We get them on a regular basis up here in Scotland. Had them from riding/walking/camping in the Cairngorms, around Fort William and up around Torridon. Several riding buddies have/have had Lyme’s. Not nice.

My 1st one last summer.

Bloody awkward place to remove it from too!

Ban him! Nipples are not allowed.

I’m on eastern edge of Dartmoor – had 4 lads in my village diagnosed last summer with Lyme disease.
Brought it up with school H&S committe as we do a lot of outdoors stuff after summer hols. They wern’t really aware BUT over the autumn, Lyme disease has got into new school risk assessments for outdoor activities. Devon’s teachers who went on recent first aid courses are now being warned to look out for ticks, all the symptoms, and told to get tick removal tools AND to remove ticks from kids. Those in schools realise you can’t always take obvious measures with children, but you can take out ticks!

The research body involved with ticks have asked for specimens to be sent in, and the information on such sites has changed considerably. The old ideas of vaseline/alcohol/fag end must NOT be used, as they will regurgitate contents of guts ( and so bacteria! ) into you before leaving. Use a tick removal tool, or tweezers at a pinch.
They also realise that Lyme disease wasn’t brought over from Lyme County USA into the New Forest ( as originally thought ) it was here all the time. The recent explosion of deer ticks has just hightened awareness and infections. Around christmas time they announced we have the largest deer population for ~ 1,000 years, so that’s why ticks are now so abundant.

So – google Lyme disease, check out the Borrealis websites, all good info here, and…..keep covered up!
cheers
Q

Yep, Lymes has cropped up a few times in my neck of the woods near Cheriton Bishop NE of Dartmoor. Is likely to become more common if global warming continues.

NB, went for long ride on Qs last weekend with two mates, all of us in shorts. One guy found 13 ticks when he got home and the other two of us had none – so it does depend on how you taste I guess.

I got a tick late last year on a weekend up in Glentress/Innerleithen. Just below my knee and unfortunatly that area was covered up by my bib-tights.

The only one that ever attached itself to me died! I removed it’s dried husk from my thigh 2 days later.

Don’t try and pull them off you’ll leave bits of them in you – they have corkscrew shaped mouthparts and you basically have to unscrew them (anti clockwise ) pref using one of those hooks but you can just about do it with tweezers .

Contrary to popular belief, ticks do not screw themselves into the skin and cannot, therefore be “unscrewed”! You pull them with a steady tension opposite from the direction the mouth parts are inserted.
Twisting gives a greater chance of leaving the mouth parts behind.