Bivy verus tent in the Highlands

[Mal Grey]

What is the mesh quality on hat/head mesh available in the UK? Is it the same alleged 300 holes/inch^2 (Looks like little hexagons) or the smaller holes of noseeum -- looks like horizontal zigzags with diagonal nylon threads, almost impossible to see with out magnification. These are about 2400 holes/inch^2.

I don't know whether to sew my own or wait and buy one in the Motherland of Midge Terror.

(Is my attempt to mask my trepidation with humor okay? I don't want to get picked up by MI-5 when I arrive (Midge Intelligence, Section 5 which covers tourists as a food source).

Thanks,

Its the tighter mesh you want, the little hexagon type aren't really small enough for midges.

I have an Original Bug Shirt, which you may be better placed to source before you come, given they're a Canadian brand, so may be cheaper.

I've found Smidge to be the best repellent, as its pretty effective without the nasty chemicalness of DEET based products.

[mrssanta]

I have a home made midge net or three made with no-see-um which I bought as a fabric length in the uk and it is fine. I reckon any good outdoor shop or rural Post Office in the highlands will be able to sell you a perfectly adequate head net and a bottle of smidge. My favourite one came from Laurie's of Islay (local shop in Port Ellen) and is a lovely shade of blue/green (which is really irrelevant when you put it on but it is pretty).
Don't worry about them too much, just have a tent, a midge net for your head and a bottle of smidge and i am sure you will be fine.
Our tent on the pictures below is a Mountain Hardwear Skyledge 2 which I think is made in the US and the midges don't get through the mesh.

[Will N To]

Great photo Mrsanta, I think the mesh in the lower photograph is the 300 hole/inch mesh: small hexagonals. So maybe my head nets aren't too bad, so I should bring them.
If it was the finer mesh there'd be more prominent parallel (zigzag) lines. Good to know. Thanks.

[Will N To]

rabthecairnterrier mentioned using gaiters to protect ankles agains midges. The "Walking the Cape Wrath Trail" book also mentions gaiters in the gear list, with no further details. There are other mentions of gaiters on this forum for stream crossings...
I should be hiking in May and June. If I've got good socks, ways to cross streams, drawstring trousers against ticks and midges.. Am I missing anything about gaiters?

Thanks

[Mal Grey]

rabthecairnterrier mentioned using gaiters to protect ankles agains midges. The "Walking the Cape Wrath Trail" book also mentions gaiters in the gear list, with no further details. There are other mentions of gaiters on this forum for stream crossings...
I should be hiking in May and June. If I've got good socks, ways to cross streams, drawstring trousers against ticks and midges.. Am I missing anything about gaiters?

Thanks

They also stop the top of your boots filling with water in bogs...

Off the track, I use them most of the time in Scotland. Though I'm rarely there when its warm!

[walkingpoles]

gaiters in summer: for people like me who don't believe in raintrousers they keep the boots dry in rain. Also a luxury item, when walking through tall wet grass. And then there are these top quality bog places where the bog is 2cm deeper than the height of your boots..

[rabthecairnterrier]

rabthecairnterrier mentioned using gaiters to protect ankles agains midges. The "Walking the Cape Wrath Trail" book also mentions gaiters in the gear list, with no further details. There are other mentions of gaiters on this forum for stream crossings...
I should be hiking in May and June. If I've got good socks, ways to cross streams, drawstring trousers against ticks and midges.. Am I missing anything about gaiters?

Thanks

I wear gaiters most of the year round for various reasons, not just midges, but also ticks, keeping stones out of my boots, heather twigs and other detritus out of my socks, and as a barrier to general wetness (of which there is much in Scotland). Full length snow gaiters can be overkill in summer though; ankle/calf length versions will often do the job.
Talking about wetness, beware of powerful repellents, especially those containing deet - I have seen people absolutely ruin expensive breathable waterproofs by letting them come into contact with the stuff, and if it can do that to synthetic textiles, just think what it is doing to your skin.

[Ben Nachie]

I use a midge hat. Here is a link to it-

https://www.lifesystems.co.uk/products/mosquito-nets/pop-up-mosquito-headnet-hat

And here's a photo of the mesh so you can see the size of weave used here for midges.
Click for full resolution.

