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A mate is on about going camping in Arasaig at the end of August, he has invited Me and the family along. Will we get bit to death?
Ta
You need to take some Avon Skin so Soft with you to keep the midges at bay.
You need some deet based anti midge stuff, nothing else is as effective.
Just come back from Highlands.
The locals are all predicting less midges this year due to dry winter.
They also to a man recommend the Smidge product.
Midges? What midges?
They only bite when you start slacking and stop pedalling...
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Only sure fire way to stay midge free
skin so soft or smidge and a head net just in case. They may look pretty stupid but if you're going to be sitting outside for a while, they do the job.
The area around Arisiaig is amazing, I've had a few holidays up there and the midges can be quite bad around dusk. As already said, Smidge or Avon Skin so soft are the best. Take lots.
You will die HTH 😉
Smidge if you really have too, I find skin so soft useless
The locals are all predicting less midges this year due to dry winter
This has been said for the last 2 years. It's utter tripe. They'll be as brutal as ever 😉
What else would we loose from the ecosystem if we allowed some mad scientist to release a genetic mutation that rendered all midge impotent?
Swallows and House Martins maybe - I like swallows and all but could could live in a swallow and midge free world just fine! I guess the swallows might have a different opinion but then again they could have developed opposable thumbs and invented their own killer drugs and knocked us out first.
One of my worst childhood memories is the day we parked up in Glencoe on an overcast August day and my dad insisted we all got out and went for a stroll.
This vid gives a flavour of what to expect if you stop moving on a still day...NSFW language...
This has been said for the last 2 years. It's utter tripe. They'll be as brutal as ever
This. Crying wolf one too many times.
Yes, you will die. Slowly and horribly, probably jogging around in circles as you do so.
Buy a midge net.
take a smoker, coz me and dad made mum sit at tent door on bad days ..
take lots of water and cookers - boiling pans of water in front of tent door does appear to stop them
if nice weather I would camp in the open on top of a hill as wind can keep them down - avoid damp areas/long grass etc
for biking(*edit - walking and existing) take total cover gear - longs/long socks 3/4s, full tops, long gloves and a midge net that fits over helmet - looking like a tw*t is a lot better than being eaten alive on a slow uphill grind
Yes, you will die.
Camp in the most open, windy place you can find, well away from trees and bushes and near a pub where you can sit out the evenings. Take a repellant with DEET. Take a stack of mosquito coils and burn them around your tent.
....above all be prepared to give up by day 3 and head for a B&B or go home. You won't be the first; several books have been written about the effect of the midge on Scotland's economy.
Smidge works.
That's all you need to know.
If there were no such things as midges, would the ecosystem collapse?
Why not GM or irradiate them into sterility? The midges, not the scots.
I spent a few summer holidays at this site and don't remember midges being bad, it's a very basic camping site but is well positioned to minimize midges.
Another local, another +1 for Smidge.
THEY
WILL
EAT
YOUR
SOUL
have fun.
Also I was told by someone who's missus works for Avon that they have changed the formula as it was being sold as an insect repelent, which it wasn't licenced for, or some such...
The Skin so Soft thing.
It has never been marketed (by Avon) as a repellant and it isn't one. If you ladle on enough of the stuff it drowns the little buggers when they land on you. If things are really bad, you'll be scraping them off your arm. There is/was a US version of Skin so Soft that had a repellant in and was available via Amazon. NOT the stuff sold through Avon UK or in shops throughout the country though.
If there were no such things as midges, would the ecosystem collapse?
Bats eat them by the thousand according to country file.
Smidge is good for limiting the number of bites you will get but you need to take other practical measures too.
When on the bike keep moving - this makes the biggest difference - if a friend gets a puncture abandon them to their fate!
Don't camp next to trees, try and camp in open areas where there is a bit a breeze. Cover up as much as is practical. When they swarm just drop everything and run!
Nets are the only real 100% defence, you can get some good midge suits that the forestry workers wear if you need to spend any time standing around, eg fishing, birding.
Smidge is alright for a bit and Skin so soft is alright, though it stinks and is pretty oily, my old man likes it though. Smoking is good too! Standing in the sea like the red deer works too...
As Scotroutes.....
the Avon product was sold in some places with an additive Picardin (hope i've spelt that right...)
I've used Picardin in the tropics and it works V well....doesn't disolve plastics but... needs to be applied more often than Deet...
