Hi all,
So we're thinking of a 2 week camping holiday in Scotland, a mixture of site seeing and visits to 7Stanes. We'd be gong end of August / beginning of September. I've mentioned this to a few people and everyone says the same thing 'the midges are terrible that time of year, avoid.' Is it really that bad?
Thanks.
Oh yes.
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they can be hellish, but take midge nets, midge repellant, and smoke constantly and it'll be OK.
They can be pretty horrific, though you'll probably not have too much trouble when actually riding as they can't keep up with you (on the downhills anyway!), it'll be more at the campsites where you'll have issues. Try and find a site that's away from water/boggy ground and is quite breezy. The one at Sandyhills is quite nice plus right by the beach so should get a decent breeze, though it might be a bit busy in August.
Stock up on citronella candles, etc. and I find the Lifesystems Natural repellant pretty good.
http://2010.midgeforecast.co.uk/
Yes midges can be a pain but simple precautions help and you will not be in the worst areas for them. I wouldn't let that stop you
forget anything bar proper repellents - DEET works and I have high hopes for Smidge but have not tested it myself. citroell and so on are useless
How good are you at fleeing?
Seriously though, there may be some running involved!
On an even more serious note. Go, but don't camp. They really are relentless little sods. Cant get away from them. Going to bed at 1700 sometimes works, but you will still end up covered in nibbles.
Did an exped in Perthshire a couple of years ago and they arrive in giant clouds!
Aren't they worst near water?
It's not like the whole of Scottish Countryside is overun with them.
hateful little critters
anti histamines are useful, if like me you react badly to them.
skin so soft from avon used to be a good repellant.
best thing ever, baseball cap with midgie net attached to it. youll feel a numpty at first, till un-hatted folks are getting bitten to death.
Make sure your companions dress in black and you will be OK.
Midges love black
Aren't they worst near water?
Well they hatch out of water, so yes but it only takes a puddle or two
Usually the weather is so awful that the midges don't bother you. 🙂
We enjoyed a couple of remarkable nights when by rights we should have been bitten to death (shady, windless pitches, in the trees, beside rivers, in July) but weren't. The common factor to my mind was the use of midge coils. I didn't believe they would do any good but it seems they did.
We had a campfire each night as well, so perhaps it was the combination of the two.
Smidge repellant seems to work well, and not as greasy as Avon Skin-so-soft.
edit: Oh, and the comment ^ about black clothes, very true, I usually wear black merino and its repulsive how many of them you see crawling all over it.
1) Smidge works quite well, smells nice, and isn't greasy like Avon Skin So Greasy.
2) The midge problem can vary day by day. A slight breeze, bright sunshine, middle of the day - I never notice them in these conditions. They like still, moist air and shade, so if you're under a tree at the side of a river at dusk, you're in trouble!
EDIT - Spooky
Avon Skin So Soft. Seriously.
**edit** too slow!
What is required is a constant strong breeze ,,camping can be hellish, Sandyhills is far from midge free but if we have had a dry summer (ha) they are less fierce, avoid camping in the trees at all costs
The common factor to my mind was the use of midge coils. I didn't believe they would do any good but it seems they did.
I used to do quite a bit of trout fishing
The morning and evening midge hatches were important for getting the best fly for the job
Sometimes the hatch just didn't happen for some reason
Thanks guys.
they attack inexperianced campers who choose nice spots out of wind and next to streams etc ....
i rarely have an issue with them unless i end up staying at an official campsite - where they seem to congregate
nice open spaces with good breeze is the way forward.
skin so soft is a myth - it doesnt keep them away it just drowns them/creates an oily film.
deet works - we used to get given it for marshalling at the fort william WC - you were propper midgebait on that.
nice open spaces with good breeze is the way forward.skin so soft is a myth - it doesnt keep them away it just drowns them/creates an oily film.
Yup - its a reasonable breeze that keeps them away.
