I appear to as usual be particularly tasty to the horse flies, midges and mossies this year and am getting eaten alive when our riding and walking. I hate oily skin hence I have not been using Avon Skin So Soft as often as I should hence being bitten!
What do you other sufferers use to give decent protection ideally Deet free as I have read it isn’t kind to man made fabrics ie expensive riding kit and I already take enough drugs without poisoning myself regularly with DEET.

Deet, deet and more deet.
Sorry, but nothing else works as well.

^+1 the stronger the better

Yep, it’s DEET all the way. Hell, if it dissolves your clothes it should repel a few midges.

It’s not necessarily you, though. That excuse for a winter we had (not one proper frost I can recall) means we are all going to get bitten to hell this summer.

Smidge works for me

Avon skin so soft. Oily but it works.

Tesco kids insect repellent here… Works on almost everything apart from the super midge of stanage.

Cheers for the replies so far, keep em coming please.

Ride faster.

^ yep, don’t stop.

+2 ^ yep just keep riding never have a problem.

Jungle formula maximum strength works for me. It stinks, tastes foul, smells horrid and turns midges into black greasy mush. Not one bite at Gisburn.

Smidge is the default. For me and most others I know. Most riding is tweed valley. It works for Scottish midge without the deet

We do this repeatedly.

The answer is Smidge,.

DEET also works but does nasty stuff to synthetic materials and plastics (helmet, sunglasses etc)

Anything with Picardin

I already take enough drugs without poisoning myself regularly with DEET.

Damage to plastics aside theres nothing wrong with DEET health wise, I think people get it mixed up with DDT. I has been linked to seizures but we’re talking less than 50 odd instances across the whole history of the product (it was developed during WW2), which been applied 100s of millions of times a day, everyday, since. In that respect its as safe as anything else you eat, drink or spray on yourself.

Deet damages plastic but only cosmetically (fingerprints tend to make matt marks on shiny surfaces for instace and any over-spray might do the same) unless you have a big spillage or leak of the stuff and unwittingly leave your gear soaking in it. You’d want to avoid using it around valuable consumer electronics, keep it off the lenses of your sunglasses and so on, but its not unusable just because you wear some modern fabrics

Speed……..
Lots of it…

Alas speed makes no difference as when we are riding off piste on tetchy trails and through handlebar high undergrowth and through muddy areas with still water around it’s going to happen particularly if you are prone to being bitten…….I also got eaten alive in my own back garden having cut the grass!
Thanks for all replies, I will get some Smidge and give it a go.
My new prescription riding/ sunglasses cost wayyyy too much to consider using anything that’s likely to spoil them.

DEET. You can get lower strength one if you are concerned. I’ve used it all over the world, it’s the only stuff which works in the jungle/rainforest, a few midges aren’t going to stand a chance. If you wish to avoid chemicals you can wear lightweight tights and long sleeved top, only your face and neck left to bite then.

Smidge, smidge, smidge, smidge…….

Smidge ordered 😀

Used smidge at fort william
People around us getting bit
We were bite free

Smidge seems to work up here in Scotland for all your flying insectile bitey woes. Sadly didn’t keep the stinging ants away as well.

Anything with Lemon Eucalyptus in it.

Last weekend in the Dales, everyone around me getting bitten, I had not even a nibble after applying.

Work on NZ Blackflies/Sandflies too!

I may have to invest… my legs are a sodding nightmare of little bites at the moment.

Smidge

Smidge worked for me, but have a slight reaction to it turning my skin red and hot

The new High UV Buff with Insect Shield 8) Get it from: http://www.kitshack.com/ss14-adult-headwear/ss14-uv-insect-shield-buff or any good cycle/outdoor/angling store (preferably in the south of England or Wales 😉 )Cheers Macs

The answer is long football socks.

On Sat am I was getting my bike out of the car etc at silly o’clock and was surrounded by little midge things. I had no choice- I sprayed my legs liberally with WD40 as I could only find one footie sock at home etc so I was ‘naked’.

It worked. A fair few drown on my legs but no bites and no reactions.

Really really don’t fancy Deet at all. If it melts plastic etc- you know your skin is porous/skin creams sink through the dermis(?) etc- so what the **** is Deet doing? It’ll be getting into your bloody stream- even if its a trace amount.

Anything that works on NZ sandflies has got to be worth a try.

I’ve been considering trying to build tolerance this year as I also hate having to put on insect repellent, sun cream, anything that is greasy or takes more than 2 secs to apply. We recently moved to a house surrounded by trees and shrubs (estate was built around an existing forest) so we are inundated with mossies of an evening. I figured I’d rather try to get the buggers to ignore me than use repellent every day for the next 20 years!

It’s not going particularly well but it’s early days yet 🙂

Failing that, Smidge.

Oh also, if you’re riding through handlebar high undergrowth then have a regular check for ticks. Thanks to the mild winter they seem to be everwhere this year. Despite using PracTic we’re regularly removing them from the dog and after a camping trip this weekend we had to pull some off the children too.

Just back from a week in Highlands and Outer Hebrides, aside from keeping on the coast and camping where there is a decent breeze blowing, I took a DEET product and friends that go reguarly took Smidge, Smidge was the winner, much nicer to apply to and didn’t sting eyes like mad when sweating either, so another recommendation from me.

Ace the long socks thing wouldn’t work even got bitten on the bloody knee in my back garden 🙄
Two bottles of smidge waiting for me at Cotswold Outdoors………

I’m popping down to Cotswolds too tonight because I’m camping in a couple of weeks…

Heres a pic of my leg this morning- I was bitten two weeks ago and as per usual the bites ‘bubble up’

I use DEET, never had issues with it damaging anything TBH, smells and tastes foul though.

One of the main brands is Repel, you can generally get Repel 55 and Repel 100 – The 55 is 52% DEET and the 100 close to 100%
The 100 doesn’t give any better results per se, it just lasts longer, if you’re only going to be out a couple or 3 hours use 55, all day and the 100 is probably best.
You can also cut it with a water soluble body lotion or similar.

99.9% of my bites are on my lower legs. Why is that?

Hora – you’re worried about absorbing DEET through your skin, but you “sprayed my legs liberally with WD40”?

I like Mosi-Guard – DEET free and very effective (same as Jungle Formula) in my experience http://www.mosi-guard.com/

Hora – you’re worried about absorbing DEET through your skin, but you “sprayed my legs liberally with WD40”?

aqnswer = Short term fix. I’d have smeared engine oil on my legs if I didn’t grab the WD40.

Tried all sorts, home and abroad. The only one I found works constantly is Avon skin so soft spray. Spray a light mist on hair and clothing too. Oil based is better as it stays on the skin for longer as you sweat. Managed a tour of Scotland including the DH champs at fort william and 3 days forest peddling, fishing and camping, no bites. Ticks don’t like it either. Also If anyone’s camping/touring try to get one of those battery Exterminators. (Looks like a tennis racquet)Zip/shut yourself in, turn on a lamp and murder everything for a bite free night. Takes a few attempts of light on, light off and wait, but well worth it. Avoid any old wives marmite tips. Horse flies are attracted to yeasts.

Whats the best Avon one?

The oil spray seems to be out of stock

http://avonshop.co.uk/shop/search.asp?find_spec=skin%20so%20soft

Hora, I use the ‘Original dry oil spray’. Lots on amazon uk at the moment.