Hello
Just a quickie to say the mendips / quantocks and esp exmoor are still awesome - did a 6 day road trip down there!! Discovered some new trails there in exmoor and its superb what wasnt superb were the sheer number of ticks we and the pannier wearing dog ( hello to the guys we met down there )encountered...
We used insect repellent - both natural and DEET tastic - and it made no difference... I can heartily recommend FULL clothing and above all a decent tick removal tool for eveing fun - personal fav is the Tom O Twister...
This year seems to be horrendous - lakes / dales / wales / somerset - poor dog is getting them almost every ride...
Check out www.bada-uk.org for more info
Be safe out there...
Paul
Seconded. I've picked up an upper-thigh tick on a day trip to the Quantocks before. (Very hard to concentrate on driving to the next motorway junction before you can remove it...)
They are round Bristol too, and have been for a few years. A chap picked one up at our last trail day but it was easily removed with a metal slot type tool.
Lots more info here:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ticks
Edit: a lot of it contradictory sadly, especially about how to remove them. I know that we used a non-twisty tool on the guy in question, and it seemed to work OK, he's still posting on here. 😕
I picked up 4 from a ride on Sunday just past Inverary (West Highlands) - first time I've ever had ticks attach themselves to me!
A friend got 7 from during a single ride around Dalbeattie on the weekend, which has to be a record.
Well paranoid now what with recent threads and it being on the news.
They look so tiny though - I figured it'd be obvious if you'd picked one up but not so sure now :-/
I've always got lycra shorts on so I don't need to worry about them getting up 'there' - but when you do pick one up, do you generally know about it pretty soon?
Been next day when I've found them had one in Scotland years back on my inner bicep and another on my leg last year in Wales.
You do not know about it, because they anaesthetise as they bite to stop the host scratching them off.
I worked a couple of summers in the USA where they are incredibly paranoid about Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Fever etc etc from tick bites. Even they reckoned your chances of catching anything nasty if you got the tick off inside a few hours were pretty slim. So you need above all to give yourself a check over in the shower and make sure that you deal with anything you have picked up pronto.
Wow this is a good thread. I have just ordered myself a tick remover for a fiver.
Yeah, I reckon getting a remover is wise.
Anyone picked any up at CwmCarn or Afan?
Bit worrying about that guy picking one up in Bristol!
Not a huge surprise as you frequently see deer in 50 acre, Aston Court and Leigh woods.
[url= http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&Page&HPAwebAutoListName/Page/1209369564141?p=1209369564141 ]West country riders better stock up on stamps ![/url]
Doesn't the rubbing them in a circular motion make them fall off (cleanly)? Also I figure as long as you have a shower after riding you're pretty likely to notice one :p
In 25+ years of walking and riding on the Quantocks, I've only been bitten by a tick once, I guess some of you are much more attractive than me 😉
one spring day ride on the Mendipsa few years ago resulted in 12 of the little buggers on my legs.
I now use insect repellent on every ride in the spring and summer.