Mmm was contemplating some riding in the highlands soon but reading various threads (swarms of midges,ticks and sh*t weather)i might not bother.Can you persuade me otherwise?or do i stick it my local trails where the greatest problem is having to swerve around dog sh*t and ending up in the ditch?

It’s crap – you’d hate it.

Didn’t see any midges at all in the Pentlands tonight, despite it being sunny and there not being much wind.

Up north if you stick to near the west coast and out on the open hillsides I doubt midges will be a problem. I’ve never had a tick, although my wife did get one when hillwalking last month up near Torridon.

I get ticks all the time, as do my dogs. That’s walking through long grass though and all I do is take them out. Simples.

nothing to see up here. No legal trails, nothing at all.

druidh and TJ speak the truth too.

🙂

TJ speak the truth

I’ve heard it all now 😉

You need a license to ride up here now anyway. And they’ve just ran out of them. Sorry.

“Up north if you stick to near the west coast and out on the open hillsides I doubt midges will be a problem.”

Daznal must have done something pretty bad to you mate to deserve this!!!

Generally I find the pleasures of the highlands outweigh the various miseries. Somehow a long, sunny day tramping and scrambling over remote mountain ridges more than makes up for two days skulking about hiding from rain and wind.

I’ve done lots of hiking but little riding up there. The complete reverse of how I feel about English trails: there are only a few places in the highlands I would prefer to ride rather than hike.

You’ll be best on the west coast, the wind off the Atlantic keeps them at ease.

+1 Druidh and TJ

just go to a nice trail centre in Wales or something. You wounldn’t like it one bit with the long epic rides into remote places with some of the best singletrack on the planet. 🙂

Mmm was contemplating some riding in the highlands soon but reading various threads (swarms of midges,ticks and sh*t weather)i might not bother.

It’s more the endless unrideable bog that you should worry about tbh.

May I suggest the woods behind nationwide in swindon as a far more suitable riding destination. It’s crap up here. Them midges and ticks kill non-natives in two seconds flat. Plus it always rains which makes them even worse. And the hills and scenery are second to everything.

can be irritating all year round

Dreadful place.

As Professor R. C. Nesbit once pointed out, ‘They’ll shag ye then eat ye.

Best left well alone…

it must be time for this :-0

It’s SHITE being Scottish! We’re the lowest of the low. The scum of the **** Earth! The most wretched, miserable, servile, pathetic trash that was ever shat into civilization. Some hate the English. I don’t. They’re just ****. We, on the other hand, are COLONIZED by ****. Can’t even find a decent culture to be colonized BY. We’re ruled by effete assholes. It’s a SHITE state of affairs to be in, Tommy, and ALL the fresh air in the world won’t make any **** difference!

It’s more the endless unrideable bog that you should worry about tbh.

That sort of riding scares me more than anything.
Ticks can be plucked and midges can be scratched.
My idea of hell is dragging my bike across endless fields of unridable moorland bog.

Did anyone mention the Cleggs that sneak up behind you and suck your blood through your clothing, leaving you with a bleeding lump?

No seriously. If you keep moving quick enough the midges and Cleggs aren’t usually a problem but you’ll have to stay out of the undergrowth to avoid the ticks.

I wouldn’t be too worried about the midges – they only bite tourists anyway! The poisonous snakes on the otherhand…