Bivvy+tarp in Scotland

[oldwheels]

As said take a tent. Very often wind vanishes around 7.00 PM. Midge feeding time! A tent does provide protection. Skye is unspeakable. Utter Hebs. do have midges so a tent imo is essential.

 

[srw]

Just avoid Scotland?

Just avoid camping....

 

[Fab Foodie]

Just avoid camping....

I've just been awarded Accor Group Platinum status .... camping is a form of escape from'life' ...

 

[Profpointy]

Just avoid camping....

camping's great ! Albeit not quite so great if raining continuously or midge-infested - or even both at once, but even then you can work around things

 

[robjh]

The sheer misery of midge-time is coming back to me, 20 years after I last visited Scotland in the summer. I remember the relief I felt if a wind blew up or it started drizzling. Maybe I shouldn't have started this thread

 

[slowmotion]

It does indeed dissolve many kinds of plastic - for instance if a pot of it leaks in the hot sun on your dashboard it can dissolve a hole in the dashboard, into the glove box, and out the bottom of the glove box onto the carpet beneath. .

Splendid! It's like the bodily fluid of The Alien in the first movie.

 

[Profpointy]

Splendid! It's like the bodily fluid of The Alien in the first movie.

It really was like that too

 

[velovoice]

Hmm, some of these descriptions of the midge terror are making me think I should reconsider my destination this summer, and leave Scotland for a warm May or June another year.

I'll just add, going early won't help if the winter has been mild.

 

[Andy_R]

This map might be useful

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

So I'm due to start the new route 78 soon and all this talk of midgies is making me itch and scared of Scotland.

I'm going to be using Autan, midgie hat net and a sewn in mosquito net on my hammock. Will this manage them to tolerable levels?

 

[Andy_R]

So I'm due to start the new route 78 soon and all this talk of midgies is making me itch and scared of Scotland.

I'm going to be using Autan, midgie hat net and a sewn in mosquito net on my hammock. Will this manage them to tolerable levels?

I don't know about Autan - never used it so can't say, but I can highly recommend Jungle Formula 50%. I'm allergic to midge bites so end up covered in itching welts if I don't make sure I'm covered head to toe in the stuff. Yes, it will melt certain plastics (I totally destroyed the Ergon grips on my bike with the stuff), but at least I won't end up looking like an extra from "The Thing". A couple of years ago I had a bike ride around Kielder with a freind who "never gets bitten by midges". The wee beggars hovered about 3 inches from me, but used my pal as a buffet. He ended up in hospital a few days later on an antibiotic drip after scratching so much he ended up with a pretty serious infection. Oh how we laugh about it now.....

 

[slowmotion]

This map might be useful

Brilliant! Thank you.

 

[NorthernDave]

If you don't already, add Marmite to your diet for a couple of weeks before you go, and keep eating it while you're up there.

Apparently little flying things can't stand the stuff and won't bite you as a result...well, it works for me!

 

[robjh]

If you don't already, add Marmite to your diet for a couple of weeks before you go, and keep eating it while you're up there.

Apparently little flying things can't stand the stuff and won't bite you as a result...well, it works for me!

We tried that and still got eaten alive by the midges. On reflection, I think the midges were the lesser of the two evils.

 

[slowmotion]

I'm sure there must be a specialist website for people who like lying around in sweaty sleeping bags, eating Marmite and being tortured by tiny unpleasant insects. Takes all sorts.