16 Responses to “See How I Suffer For You”

1. Peewiglet
   June 28th, 2009 @ 10:24 pm

   Eek… when I saw reference to midge bites I had to come and look. Horrible tings! Last time I was bitten as badly as taht was in Snowdonia. Off to watch the vid now.

   *sends you calomine lotion*

2. Edward Smith
   June 29th, 2009 @ 2:09 am

   WOW!! Now that is dedication!! Thanks so much!! ED

3. Mike Knipe
   June 29th, 2009 @ 10:40 am

   Aaaarghhh! The day after this trip, I added some very unpleasant nettle stings to my collection of lesions. Mine have mostly healed now, but my legs always look like a ten-year-old’s anyway (cuts, bruises, grazes and scabs) Yours need help, Darren.

4. Darren
   June 29th, 2009 @ 10:55 am

   Peewiglet, sadly I have experienced worse. Which also happened in Snowdonia a few years back now. My arms were covered in bites as was my neck and head. Until then I was not aware I react badly to midge bites.
   Basically I ended up at the docs put on anti-histamine tablets 3x a day and steroids for a week. The doc I saw said she hadn’t seen anyone that badly bitten before. I had a day off work, because of it, so when I returned to office I wore a short sleeve shirt on purpose so that they could see I was not faking it.
   Was it worth this suffering to see the badger HELL YES!
   Mike the itching has almost stopped now.
   Edward, thanks

5. Trevor D Gamble
   July 1st, 2009 @ 2:44 pm

   Is that your skin!!! Euuughhh! Yuck! Terrible bites! So sorry, hope they heal soon! At first I looked at the photos and thought you’d been photographic those poisonous red mushrooms somewhere! lol

6. Phreerunner
   July 3rd, 2009 @ 9:38 pm

   Hang on – you’re having us on, I suspect – aren’t those sucklets from Bruno? Does he fancy you?

7. Dave Hollin
   July 4th, 2009 @ 8:53 pm

   Darren,

   I share your pain…..

   I went camping with a few friends and we brought our kids with us to the brecon beacons a few weeks ago. We found a great little site way down in the south-west of the beacons. We parked up, got out of the car and without 5 minutes the midges were buzzing around us. We light a big camp fire, slapped on deet and that seemed to do the trick. We then went to bed thinking that midges usually come out in the dusk and dont rise in the morning…..

   or so we thought

   the next morning it was horrendous. I discovered that my son had gotten up to have a wee in the night and left the midge net door partially open. When I looked up out of my sleeping bag there were thousands of the beggars buzzing around in one corner. I got up and leapt out of the tent only to discover that there were swarms of them outside too. By now all the campers had awoken to the horror that was the midgeyhadeen (aka the flying terrorists). We have never packed up so quickly in our lives and made our way to a costal campsite for the next night because we knew there would be a breeze.

   Anyway, the next day after all the bites I had started coming up in big red weals like yours, over my legs, my arms and my face and a few in delicate places too. I lost count at the 300 mark. I also felt more than a little unwell. The next week saw the bites getting angrier and angrier and starting to weep not to mention the pure agony of the itching. i was already on antihistamines from the doctors, strong painkillers and antiseptic emollient cream. 5 days after the event my legs were on fire and i had to go back for antibiotics as they had gotten infected to.

   As I am writing this, the red marks are still there 3 weeks after the event. I never ever want to go through that ever again. ever

   

8. Dave Hollin
   July 4th, 2009 @ 8:56 pm

   ps

   sorry my syntax and spelling is all mixed up on the above. Typing in a tent is quite difficult sometimes!

   

9. Darren
   July 4th, 2009 @ 9:00 pm

   Dave, thanks for sharing that. Hope they clear up soon.

10. Dave Hollin
    July 4th, 2009 @ 9:12 pm

    thanks Darren…

    strange thing is, no-one else got bitten anywhere near as bad as me and those that did didnt have anywhere near the same reaction as I had….

11. Darren
    July 4th, 2009 @ 9:16 pm

    I think they prefer some people more than others. Or they can tell who will react more and they then go for them out of spite.

12. Dave Hollin
    July 4th, 2009 @ 9:30 pm

    spite…..

    yes that’s it

    spite.

    

13. Trevor D Gamble
    July 6th, 2009 @ 4:11 am

    Didn’t you all see the signs up!!! ‘Don’t feed the midges!!!’ lol

14. TTG
    July 6th, 2009 @ 5:43 pm

    Call those pin pricks bites? I’ve got a bite on my shoulder the size of a 50 pence piece. Yes, it really is that big or bigger with no exageration and it is underneath where my rucksack was most of the weekend. How do insects bite underneath straps and through clothes? I won’t send in a picture as a yellow disc of raised, itchy, infected skin is not a pretty sight.

    Last summer I got 46 bites on one leg over the course of an hour that I had to be outside of my midge net for cooking and eating purposes. So I do know your suffering and sympathise. The good thing with midges liking you is that you are anecdotally less likely to get tick bites. Or at least that is what I’ve heard backed up by the truly scientific method of talking to friends.

15. Darren
    July 6th, 2009 @ 9:50 pm

    TTG, that does sound nasty.If you feel you want to put a picture up to show how you have suffered as well, you can either add a picture to the Fan Page (link on the left) or there is a flickr group as well (http://www.flickr.com/groups/whitespider1066/).
    I agree with your theory on the ticks and midges. I find I don’t get bothered by ticks, yet my friend Martin who doesn’t get bothered by midges attracts ticks!

16. Trevor D Gamble
    July 7th, 2009 @ 7:17 pm

    Gosh! Remember that bit in the first Indiana Jones film where he declares fearfully, ‘I hate snakes!’ I am like that with ticks, sheeesh!!!

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