First light with a red torch
Half of the work is deciding what to leave out. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about clear nights. The best nights are the unplanned ones.
Before and after
In October the light changes, and so does the work. Clouds rolled in an hour after sunset, as they so often do. The best advice I got was plainly to slow down.
Where it started
There is a version of this that is much more complicated. This is not that version. Binoculars show more of the sky than most people expect. The trick, if there is one, is to leave sufficient room for slip-ups. A good star chart beats any app when your hands are cold. What surprised me most was how little equipment it needed.