Well, our first ever camping trip lasted for 2 hours [blush]

[MamaG]

We were up a massive hill in Scotland, nearest house 15 minutes drive away, nearest shop 25 minutes drive away - no electric, no water, no loo.

A tiny caravan for me, DD and BabyG and tent for DH and DD.

All was going so well - car packed and supplies well thought out, got there at 7pm, unpacked the car, got the tent up no problem at all and were feeling very pleased with ourselves. We had our picninc then DH decided to go off for a walk, I stayed to faff around in the caravan with the DC.

THEN IT HAPPENED. O.M.F.G the midgies. THE MIDGIES! Swarms descended on us, we were supposed to be sitting around a campfire toasting marshmallows, instead we were fighting off the bloody midgies - BabyG did not leave the caravan, bless him and he STILL has 9 bites on his face - we were all blastered in bug repellent HA, my pretty citronella candles burning away HA. I went outside and within seconds my arms were black. I lookd at at DH and said "We can't stay here!" - thankfully he agreed so we chucked hte kids in teh car and threw everything in the boot. Got home nearly midnight, poor kids!

Two pitiful hours . Trust me, I am not exaggerating, this was NOT a few little irritating midgies, it was unbelievable.

[chevre]

never underestimate the power of the midge!

sorry you had such a shite camp.

[Haribosmummy]

You lasted longer than I would have!

Have a lovely breakfast this morning - eat it in the back garden and pretend you have been camping!

[MaureenMLove]

Aw, what shame, but I do feel your pain. Been then. They are the spawn of the devil. There is no escaping them. If you go in half term in May, you just miss the little blighters, but July and August is a complete no-no.

[MamaG]

evil feckers

[MamaG]

I should have known it was going to be a disaster when i weed all over my jeans within minutes of arriving!!

[SammyK]

that sounds horrid not surprised you bolted back home!

[wiggletastic]

Midgies are EVIL.

July and August in the north or west of Scotland is a no-go zone IMO.

Try the east coast, more breeze, less midgies apparently.

Better luck next time.

[WhereTheWildThingsWere]

Oooh MamaG, that sounds awful I hate any kind of flying biting beastie.

Better luck next time, don't let it put you off.

[Fennel]

the good thing about Scotland is that if it's windy and rainy (as it often is) then you don't get plagued by midges. (we camp a lot on the west side of Scotland). So as long as the weather's bad, you're safe from midges..

[Libra]

We're on the north-east side of Scotland. No midges here (not a lot of sun either at the moment, but no midges).

[MamaG]

I think we'll venture south on our next camping trip!

[modrin]

as a scottish person i say get thee to Cornwall best place in the uk

[HolyGuacamole]

Yep, skin so soft dry oil spray. It's the only thing I've ever tried that actually works.

My dad swears by an old cloth soaked in diesel and set alight but that's majorly risky with so many synthetic fibres around

Sorry you're trip was wasted but do try again when you get a chance, it is lovely up here......asides the midges.

[troutpout]

Blardy things...they are evil!
It's such a shame mamaG. We had a weekend in the peaks spoilt by midges recently.

sss didn't work for me (well maybe it helped a bit-i only got 36 big bites..maybe it would have been hundreds).

I seemed to help everyone else out though! When i was around , noone else was getting bitten. (dh was saying 'it's just you...they must like you! i'm not getting bitten') Then as soon as i went inside the tent and zipped up the insect nets, i could hear him start to slap and curse. . He followed me in after about 10 mins.

The boots antihistimine cream helped with the after effects of the bites btw

I looked on ukcampsite and found that people were quoting some research that catnip essential oil is the most effective thing to use. In a study it worked 10 times better than deet but didn't have as good an accumalative effect apparently. Anyway, i ordered some (don't care if i have a line of randy cats following me) ...but i haven't tried it yet.
I shall report back my findings

[MamaG]

We were blathered in Skin So Soft! Yes, we all needed antihistamines but the chemist told me not to use it as I'm BF, os I had to get some cream frmo teh docs.

DH tried to count the midge bites on my face alone last night, he stopped at 100. Seriously. Over 100 flipping bites. I have been driven mad by the itching but hte cream from teh Docs has really helped.

Luckily I put sudocreme on BabyG's bites as soon as they appeared and they cleared up straight away and the older two DC weren't bitten at all!

[MamaG]

Ah your poor DD sal.

We're not going to let it put us off though. But we will prob avoid Scotland