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Hello folks,
I'm off to Dumfries next week and will hopefully be riding Mabie, Kirroughtree, and Dalbeattie. What are the midges like this time of year? And if they're about and hungry, what are folks recommendations on repellent?
I haven't bought any for ages but used to use this stuff:
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It worked well but was always a bit sticky and melted pretty much anything that it came into contact with 🙂
Ta!
High strength DEET works. I have high hopes for SMIDGE but I have no great experience of it yet
http://2010.midgeforecast.co.uk/index.php/shop
Think deet is the key ingredient. Last stuff I bought was 50%deet which kept a Thai jungle full of itchiness at bay
I tried smidge for the frst time last week and it worked a treat, very impressed with it. Only need one application and does not have the awful smell that skin so soft has.
Avon so soft I find best. It wasn't designed as a repellent but it works.
+1. The forestry guys around here use it because it works so well.gwj72 - Member
Avon so soft I find best. It wasn't designed as a repellent but it works.
From personal experience I know it works well.
Hmm, citronella versus melted nostrils? I'm tempted to give so soft a try...
http://www.alternativeinsectrepellent.co.uk/
However, if it's made with Scottish midges in mind Smidge is winning so far.
Edit to add: TJ - the Lifesystems stuff above is high strength DEET, works great but is pretty sticky.
bigG - round where?
West and Central Scotland (midge paradise, or hell dependant on your point of view)
We are off up to western isles again at the end of July. Last year we had a combination of citrinella (sp?) candles, Avon So-Soft and plenty of jazz cigarettes. I don't recall returning with a single bite! 😀
Jazz cigarettes? Is that the oral version of a jazz mag? Not sure I like the sound of that.
I'm now swaying towards the Avon - there are 8 of us riding and staying in some bronze age tent or something so perhaps a nice lemony whiff would be a good idea!
Have a look at midgeforecast.co.uk too
Someone on the other thread tried smidge and found it not much good. However, I found some in the car the other day and as posted above it is much more pleasant on the skin than Skin So Soft - in fact you can't really tell it's on at all unless you sniff your arm, and then it's quite nice. I also gave it to a guy working on his car who was getting eaten alive by them, and he said it worked really well. So I would suggest giving it a try and see if it works for you.
I use this Avon Skin So-soft with DEET in it
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Smidge. Long lasting and just works.
One word - smidge.
So how many bottles of smidge would I need to keep 8 blokes bite free for 3 days biking, followed by 18 blokes for a further 2 days?
Do midges like the smell of sweat and beer? The 2 days part is a stag do so I might not need so much for that.
Stock up the smidge
skin so soft, works like a charm
but you need to be greased up like a chipendale - they will bite where you havent used any. didnt remove my watch one time and the wee blighters gave me a red bracelet
should add that i have never needed repellant at mabie, kirroughtree or dalbeattie. i must have been going fast those days. that said i got loads of bites at GT last weekend, which has never happened before so they must be bad this year or the old legs are not what they used to be