Skin so soft ... mixed results. Some midges are more determined than others. I've found that skin so soft lessens how much they bite into you, but it doesn't stop them from landing on you .... which is just as infuriating!
skin so soft is a myth - it doesnt keep them away it just drowns them/creates an oily film.
It's not a repellant but it does pretty much stop them biting you.
creates an oily film.
Diesel has the same effect and smells nicer
When they swarm the best defense is just to run!
East side of Loch Lomond was the worst i'd ever seen them. Fort William is really bad too.
The Scottish Borders aren't too bad. I've only ever had a few bites while riding in the Seven Stanes even without repellent.
Also contrary to popular belief they don't water to hatch damp boggy soil (of which there is plenty in Scotland!) is good enough
I've also found that eating lots of Marmite and garlic seems to make them less interested...
Apparantly they were accidently introduced into Scotland by the Braveheart film crew.
Absolutely recommended (after using in August on the Isle of Lewis)and totally effective:
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washing with cheap unscented soap works well for me - works for mozzies too i find when working in west africa im the only one thatdoesnt get bitten out of the team. - equally im the only one who doesnt wear deodrant !
"The Scottish Borders aren't too bad. I've only ever had a few bites while riding in the Seven Stanes even without repellent"
However Dalbeattie ,Kirroughtree ,Mabie, Ae and Glentrool are not in the Scottish borders and if you visit Glentrool without repellent you will die
It's awful - really.
Don't come.
However Dalbeattie ,Kirroughtree ,Mabie, Ae and Glentrool are not in the Scottish borders and if you visit Glentrool without repellent you will die
Alright I'll give you that one
Never been to Glentrool, Only ridden Dallbeattie and Kirroughtree out of the midge season
Ae and Mabie I've never had a problem. And if there had been midges there they would have bitten me!
Well they hatch out of water, so yes but it only takes a puddle or two
You are thinking of mosquitoes, midgies just need moist soil.
Skin so soft does work for a bit, but it stinks. Smidge, jungle and so on work for a bit too, but you have to reapply a lot, and if you sweat it'll need a lot of reapplication.
Forestry workers wear midge suits, the only real way of not getting bitten is to stop them getting to your skin. When I'm camping/fishing I wear full length clothes and a midge net, my old man wears a midge suit.
Forestry workers wear midge suits, the only real way of not getting bitten is to stop them getting to your skin.
See above.
Whilst the rest of the group were being bitten to death, I could see, hovering before my eyes, an angry cloud of midges all gnashing their frustrated little teeth because they couldn't cross the final 50cm of space to chew on my head...
Jungle Formula. Get it.
I remember being up over the border and it was either heavy rain showers or getting bitten to death. Our bug juice was crap at the time, and we were sweating so much you really didn't want to try putting it on higher than your cheeks or you ended up blind and screaming, stumbling around getting laughed at.
In the end I found the only sure way to keep them off was to lie on the floor and chuck the pine needles that had fallen from trees over me, the things just flew over me, thinking I was the ground. Not much of a holiday that method though, but it has the odd use.
Stop Bite seemed to have an effect, and is nowhere near as nasty as DEET. If you don't mind smelling like Drambuie. Most repellents don't stop the critters crawling all over you and itching like hell, but might stop them biting (IME).
Stay indoors around 4pm ish. And if out for a ride, don't get a flat wheel, and don't stop to repair it.
don't get a flat wheel, and don't stop to repair it.
best advice of the day.
They're not keen on sunshine so only go out when it's sunny 🙂
don't get a flat wheel, and don't stop to repair it.best advice of the day.
I honestly considered abandoning my bike on the Witches Trail at Fort William. I must have been bitten 50 times in the time it took me to fix a puncture (and I fixed it quick!)
