Bejesssus how many of them out in the woods tonight!!!

loads on Monday too. I parked my car near the woods and driving home there were some hitchhikers. Thousands of the sods!

Oh and not the ultravox man.

The satanic Epping horseflies are back – my left calf was not a pretty site on Monday ! still sore. 🙁

And where the eff did mosquitos come from?
When I was a kid you would get gnats by a river and that was it.
Last nights little fecker was so gorged on my blood he couldn’t even move as I subjected him to a slow death. If the spiders were around he would have gone in the web.

Midges are pure evil. At least mozzies and horseflies have the decency to be big enough to be seen when they land on you.

Its interesting, 10, 20 years ago I dont remember any at all. Whats happend, have their natural predators died off, is it the environment, is it magic ??

Last night in a dappled sunlight spot I swear I rode thro a cloud of them that was 5 or 6 m long!

I went to Fort William twice in the last fortnight and barely saw a midge. Sign of the end times, that. I guess they’re all on holiday.

Wetter summers and more wetland habitats, more damp shady vegetation under trees (look at an old photo of your area to see how trees have grown) and bracken is not being scythed as it was. Result: happy midges.

I got absolutely destroyed by them at Afan last weekend, stopping to change a puncture. My legs look like the Polka Dot Jersey.

Sometimes living in the South East of England has it’s attractions!

Only flying thing I saw last night was the barn owl that flew beside me for about 40 metres 🙂

I got bitten by a horsefly at the weekend. Between Wendover and Chequers in the Chilterns.

I got bitten in the Chilterns once.

timidwheeler – Member

I got bitten by a horsefly at the weekend. Between Wendover and Chequers in the Chilterns.

bencooper – Member

I got bitten in the Chilterns once.

We’ve all been there chaps, the worst bit is that you can’t scratch it in public 🙁

😀 the annoying thing is, I really thought about the best way to phrase it without leaving that joke available.

Up the Pentlands there were loads of them, all near the various water bits. My Skin so Soft did the job last night, forget it last week and was bitten to hell.

is it the environment, is it magic ??

Neither:
It’s either the Tories or Global warming.

Jungle Formula: If you can still feel your lips, you haven’t used enough.

+1 for JF. Used it extensively when working in the woods as a gamekeepers apprentice

Jungle Juice. handy for dissolving sunglasses or nylon clothing, as well.

Smidge seem quite effective, without reducing plastics to Dali inspired portraits.

Repellant DEET stuff etc is also totally compatible with skin so soft if you want to double bag it. (I got a tiny wee carriable bottle of skin so soft from the cafe at coed y brenin, I’ve never seen that elsewhere- usually I buy it by the hogshead)

I was polka-dotted by midges last night while we were riding near Buxton.

Smidge is still working well for me, and I say that as a previously dyed-in-the-wool Skin so Soft man.

Weight weenies rejoice!

Ride and get lighter at the same time!

Stop and get even lighter.

What’s not to like?

Ain’t Scotland wunnerful?

Got eaten alive at Hamsterley last week. Everyone we saw was keeping moving constantly – if anyone dropped back they were on their own. It was horrible – if you stopped for even a moment you were covered in midges. That was using Deet and another repellant.

It never used to be that bad – I think they’re leaving Scotland and heading South.