Touring Scotland

user hippy (2021, colourised)

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I'm still not convinced by these midge things. I'm almost looking forward to seeing how they compare to our flies and mozzies.

could all be away by the time you arrive - season is may to september
https://www.smidgeup.com/midge-forecast/

That's what I said to her but then I did read something else about Oct having quite a few about still.

Is Deet any good against them? I have a bottle of Trek 50% DEET shit that I bought years ago for TransAm or something and I've never used it. I fear it will dissolve my tent though...

Was in Scotland 2 weeks ago, Glencoe, Lomond, Skye and some other spots. Missus had 17 bites on one arm, 19 on the other, just in one night. I had a load around my face and neck and wished I had one of the net helmets that I'd just hours previous been making fun of people for wearing

not sure - I use smidge. other people swear by

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Just ordered one of these. £11. Cant go wrong, assuming it packs up real small.

Anything more than 7mph wind and apparently the wee pricks cant even fly.

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https://youtu.be/WzUlj6eTehA

If its bad then a puncture will be bonafide torture. You'll have to fix it while sprinting in circles.

Was in Scotland 2 weeks ago, Glencoe, Lomond, Skye and some other spots. Missus had 17 bites on one arm, 19 on the other, just in one night. I had a load around my face and neck and wished I had one of the net helmets that I'd just hours previous been making fun of people for wearing

I'll pass this on to her. Midge nets are her responsibility. Midgets are mine.

Hahaha I just showed her this and she said she's not going...

what was your route?

You're welcome ;)

Have slept bare face in bivi when it was really bad. Thought I could have gotten away with just pulling buff over face but they still got absolutely everywhere. Jungle formula deet works well but did melt my watch.

Afaik there's two numbers online - one is to a lady who is lovely despite getting barraged with misdirected calls, another is to the ferryman himself, not sure if you found any second # ?

Midges are the real deal. I too wasn't convinced and just thought people were hyping it up. Did NC500 last year (August) and we stopped to change into wet weather gear and it felt like a cloud had completely surrounded us. Was unbearable. Believe the hype.

We were on the road and without bikes I'm afraid

I messaged the number on the ferryman website. If that's wrong then I need to apologise to a random woman.. again.

I'm can't wait.

Almost the same as fist fighting a bear during TD..

You can punch a bear in the face....with midges, you punch yourself in the face.

The grrl is looking for midget nets. Pyramid stuff any good? Same brand as the DEET that I never used...

Can't believe I'm allowing this. HTFU.

I don't know what Pyramid is. Ive never used a repellent for anything since the stuff I took to Thailand stained everything it touched forever.

I have a Smidge head net and this new cheapy hooded shirt thing thats on its way.

I now hope the midges are out in force, I'd love your opinion on em.

Smidge is good. We both had cheap head nets from camping shop and worked ok. If you are camping it really helps to find somewhere with a bit of breeze, higher up and not next to water/in a forest. One night we were destroyed (July) just after rain on the edge of a forestry road. Next night we were up higher, near Loch Lyon and it was fine.

It's worth taking repellent and a net, may be absolutely fine, but you never regret taking a spare inner tube, even if you don't use it.

Thanks, I'm pinging her over all these notes/suggestions.
Tick tweezers and midge nets are pretty small and cheap so can't hurt. I don't like using chemicals if I don't have to stares at untouched DEET bottle so I'm gonna see who gets attacked first and if that stuff is needed.

It’s not easy to find anywhere not next to water in Scotland.

This past weekend I did a recon with a local clubmate for a pass hunting ride we'll be doing as part of a larger group for the Rough Stuff Fellowship at the end of the month.

The route starts at the Linn of Dee and passes through the Lairig Ghru on day 1 . After a night at the YH there the route returns via the Lairig an Laoigh and Fords of Avon.

Day 1 was a 32km "ride" which took about 7.5 hours. After an initial ride through to Derry Lodge and the Luibeg Bridge, the going got tough and it was 90% hike a bike through to Rothiemurchus Lodge for the final decent into the YH. We were blessed by a strong tail wind which kept the insessent rain mostly out of our faces. Lunch was had sat behind a bolder to try and get some shelter from the wind. The boulder fields were very tricky. Shouldering the bike wasn't possible as it would act as a sail in the high winds and cause you to loose balance. Instead we had to sort of drag the bike across and use as a third point of contact. The bottom bracket and cranks took a real beating. I was happy for my choice of single speed 29er as it meant less things to bash on the rocks and no derailleur to smash

For the recon the heavy rains on Saturday meant that we decided to switch the return route as the chances are that the Fords of Avon would be impossible. Instead we took the western half of the inner Cairngorm Loop via Glen Feshie and Glen Geldie crossing the watershed near the river Eidart. This route was nice in contrast as the day became about 75% riding and 25% hike a bike. Near the top of Glen Feshie things were pretty boggy and the muddy puddles on tracks could sometimes swallow your wheels up to the hubs.

Photos to come...