In a fit of uncharacteristic enthusiasm I've decided to apply for next year's TGO Challenge, a walk across Scotland from the West coast to the East, and even managed to dupe a friend of mine into coming along. [evil laugh] mwahahaha [/evil laugh]
My usual hiking method is to travel light, without going to the minimalist extremes seen on some American trails, and I've used lightweight gear in Scotland before now. What I haven't done is tried camping there under a tarp in May. The last time I was on the West coast I spent one rather stuffy evening driven inside my Macpac tent by the damned midges (although it worked out in a way, as it gave me some leisure time to discover and attend to several ticks I'd inadvertently picked up...)
The TGO involves participants devising their own route, so I can pick terrain that favours me over the flying pests, but that puts me into potentially wilder conditions for the tarp (an old Golite Cave, chosen through the scrupulous method of winning it in a competition.) I'm hoping to use a tarp and a wood burning stove as the key bits of my kit.
So, can any old hands with experience of "tarping" in Scotland advise as to the suitability of the practise for my crossing? At present I don't have any sort of insect netting beyond my customary head net but I'm considering either sewing together a full mesh inner (along the lines of the Ray Jardine type) or else something similar to this which covers roughly the top half of the sleeping bag. All opinions and advice very gratefully received. I've over a year until the actual challenge date, of course, but I want to get out and test any new kit sooner rather than later. And this has all been made a little more serious by the fact that since I moved house I seem to have misplaced my tent...
My usual hiking method is to travel light, without going to the minimalist extremes seen on some American trails, and I've used lightweight gear in Scotland before now. What I haven't done is tried camping there under a tarp in May. The last time I was on the West coast I spent one rather stuffy evening driven inside my Macpac tent by the damned midges (although it worked out in a way, as it gave me some leisure time to discover and attend to several ticks I'd inadvertently picked up...)
The TGO involves participants devising their own route, so I can pick terrain that favours me over the flying pests, but that puts me into potentially wilder conditions for the tarp (an old Golite Cave, chosen through the scrupulous method of winning it in a competition.) I'm hoping to use a tarp and a wood burning stove as the key bits of my kit.
So, can any old hands with experience of "tarping" in Scotland advise as to the suitability of the practise for my crossing? At present I don't have any sort of insect netting beyond my customary head net but I'm considering either sewing together a full mesh inner (along the lines of the Ray Jardine type) or else something similar to this which covers roughly the top half of the sleeping bag. All opinions and advice very gratefully received. I've over a year until the actual challenge date, of course, but I want to get out and test any new kit sooner rather than later. And this has all been made a little more serious by the fact that since I moved house I seem to have misplaced my tent...