Jungle formula is DEET
Jungle formula is DEET
It's horrid stuff - I used it in the, erm, jungle, and could feel my skin falling off. The stuff I had left on my palms drew the blue dye out of the water bottle I was carrying, leaving me with smurf hands.
can I suggest very long socks, 3/4 shorts, long sleeves, take a midge net that you can put over helmet, full finger gloves, had to do a very long climb on a windless day - GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
two other memories, mum was only allowed to smoke in the tent(*facing out door) when there were midges, being called over by another set of campers who were cooking beans - the entire inside of the pot was genuinely pitch black as it was COVERED with midges
Worst place ever was campsite on Rannoch Moor. Stopped on way up WHW having been rained on solidly all day. Soon as the rain stopped the voracious little buggers started eating us alive
Had to go to the pub to escape 😀
Hello all, I grew up in Fort Bill and have this beautiful face because I spent most of that time with tights on my head.
In the adolescence, never saw anyone getting nibbled when they were doused in Lynx.
I still wear tights on my head.
Smidge seems to work really well and it doesn't go for plastics and dyes the way that DEET does. That property of DEET puts me off. There are too many synthetic materials and plastic components on bikes and clothing to worry about (like prescription Oakleys at £250 a pop).
I was chatting to someone from Smidge on Saturday, trying to persuade them to bring out a gel or bar as that would be more attractive to the lightweight crowd. They are also going to be launching a "similar" product marketed as a general insect repellent. The Smidge name is good but does lead one to believe that it's only for the midge.
You tried the smidge then Druidh? I have some but have not been swarmed by midges since I got it last year
DEET is foul stuff - but it does work.
Aye - the Smidge was in action last summer. Best example was on the banks of the Spey waiting to get into a raft. Everyone else was hopping around trying to avoid them, then jumping in the river. We were fine.
Nice to know - ta. Maybe it was the lynx tho.
I'll try anything once, so will give Smidge a go, but the only thing that's ever worked for me has been Deet. Yes, it melts plastic watches and sunnies and takes the print off foil chocolate bar wrappers, but it just works.
Weirdly, after a lifetime of holidays on the West coast and despite spending a lot of time at my folks' place on Skye, the worst midges I've ever encountered were at the Keilder campsite - wide valley, slow-running river and a sunny windless evening. My reaction to the millions of bites was so bad, that a week later I had to take the Newcastle to Sunderland metro with blood streaming down my legs and staining my jeans!
But I've never seen clouds of them like I saw in Sligichan a few years ago... Fortunately, we were in a camper van and just stuffed clothes into every tiny gap and entrance. The windows were quite literally black with midges and we pissed into bottles - there was no way that door was getting opened 😯
Moving about is fine, when you stop, make sure you are covered head to toe and have a hood up. spray your hair and hood with deet(don't get that stuff anywhere near your mouth though, tis disgusting.)
Official camp sites are horrible, elsewhere, sit about for a minute or 2 before picking a spot and you'll soon know if you should move on or not.
Moving about usually works but isn't foolproof. I stupidly failed to apply repellent when doing 10 under the ben a few years ago. Riding through thick clouds of the ****ers near the end of the course. Counted over 400 bites on one leg, the other leg didn't look much different.
Worst places from memory are Inversnaid, Minard in Argyll and camping by the Kingshouse in Glencoe. Black swarms of evil, all of them.
PS Jungle Formula will dissolve the strap of a Polar HRM and any nylon flysheet it encounters. God knows what it does to skin.
When I was an apprentice, I was sent away with a few lads on an outward bound week up near lock Eil, nr fort william. on the second night of our hiking expedition we erected our tents on the side of a hill and decided to cook higher up where there was a little wind to try and escape the midges that had plagued us for days. All was going well until we noticed one of the tents smoking away down the hill.
Macca must have flicked his cig to near the flysheet! We legged it down the hill to put the thing out, but as we neared the tent I realised that was no smoke but a swarm of frickin midges! Unable to stop for our momentum and the gradient of the hill, we ran right through the lot. No jungle juice would have saved us from the proceeding feast. Needles to say I'll not be returning in midge season ever again.