Bayer make it....
But normal SSS was being sold in outdoor shops like angling shops, for its midey properties (not getting into actual or perceived), they have now removed a component part of it which they believe was responsible for this because of a legal complication with it being sold for a purpose for which it was not intended.
This has transformed my days out last year across Scotland. Beats ANYTHING else as a repellant on the market.
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Oh, and somehow people live round there, work there and generally carry on life there. So yes, you could survive.
Skin So Soft worked very well for me the last two years. The one time I forgot to put some on my legs I got eaten alive at Laggan! It contains citronellol which is a derivative of citronella oil and an insect repellant.
Here's the Skin so Soft with Bug Repellant (IR3535)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Avon-Skin-So-Soft-Guard-Plus-Cool-N-Fabulous/dp/B002BGLW76/ref=sr_1_30?ie=UTF8&qid=1364912446&sr=8-30
I've used this in the past as it also has a sunscreen so it's a reasonable all-in-one.
We should make this a sticky thread as we'll be seeing the same questions and answers for the next 6 months 🙂
We should make this a sticky thread
BA-BUM Tshhhhhhhh!
igmc
These "midges - will I die?" threads are always the source of amusement 🙂
How do people in Scotland every manage to have normal lives with such terrifying monsters on the loose??? One has to ask whether its worth the trouble of crossing the border at all.
Oh, and somehow people live round there, work there and generally carry on life there. So yes, you could survive.
Wrong, he will die. That is all.
tagging along with scotroutes.
Hope this lingering cold weather has killed off loads of them 👿
One has to ask whether its worth the trouble of crossing the border at all.
Similar to the question I ask myself about Yorkshire.
Smidge is made in Dundee from ground up neds, the midge smell it and die of fear....
what is it about scctland that the midges love (serious question)? Surely not that different to the rest of the UK but why is it such a problem?
The worst place I have been for the little buggers was Kielder. Unlike Scotland Kielder has no other redeeming features.
Do people build up a resistance to the midge?
I react terribly to blood sucking insects, swell up and itch like crazy, I'd love to spend more time in Scotland, Scandinavia, The Lakes etc. but it's just not feasible.
Serious question, not trolling Scotland disclaimer...
Midges are man made in the Highlands. Just back from a weeks research at the Environmental Research Institute in Thurso (look it up it does actually exist) and they breed genetically enhanced, so soft resistant and deet loving species from a soup of tourist sweat and dried haggis droppings.
Designed to act as a deterrent to folk without red beards and an attachment to tartin. So successful in fact, that even the sassanachs that do come to live in the Highlands only stay for a year or two before decamping and running away.
Come on up if you think you are hard enough!!!
100% head to toe clothing is the only way when it gets really bad. Other times make sure you have a fire on the go and plenty of deet or that smidge is ok, avon skin so soft is crap imo.
There's certain times when they are more active than others too.
btw if you are camping next to a loch at sunset, get protected and watch the bats scoop up the midges, crack natural tele! 🙂
avon skin so soft is crap imo.
+1, too true...I was once sluthered in the stuff but was still eaten alive by the buggers! The smell of it becomes sickening after a few days too.
aw aye, make sure your tent mesh is small enough to stop midges, last time I went camping(in august at loch eck, fierce!) my mate took one of those cheap lightwieght festival tents! big mistake, the mesh was effective as fish net tights!
Its the dampness, apparently they don't like it when it's too wet or too dry, but when there is a certain amount of wetness in the ground, it's their ideal breeding conditions.. it's why levels can be worse one week to the next. there is also a temperature range that they like best aswell, which I can't remember.Surely not that different to the rest of the UK but why is it such a problem?
edit:
Been here twenty years now and no love here for smidge or SSS.
Most days there's enough wind to keep em down if you pick your site, when you really need it a decent net or jacket is all that works. And a tent with a decent net for when you get the hump wearing them and need somewhere to regain a bit of sanity.
Skin SO Soft drowns them...
Smidge, only way to survive sitting in the forest on a sunny day, marshalling at the World Cup in Fort William.
That or a midge machine if you have the space... can you hire these anywhere ?
Quick google and answered my own question... my mate has one in her garden and they do work and are very effective
http://www.midge-machines.co.uk/
As per others - Smidge and a head net. Taking up smoking red full strength Marlboro helps too.
Mosquito coils work.