Midgie and Waterbarmageddon on Cairngorm

Doh!
What an utterl newb. The last three summer trips to Aviemore we barely saw a midge. We’d been congratulating ourselves on finding this hitherto unknown Eutopia that was just like our beloved West Coast, but with better weather and no midgies.

Oh my **** God how wrong we were. I did OK on the spares front. Packed 7 spare inner tubes for the two non tubeless bikes and thought we’d be OK even on the square cut rocks of Cairn Gorm…

6 hours later, midway down the coire an lochain path, 3 punctures already, no wind whatsoever and a damp drizzle…

Never endured anything like it. Was just insane. Each puncture gathered more midgies than the last one.

A couple of lovely ramblers took pity and gave us a bit of deet but still didn’t stop them getting in the eyes and mouth and everything.

After the third puncture I told the wean he really had to rein it in again, but then his brother got one. Time to find out if the new bike was indeed set up tubeless. I asked the missus to leave me the four remaining inner tubes and sent them off ahead to try and shelter in the van. The biggun happily ride off on my beloved Occam with its brand new carbon wheels. Eek. And left me with his medium Anthem.

Anyway, it was indeed tubeless, so I emptied a mini bottle of Stans in and span and pumped and span and pumped. And got eaten to ****.

Then discovered that the rim was dinged to buggeridge and so it wasn’t holding air. So I emptied the gunk back out, stuffed a tube in and minced my way down the rest of the path. Back at the van it transpired that the wean had indeed punctured again, and so had just walked the last bit.

Shame really, as the rest of the ride was quite fun….
Heinous push up…

Bitta lunch.

Down

🙂

/ scratches

OMG thats horrendous, and it really ruins an otherwise enjoyable holiday.
Bit late now, but this site is a good bet if you want to know how bad (or good) it’s going to be
https://www.smidgeup.com/midge-forecast/

Aviemore currently No4 ” That’s no mist, that’s midges “

Ooh. Not seen that site. Will have a look.

We’re shopping tomorrow….. midge spray, antihistamines and tyre inserts. 🙂

Need a rest day. Did 30km at Laggan on Sunday then 35 km in glen Feshie yesterday so we’re all a bit gubbed.

Teach ’em to fix their own punctures!
APF

Holy shit

Two types of midge attack: one where you wonder if you will die, one where you hope to die….

I share your pain on kids getting punctures while the midges circle..

Mctrail rider has that wee loop on his latest vid, on the eeb.

Two types of midge attack: one where you wonder if you will die, one where you hope to die….

And finally the one where you’re scared you might not die!

But honestly, get a head net and Smidge. The Smidge stops them biting when they land on you and the head net stops them getting in your ears and nose.

Oh no! That’s not good. Midge forecast was at 4 when we were there last month but we saw hardly any midges…

I’m heading to Aviemore on Saturday for a week. I have my Smidge and tubeless tyres. Think I may top up the sealant just to minimise the risk. Don’t want to end up all red spotted.

Ha ha, that’s pretty horrific. I always pack a midge net next to the first aid kit for just these situations after a serious sense of humour loss on the old Carn Ban Mor descent. Even with smidge there’s a few hardy bastards that try and bite, a net means they can’t get close.

I’m sitting here scratching after just looking at that, so thanks!

We camped, under a tarp, on the North shore of Loch Maree a couple of weeks ago:

^^ There’s a breeze blowing in that photo. There was zero breeze in the middle of the night.

Midge forecast was showing 4, which was pretty accurate.

But honestly, get a head net and Smidge. The Smidge stops them biting when they land on you and the head net stops them getting in your ears and nose.

I’ll be adding ear plugs to that list for future camping trips in the height of midgie season. The constant droning nearly drove me insane!

(Mrs B was still scratching the bites 7 days later.)

Euurgh I can’t look at those photos without itching!!

looks nasty!

QQ about tubeless and dings….

Is it usually possible to straighten out any rimdings with an adjustable spanner sufficiently well that tubeless works again?

Need to fix the big bike and might also try to convert the little bike ( which has loads of dings )

I think it’s a bad year this year 😀

Midges! Loch Monar this morning #5DegreesWest pic.twitter.com/o0RZs4Edbu

— Colin Ibbotson (@Tramplite) July 27, 2021

The long hot spell kept them at bay. I’ve barely seen a midge all year. Turning cooler and more damp means they’ve all surfaced at once.

Still.hate the clegs more.

Saw a guy in fort William last week wearing shorts.
I figured he had just done the whw as his legs looked like a dot-to-dot puzzle

Is it usually possible to straighten out any rimdings with an adjustable spanner sufficiently well that tubeless works again?

depends really, a single dent or a couple, yeah generally if you’re careful, and the tyre is supple enough, with lots of wee ones and/or a recalcitrant tyre, your chances of it sealing are reduced, it’s not impossible though. If you’ve nothing pressing to do, and you’ve enough energy to pump a tyre a few times…you’ve nothing to loose really.

Aye, never seen a midge all week in our week in July up there, except a few at sunset when camping on Carn Etchachan, net and long sleeves helps soooo much. Clegs around Lochan Gamnha were evil though.

And what nickc says on rims, worth a go, I’ve done it loads of times.

One of the reasons we go earlier or later. Weather is worse but no midges!
My worst midge experience wasn’t even in Scotland. I did the motor cycle enduro in Kielder and despite wearing MX boots and long sleeves etc I was eaten alive

Just spent over two weeks in the highlands, and totally against expectations they weren’t an issue. Was setting up for the night in the Cairn Gorm lift car park with no problem when they suddenly descended on me so i hightailed it down to Morlich lochside where it was totally clear – go figure… Even a night in Easdale and Kinlochleven was clear! This was in the heatwave, mind, with no rain for the whole stay.

yeah was just north of Oban in June and despite being windless and 23-24 degs every day, it was midge free (even the days I was in the forests locally) lucky lucky

My god that video!

I’d have just drowned myself in the Loch

Very few midges on Mull or the Kyle of Bute. I think I’ve been very lucky.

Why are they there? Apart from humans what do they eat, surely there can’t be enough food to sustain the amounts in that video above.
Same as flies in the outback, as soon as you step out off your car they are all over you.

Very few midges on Mull or the Kyle of Bute. I think I’ve been very lucky.

Same. I was on Mull last saturday and no midge issues at all.

Quick bump for @mrchrist if he fancies doing Cairngorm this week