Horse flies!!!!

Yeah they are bastards and unlike midges can easily bite through thin clothing.

Spent a glorious afternoon a couple of week ago having a family picnic near Loch Ard, until the horseflies descended. I’m sure the little bastards were humming Ride of the Valkyries as they attacked.

im not sure if these buggers have given me flu….

Seen a few of these beasts in N Wales last couple of weeks. Massive and very very loud. Thought they were some kind of bee. Dark Giant Horsefly i found out after some googling.

I’ve got one right on the back of my knee, right where the crease is as it bends. Bloody painful so it is.

Going up the col de joux plane a couple of years ago, I got about 30-40 bites by the time I crested the top,

Bugger, I was gonna ride up there with my son in a few weeks. Better get some decent repellent then!!

I was devoured by clegs  riding the NC500 last week.  Apparently, according to BBC Breakfast,  midges can only fly at 3-5mph max whereas clegs can fly up to 15mph and they’re attracted to shiny dark clothing.   But since that is from the beeb i would take it with a pinch of salt

Cunning little beasts – they seem to understand where your eyes are and will usually settle/bite where you can’t see them. Years ago I worked summer holidays in a garden centre, and we would work in pairs to spot them landing on each others necks/backs/backs of legs. If you spin round in circles they track you and land again once you’ve stopped. EVIL!

As the above poster said, stick Antisan on the bite within 20 mins and the effect of the bite is massively diminshed in my experience. I have a little tube in my pocket when I’m riding now.

And yes, there’s loads of the buggers about this year. Got bitten twice last week when they flew down my top!

Had a couple this year and find steroid cream applied post bite helps with the speed of healing – and the itching.

They are proof there is no God IMO

Hateful little buggers. Got me good on a dog walk the other day…

Boggie – see the Trickstuff story on the front page for another Clegg reference. Scottish and German term for them maybe? Still evil whatever you call them.

Bitten by something last week that got all yellow gooey and swollen ankle. Bastard. Just hoping it wasn’t a tick, but I get the impression they anesthetise so wouldn’t notice easily, but this bugger was itching and aching.

Though I did read that they get confused by stripes (theory is that zebras evolved their stripes for that reason)

Were talking about this the other day after spotting a number of horses in zebra PJs out in Surrey Hills. Did wonder about zebra cycle gear 😀