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The local fun spot is in awesome condition right now, unfortunately so is the midge population, and they're most definitely hungry!. I reckon they could have made Loch Doon a world heritage sight for midges, it's bloody horrendous, up there with Glen Nevis, Glen Etive, Sourlies bothy and any of the Argyll hotspots.
Surprisingly, the worst midges I've ever encountered were at Linn o dee car park, came down off Ben Macdui with Captain Mainwaring of this parish wondering why campervanists were wearing midge nets.....
Where's yer worst?
Fort William - Witches trails at the Nevis Range
I'm sure there is a 2009 Pace RC305 still in there somewhere. 2 minutes after getting a puncture i just abandoned the bike and ran screaming from the forest never to return. They were that bad
Torridon's free campsite / bog early August couple of years ago.
Midge Armageddon.
https://www.smidgeup.com/midge-forecast/
Kielder on those windless, muggy days. Spent a couple of summers working up there and some days it was like a micro-sized horror movie - no matter how many midge coils you lit or how tightly you locked the windows the little sh*ts would find a way in.
On a PSA tip - have you tried Avon Skin So Soft as a repellent? Seems to work as well as any of the nuclear options that you can buy and is less obnoxious.
Glen Etive without a doubt.
We went up there with the intention of getting some classic Etive Slabs routes climbed. But it was badly midgey on the walk in and when we got there the only other party were climbing with nets on. Then the sky went dark. Properly dark, except it wasn't cloud. We ran away..!
Torridon can be awful; even here in Hebden Bridge it can be grim at times, but the worst experience of my outdoor life was trying to set up a belay at the top of Integrity on the upper cioche face in the cuillins in a cloud of the bastards on a windless cloudy day in July. Crying with pain and frustration I was.
Glen Affric was bad. We were spending the night in the hostel and arrived at the car park at sunset. It was a case of jumping out the car doing a little prep then jump in and flap wildly and repeat. At one point on the ride in a car appeared behind us with its lights on and it looked like we were in a dust storm. Second night we were in the hostels overflow building which had an outside toilet and that was pretty traumatic. However at least we were in Glen Affric. At Kielder the midgies blocked out the sun and you were in Kielder, a big wet conifer prison.
On a PSA tip – have you tried Avon Skin So Soft as a repellent?
Aye, thought it pretty poor to be honest, but I smelled lovely!
A judge showed compassion to a tourist who had broken into a static caravan during the night in Glen nevis, to escape being eaten alive by midges while camping, true story.
Cannich campsite. It was so bad one morning we unpegged the tent and bundled it into the back of the car with everything still in it.
Skin so Soft isn't a repellent. It works by smothering the midge. On a bad day I'd need to scrape of the layer of tack oil and midge flesh.
Smidge is where it's at these days. It also (importantly) is effective against ticks.
Forest of Ae .More like forest of ,ARGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Any time midge are mentioned I think of a race at Ae when the wee bitey barstewards were on top form.I was so badly bitten around my eyes that I couldn't see the track properly and was roaring around like a demented tree magnet.Only event I have chucked after 2 laps.
Thanks for the reminder of why I go South in the summer, not North 🙂
I can second Kielder - got eaten alive with the kids a few summers ago, especially in the bit of woodland where the wooden head is. Was fighting to load the youngest into his seat while keeping the buggers from my head, when he suddenly declared that he "absolutely needed a wee right now this minute". I'm a calm sort of fellow, but I could have strung the little fella up by his helmet straps....
Carrick Castle, Loch Goil.
As someone who spent all my childhood holidays at the Ardgartan campsite in Arrochar I thought I was a battle hardened veteran until I spent a week camping at Carrick Castle.
They were selling T-shirts to survivors.
Seems to be loads around the Quantocks at the moment, I've come back from my last 2 rides covered in bites on my arms, legs and neck. It's not just when you stop either you can feel them following you and biting as you're riding along.
The annoying thing is they only seem to like the taste of me as the guys I ride with seem to escape being bitten. I've been getting lots of piss taking about them being attracted to female pheromones!!
Don't venture up to Scotland very much, but anywhere in Wales seems to be a killer for me. I always find Afan a nightmare! BPW next weekend and I'm dreading the following days of itching fits. They are potent little buggers!
Carrick Castle, Loch Goil.
As someone who spent all my childhood holidays at the Ardgartan campsite in Arrochar I thought I was a battle hardened veteran until I spent a week camping at Carrick Castle.
They were selling T-shirts to survivors.
The survivors later met up along the road at Loch Eck where every last one were eaten to death.
PS between what years were you going to Ardgartan campsite? I spent most of my childhood there also.
Glen Trool!!! By far the worst place I know fro the wee bar stewards!! I remember one evening at the campsite when you couldn't see the lights from inside the toilet blocks for them! They completely covered the windows!!
I think there are a few different sub species of midge in Scotland.
Certainly in my experiences, the West coast has 'swarmier' midges and the Eastern Highlands have 'bitier' midges. The midges on Skye, however (Glen Brittle and Sligachan) seem to combine the worst aspects of both to form some kind of super-midge that is destined to destroy all of humanity.
PS between what years were you going to Ardgartan campsite? I spent most of my childhood there also.
Pretty much all of the eighties...... from when I was about eight till I was old enough to go my own holidays.
Easter,Glasgow Fair and September weekend.
Many a day spent "up the pots".
