Sunbathing naked on your boat.

[ylop]

Then you were either incredibly lucky, or were there before around mid-June when they appear. You know all about it within minutes of their appearance, and they can get in to even a hermetically sealed cabin/ caravan. Nothing seems to stop them except one particular Avon skin softener used universally by the locals and which you can buy in any general store. Any other deterrent seems to actually attract the blighters. Been there, got the bites.....

Avon Skin So Soft has been reformulated and is not quite so good. Smidge works and is widely available.
Midges generally won't travel more than 50m across sea water, so stay on the boat and the impact will be low. Time shore trips for rain, wind or bright sunshine. Go in damp still weather, especially at dusk, and you will regret it.

 

[KevinV]

Avon Skin So Soft has been reformulated and is not quite so good. Smidge works and is widely available

This. Just don't get Smidgy in your eyes!

 

[jdc]

We're straying a bit off topic, but the midges last summer seemed not to be on the usual schedule; In Loch Carron in August there weren't any! But they were there aplenty in late April and in late November! I suspect the two unseasonal storms in August not only wrecked much of West Highland week but blew the midges away.

The ticks remained, they have no seasons and get worse every year. 20 mins in the undergrowth this Monday and I found several that night. The one which had attached to my tummy is itching like blazes right now despite me having removed it 3 days ago!

 

[Bouba]

Answer me this....if midges can fly....how does Hadrian’s Wall keep them out ?

 

[Stemar]

Could they be likened to any particular breed?

Just a nice pair of puppies

 

[ylop]

Answer me this....if midges can fly....how does Hadrian’s Wall keep them out ?

GLIB ANSWER: There's only so much loud Englishman you can put up with (also why there's very few midges in Edinburgh!)

BIOLOGY ANSWER: The environment in the north of England isn't damp enough, uncultivated enough and with long periods of summer absent of bright sunshine to facilitate breeding!

 

[Chiara’s slave]

GLIB ANSWER: There's only so much loud Englishman you can put up with (also why there's very few midges in Edinburgh!)

BIOLOGY ANSWER: The environment in the north of England isn't damp enough, uncultivated enough and with long periods of summer absent of bright sunshine to facilitate breeding!

I thought it was because they prefer the taste of Scottish people. They like a wee dram with their meal.

 

[Wansworth]

Dear Sirs
What the hell is it with naked bloody yachtsmen ?......are they attracted to sailing ?...is sailing some sort of mass perversion ?.....but every time I drop anchor, I’m guaranteed some old weather beaten couple (either two men or a man and woman) start throwing everything off and swim, frolic, shower in the altogether.
Annoyed
Tunbridge Wells

Dear TunbridgeWells,

I agree there is a nice beach within the ria with a good summer anchorage unfortunately the beach is taken by nudists,yours,Basingstoke

 

[AntarcticPilot]

It bl***y well 'aint' here !!

We are ranging from -5 to -24C ........ and have at least another couple of months to get through ...

One of the brightest days I've seen was at a temperature of around -15°C, with a beautiful, clear blue sky and with perfectly formed snow crystals coming down out of the clear sky! Indeed, that might have been one of the coldest days we saw that season (in Svalbard, at around 79°N).

Low temperatures do not preclude bright sun, and in Antarctica, it is an H&S matter to use sun block when going outside under a clear sky, no matter what the temperature. But there you're under the ozo9ne hole with considerably enhanced UV radiation. Indeed, I once got quite badly burnt in the Falklands; beautiful day for walking, nice cool breeze and just warm enough for a t-shirt, but that evening I was as red as a lobster and suffered for several days!
No doubt others here have suffered similarly after a days sailing; the cool breeze stops you realizing that you're getting burnt!

 

[Refueler]

I hate UK winters .... the wet cold gets into the joints ... UGH !!

But here at 59N in Baltic ... as AntarcticPilot says - the clear blue sky winter days are beautiful ... and can be misleading. But the air is crisp, clean and fresh ... trees sparkling with the crystal coating ...
Its a dry cold ... so different to that awful UK style ....

 

[Bouba]

Here it’s lovely and warm(ish)....the wind has blown itself out and the last of the rain won’t happen till this afternoon....so I’m walking to McDonald’s for my daily exercise

 

[Concerto]

...so I’m walking to McDonald’s for my daily exercise

What for? A dog,s dinner of course.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I hate UK winters .... the wet cold gets into the joints ... UGH !!

But here at 59N in Baltic ... as AntarcticPilot says - the clear blue sky winter days are beautiful ... and can be misleading. But the air is crisp, clean and fresh ... trees sparkling with the crystal coating ...
Its a dry cold ... so different to that awful UK style ....

View attachment 206373

No trees in Svalbard - or at least, the few there are in the southernmost part of the archipelago are ankle height!

 

[billyfish]

I think it's funny, when your young and beautiful your so shy you won't take your clothing off now everything has ...gone south, we both like skinny dipping and drying off in the sun , o natural. Hey ho if only we knew what we know now. Life huh...

 

[Refueler]

No trees in Svalbard - or at least, the few there are in the southernmost part of the archipelago are ankle height!

Up in the higher regions ..... yep.

 

[The Q]

One of the brightest days I've seen was at a temperature of around -15°C, with a beautiful, clear blue sky and with perfectly formed snow crystals coming down out of the clear sky! Indeed, that might have been one of the coldest days we saw that season (in Svalbard, at around 79°N).

Low temperatures do not preclude bright sun, and in Antarctica, it is an H&S matter to use sun block when going outside under a clear sky, no matter what the temperature. But there you're under the ozo9ne hole with considerably enhanced UV radiation. Indeed, I once got quite badly burnt in the Falklands; beautiful day for walking, nice cool breeze and just warm enough for a t-shirt, but that evening I was as red as a lobster and suffered for several days!
No doubt others here have suffered similarly after a days sailing; the cool breeze stops you realizing that you're getting burnt!

Not surprising considering they were under the hole in the ozone layer and used to put out on the Falklands local radio the ultraviolet levels for newly shorn sheep.
Enjoyed a few sails on gull island pond..

 

[Refueler]

Not surprising considering they were under the hole in the ozone layer and used to put out on the Falklands local radio the ultraviolet levels for newly shorn sheep.
Enjoyed a few sails on gull island pond..

That hole is about to start expanding faster given latest 'news' .... I find a lot of news shocking today ... and hard to understand what people are thinking ...

 

[Stemar]

That hole is about to start expanding faster given latest 'news' .... I find a lot of news shocking today ... and hard to understand what people are thinking ...

 

[Bouba]

That hole is about to start expanding faster given latest 'news' .... I find a lot of news shocking today ... and hard to understand what people are thinking ...

When you offshore your pollution to places where they pollute even more…and then it dawns on you that those industrial giants aren’t so benign after all and they have military ambitions…it’s time to backtrack

 

[Bouba]

So I walked a 6.3 km round trip at a brisk pace and wide step (for the state of my knee re-education) all for a fish burger at an American corporation with a franchise model....was it worth it ?...I think I earned it