[Will N To]

This is great Ben. Good photo.
I cranked out a grid in Illustrator, scaled up to match your 1" measurement. The grid is 600 holes per inch, as recommended by the Nuke the Midges Liberation Front. Instead of having to count holes, you just have to look at a few boxes and see that there's more than one hole in them. Your's has at least 4 openings per box, so 4 x 600 = no midges getting through.
Thanks. I can wait until I get to the UK to buy a hat-net combo. [Well the site won't let me post the image, even though I've cropped it down.... 600 dpi? not going to do it.]

A DIY head net is an interesting project. A ring for the top of your hat. There are 6 small gathers and then the skirt, which must be larger diameter at the bottom (so it's not just a long rectangle stitched on). If I make one I'll make it hang a bit lower chest and back. If the rolled hem for the shock-cord is extra generous, then there's more material to hold pyrethrin where they or ticks might try to work their way in.

[mynthdd2]

tent

[Will N To]

Update. I started this so what am I actually going to do?
1. Tent versus Bivy. BigAgnes Fly Creek UL2 is going, no footprint though. (45 oz (2.8 lbs, stakes, tent, fly, poles)
2. REI Minimalist Bivy (15.6 oz) is also going. I'm leaving in two days and I still need to stitch on a couple grosgrain (ribbon) loops so I can lift the mesh part off my face.
3. Poncho Hex Tarp (14 oz) : I bought a pre-cut silnylon hex tarp kit from RipStopByTheRoll and learned a couple important lessons. 1. tarps and tents are very much about geometry. I intended to replace my Big Agnes rainfly with this one. Not long enough. and 2. D-rings sure look nice but grosgrain loops are lighter and incredibly versatile (some times I like to just stake the edge of the tarp. Most of my super-lightweight stakes don't fit through the D-rings that came with the kit.
So, while wondering if my cheap plastic rain poncho was getting too old, I cut a hole in the tarp, trimmed two sides of the hex, moved one part around, made a hood, added three spots of velcro behind the hood. The two sides fold in, the back which is a perfect length going over my backpack is too long without it. So the middle of bottom edge goes up to the velcro just behind my neck. If rain blows inside any of the folds, it should drain.
Theoretically I could stop in the rain and set everything up from underneath.
And one key issue with a poncho-tarp is when your tarp is set up you have no rain gear. I have a rain jacket. It's breathable which means it works, but when it's really pouring and cold, there's nothing like a poncho.
So 75 oz 4.7 lbs. That's about 2 pounds more than I'd like, but it'll do. While walking I expect to do a lot of camping. Simplest and fastest for me is to just roll out the bivy, sleeping bag, pillow, mattress already inside. I keep this loose rolled on the back of my pack. The tent is more comfortable and better against the midges. And yesterday avoiding actually packing I took another shot at making a midge net. This time it worked. I did find midge nets sold by Ben's, nice but too small. So after the first one went through the sewing machine, I made a second for my son. (A Brit who goes by the name TacBlades on YouTube convinced me that I wouldn't be happy until I had a sewing machine. Sewing my own gear has been really enjoyable. You can get it the gear you want.)

[Hola]

Ive used the Big Aggie Copper Spurs 1 and 2 in the UK for the last 5 years...Always take a piece of plastic to protect the groundsheet tho.
If weather deteriorates, just take more care where you pitch!

[Will N To]

It is a lot easier dealing with a piece of plastic or one-sheet that is muddy on one side than the bottom of the tent. For my Wessex Ridgeway hike through Dorset, at the last minute I bought a lightweight ground cloth. I left my tent in London and took only the bivy and my poncho tarp. I think I saw three mosquitos the whole time. I just waved the Smidge bottle at them and they left. There is one argument that sure if you wear out or tear the bottom of a tent, you can patch it or replace it, but the more compelling argument is mud. Get a sheet thin and light as can be, solves a lot of headaches.
I also travel with a 2' x 2' piece of cheap 1/2" yoga mat. It's been endlessly useful, to sit on, to kneel on while I'm packing and unpacking. It's an extra two feet away from the nest for the late night wee.