Our paths likely crossed then, I was a regular from about 86 to 93. Frequently went up the pots and to the calmer shallower flats as well.
I'm the middle one of three brothers and our Dad had a big red 7 series BMW from the late 70's. We always pitched at the corner overlooking the slipway.
Fort william World Cup. 3 years ago I think. I didn't think it could be that bad...
10UTB a couple of years ago. I'd been laughing at folk with midge nets on. They knew best, it turned out .
Torridon campsite for me. Also quite bad at Kielder Forest.
Torridon, skye and cannich gets my vote. Smidge for the win (cant use any deet on my sensitive skin)
As per Nobeer, Linn of Dee or, more accurately, on the flat land by Derry Lodge one August Bank Hol weekend. I'd walked through the Lairig an Laoigh, planning to return by the Ghru next day. Evening camp was plagued by the wee sods, but they seemed to take a liking to the Beanfeast curry (did I say it was a while ago?) I reckon I ate several hundred that dived into the meal while it was cooking. They still had the better of me.
Still not sure why I didn't take the Bob Scotts bothy option.
My worst experience in Scotland was Glen Etive - climbing on the slabs one August where it was blazing sunshine / rock was too hot to climb on during the day, so decided to try in the evening - belaying was agony, you were inhaling them up your nostrils!
My worst bitey insect experience was in Norway one summer - the mosquitos were biting through your clothing
Kielder ..but have had a bad experience at Linn of Dee also ( it involved an exploding tyre ..with one of our group walking his bike ).
Repellents ..Avon Skin So Soft is shite ..
Smidge is ok and probably second only to Ballistol Stichfrei ..which is the most effective repellent you can buy ( it copied Ballistol in its claim to be effective against ticks )
Look up the Stichfrei test against ticks on YouTube ...
Funnily enough we just heard about the first midges of the season at Kielder this morning ...anyone want to do a house swap for the next 4 months ..?
Worst I've had was on the opposite side of Loch Sunart from Strontian. Got the fishing gear out to spin for mackarel, had 2 casts & that was it, I was breathing the bastards in.
I have heard that Kielder midges are the most evil though.
Torridon, Glen Brittle, Rannoch Moor, Arran.
But the worts I've encountered where at Gairloch Big Sands. Camping among the dunes in the Landrover back in the day. Couldn't even face getting out, so climbed through to the drivers seat and set off. Didn't stop until we got to a layby just north of the Kessock Bridge. ****ers!
Glen Affric, was choking on them, could hardly breathe, in my ears, eyes, they were thick white clouds in the car headlights as we escaped. Had them really bad in Assynt last year too, hard to see through them and the midge net. Horrendous beasts.
Arrrgh.
Would be a complete frigging nightmare for me.
I give off some odour (BO?) that attracts the little gits to bite me and I then swell up. I've had tennis ball sized ankles before.
(Taking anti-histermines doesn't prevent this getting 'eaten alive'.)
So I just cant venture north!
Worst I've had was North Lees campsite below Stanage. Camping there a few years ago, turned up after dark and it looked like low mist. Got out of the car and started to pitch the tent, only to find the mist was midges. By the time I finished I had a ring of blood above my socks!
drnosh ..
I can't vouch for your hygiene habits ..however it's more likely to be the amount of carbon dioxide you are breathing out that is attracting them ( rather than b/o) ..dont stop for too long while exercising ...as breathing heavily will just attract even more of the little bastards..
Another tip is not to wear dark clothing ..
Good luck everyone for the next 4 months ...
since smidge appeared on the scene midges have never bothered me. I love smidge I do. It just works and works well without being nasty to your skin
When you find a repellent that works for you then it would be daft to change..smidge is an excellent choice..and I used it myself for many years ( well 2 or 3 ) ..the Stichfrei ( Ballistol ) product I have been banging on about I came across while working on a part time basis for the company ..and I've no vested interest in pushing it forward as when I stopped working for them they still owed me money !
It just works ! ( their company strap line )
Coping strategies... after my first full-on midge experience, I didn't go back to the Highlands in summer for 11 years! It was only the 2001 foot'n'mouth outbreak, and Scotland's more realistic approach to public access, that drew me north again. Headset, Jungle Formula, mossie coils in the tent porch - it's all manageable, if not much fun.
Oh yeah - Moidart - like peering through TV static, scraping black 'gloves' of dead midges off my repellent--coated hands...
There’s a particular spot I remember at Kielder, Willowbog.
i was planting trees there in the nineties, and I’ve never seen them as bad anywhere, before or since. You could see the air pulsating like a murmuration of starlings, my word it was a bad few days.
Been midged to the point it’s hell camping that I decided to make my own anti midge not canopy for our tent so we can now relax cook and take in the views
Made our adventure down Glen Etive a good experience instead of a nightmare.
Sandwood bay! So many they glued themselves to the fork stanctions by the seals.
Red Squirrel campsite in Glencoe has been known to be horrific
We stopped there with a minibus full of air cadets We had to put the tents up then pull the bus alongside each tent and pretty much throw the kids into the tents then zip them in.
Little campsite on Dartmoor.. I only know it as Shepherds Huts near Buckfastleigh... Summer solstice 2016.
140+ bites just on my face (my son counted them)
I also tripped and fell into a wooden stake and gashed myself under the eye on the same evening.. maybe they were attracted to the blood?
Weirdly my only trip to Fort Bill was on a baking hot June day and we didn't see a single one!
I'm dreading next week at Loch Oich.....