Yippee i`m off to FT William/Ben Nevis area tomorrow for a week of riding and hiking. I know its goner be a tad wet but what bug repellent would you recommend please? Also any idea what trails that last about 4 hrs as got to do something with girlfriend in the pm!!

Avon Skin-so-soft

avon skin so soft as a midge repellant. ok you might end up smelling like an old lady, but it genuinely does work. Plus it doesnt rot your kit or render you blind when your sweat runs into your eyes.

The active ingredient in the Avon stuff is IR3535. In France, it's the active ingredient in Cinq sur Cinq, which works really well in my experience. However, stuff with IR3535 isn't very common in the UK.

As others have said, DEET eats plastics. It is good at repelling insects though. You can get a slow release DEET cream made by 3M – it's called Ultrathon or something, which is supposed to be very good.

Just had a brainwave and looked on Decathlon's site (they're Frenchists, see) and their own brand Aptonia insect repellent is IR3535 based.

That would be my choice – I ride with insect repellent all the time due to a hatred of ticks.

New product which has been launched by Dr Alison Blackwell of Advanced Pest Solutions (http://www.advancedpestsolutions.co.uk/home/default.asp?pageid=31). Alison is an international authority on inspects and their control. She is primarily involved in biotech solutions to pest control and she’s also the brains behind the Scottish Midge Forecast. She has just launched Smidge, a superior insect repellent.

Smidge uses the active ingredient Saltidin®. It’s an extremely effective broad spectrum insect repellent. It’s safe for all the family.

Although you’ll see Smidge is focussed on the Scottish Midge, I thought I’d let you know about it as this is effective against Mosquitoes, Sandflies, Ticks and a whole hosts of biting insect. It’s a great alternative to DEET. It has a nicer feel of the skin, good fragrance properties, and does not eat into plastics or you car paintwork (i.e. big advantages over DEET).

If you happened to be travelling to Scotland, you might also be interested in the Midge Forecast (http://2010.midgeforecast.co.uk/index.php/home/).

You can also buy Smidge at their web shop, and also download the Scottish Midge iPhone App.

Autan has always worked well for me, as has Neem oil – many shops in The Highlands sell it.

+1 for Autan, Skin so soft works pretty well but needs to be applied liberally everytime you stop

StopBite if you don't mind smelling like Drambuie.

I go to Fort William and the surrounding area, have done for the last 9 years or so….Avon So Soft all the way for me ! 🙂

Yup. Avon SSS – blue bottle. Get the spray oil stuff if you want to be slightly less messy.

Doesn't actually repel them (nothing does for long) but stops them biting

just been going through my girlfriends box of bathroom stuff and shes got the oh so soft body lotion and roll on deodorant ,looks like ive lucked in.

thanks for all yopur thoughts.

Avon here too – it's not really a repellant, it just covers your skin in a thick layer of goo that the buggers can't get through. It's fairly effective, though you do need to reapply reasonably often

Avon never worked for me

100% DEET is the only sure way to be sure

Google suggests that there is boggo Avon and Avon with IR3535 repellent…

I got some of the Avon SSS with IR3535 and built in sun-screen last year and it worked a treat.

Skin So Soft seems to kill midges rather than repel them, in my experience. You end up with lots of little black dots over your arms… It also washes/sweats off quite easily but it does work.

I've had some success with Autan. It seems less unpleasant than DEET-based stuff, too.

uplink – Member

100% DEET is the only sure way to be sure

Agreed.

Yeah, Skin So Soft stops them biting but they're still annoying, they'll still land on you. Skin So Soft plus evil chemical repellant gives a good 2-line defence.

skin so soft for hands that do dishes.

I have never used the Avon stuff but if you want all round protection ULTRATHON works for me and claims to protect against horse fly, tics, moggys and even fleas (when the cats have them the GF gets bit but I don't,,,, she doesn't like the smell :roll:). I believe it was developed for use by navy seals in the mangroves and it is/was for sale on the Ray mears website

ebay £4-ish