
I applaud the people who set up this site and map, but they should be a bit more honest that going to a special event in a park isn't going to eliminate the continuous orange glow which exists anywhere within 50 miles of London, let alone allow you see the sort of sky that's visible in really remote locations.
I'm sure Kielder would be a great place to go, though. I'd love to go to Kielder Observatory.
