Ticks?

[Miles2go]

Along the Camino Portugues, are ticks common in the rural areas of Portugal and Spain?

Thanks for your input.
Good hiking.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi Miles2go,

Until last year, I could have said that I had walked all over Spain on a lot of different Caminos every year since 2000 and had never had ticks. Then last year, walking from Bilbao to Ponferrada on the Camino Olvidado, I got them several times, even while wearing long pants and a long sleeved shirt. The places were rural, somewhat hilly/mountainous (near Vilasana de Mena, near Cistierna, and once near Cervera de Pisuerga). Other people reported ticks, too, on other Caminos.

See this thread: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/ticks-on-camino-frances.27915/#post-228459

I think some people said that the numbers of ticks last year had to do with an unusual amount of spring rain, but I can't swear to the truth of that. All I know is that I had never heard or seen of them till last year! It may still be too early for them, I don't know.

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Magwood]

Last year on the camino Portuguese I walked to the middle of a field of long grass to sit down under a tree for a shady lunch spot. Just as I was about to drop my pack I noticed a tick on my trouser leg (so glad I was in long pants). Needless to say I high-tailed it out of that field as fast as my legs would carry me, and made a thorough check of my trousers on exiting, and finally found a chapel with a shady porch to sit down for lunch.

 

[Miles2go]

Hi Miles2go,

Until last year, I could have said that I had walked all over Spain on a lot of different Caminos every year since 2000 and had never had ticks. Then last year, walking from Bilbao to Ponferrada on the Camino Olvidado, I got them several times, even while wearing long pants and a long sleeved shirt. The places were rural, somewhat hilly/mountainous (near Vilasana de Mena, near Cistierna, and once near Cervera de Pisuerga). Other people reported ticks, too, on other Caminos.

See this thread: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/ticks-on-camino-frances.27915/#post-228459

I think some people said that the numbers of ticks last year had to do with an unusual amount of spring rain, but I can't swear to the truth of that. All I know is that I had never heard or seen of them till last year! It may still be too early for them, I don't know.

Buen camino, Laurie

Thank you, Laurie!

 

[Miles2go]

Last year on the camino Portuguese I walked to the middle of a field of long grass to sit down under a tree for a shady lunch spot. Just as I was about to drop my pack I noticed a tick on my trouser leg (so glad I was in long pants). Needless to say I high-tailed it out of that field as fast as my legs would carry me, and made a thorough check of my trousers on exiting, and finally found a chapel with a shady porch to sit down for lunch.

Thank you Magwood!

 

[naplesdon]

Just a simple question, do the European ticks carry the same diseases the American ticks carry? Like Lyme Disease.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

My vet says there's no Lyme disease in Northern Spain. But in early Spring, just when it starts warming up, there's an abundance of ticks in the high grass -- small black ones, and big grey ones. They tend to NOT bite humans, but they still abound, and they're still kinda gross. It's common to find one or two hiking around on you... they tend to head to the highest ground, so you usually first feel them on your arms, hands, neck, or chest, when they hit bare skin. Just pluck them off and squish them with your fingernail.

 

[naplesdon]

My vet says there's no Lyme disease in Northern Spain. But in early Spring, just when it starts warming up, there's an abundance of ticks in the high grass -- small black ones, and big grey ones. They tend to NOT bite humans, but they still abound, and they're still kinda gross. It's common to find one or two hiking around on you... they tend to head to the highest ground, so you usually first feel them on your arms, hands, neck, or chest, when they hit bare skin. Just pluck them off and squish them with your fingernail.

Thanks Reb. My BSA experience was that it is important not to leave the head of the tick attached to your body, thus the reason for making them "let go" by touching them with the tip of a hot match. I had friend who contracted Lyme Disease, it is quite debilitating and not curable as far as I know.

 

[nellpilgrim]

I had to get special shots (x 3) for tick borne encephalitis when walking in Germany and Switzerland. My GP said the disease is spreading further west and north in Europe due to climate change but I don't think it's hit Spain yet? The Germans are very aware of TBE and have signs in forest and grassland areas and educational literature in the tourist offices telling you how to avoid ticks and what to do if you are bitten.

 

[peregrina2000]

Thanks Reb. My BSA experience was that it is important not to leave the head of the tick attached to your body, thus the reason for making them "let go" by touching them with the tip of a hot match. I had friend who contracted Lyme Disease, it is quite debilitating and not curable as far as I know.

When I got a tick in my back last year coming into Cistierna and walking alone, I asked one of the women in the pensión I was in to try to take it out with tweezers. She did her best, but wasn´t sure she had gotten it all, so I went to the local urgencias a couple of days later in La Robla to have it checked out. All was well, but the doctor told me never to use the hot match approach, nor the vaseline approach, because these methods might just make the tick burrow in deeper. She said the tweezers I had been using were the best thing. But to be very very careful.

I think there are some clothes treated with stuff that repels ticks, but it is safe?

 

[ChuckE]

Ticks were terrible in our part of the country last year.

In a spray bottle:

one part vinegar
two parts water
a splash of lemon juice
a splash of cooking oil

Spray on pants/legs and whatever is on your head. Ticks won't stay on you. I hear a little peppermint essential oil to the mix works even better (I just don't use them and would probably be a disaster if I tried)

Spent last summer with the dog working on hiking and packing titles. Everyone else was dealing with ticks either on themselves or their dogs (even after using those chemical sprays). Picked up one tick all season on my dog's nose even after several hundred miles in deep woods.

May smell a bit like a salad, but if the ticks are that bad......

 

[Margaret Butterworth]

We often get ticks when bush walking in Australia. I think they live on the kangaroos. My solution is to take a very hot bath when I get home. Then they just float to the surface. It's fun watching them!

 

[Blades]

Last year on the camino Portuguese I walked to the middle of a field of long grass to sit down under a tree for a shady lunch spot. Just as I was about to drop my pack I noticed a tick on my trouser leg (so glad I was in long pants). Needless to say I high-tailed it out of that field as fast as my legs would carry me, and made a thorough check of my trousers on exiting, and finally found a chapel with a shady porch to sit down for lunch.

Ticks are a every day problem where I live in Nova Scotia and the small black legged ones carry Lime disease.I was more concerned with bed bugs any info about a repellent for them with out using a lot of pest insect chemicals?

 

[TerryB]

Living in close proximity to Dartmoor in the U.K. we are well aware of the problems of ticks. I carry a "tick twister" in my pack which I bought in a vet's surgery. http://www.otom.com/how-to-remove-a-tick. Costs very little (about £3.50 on Amazon) and avoids squeezing the blighters which can inject their stomach contents into your bloodstream.
There is a low incidence of Lyme disease in Spain http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8443316 if you like official documents. Some high profile cases in the media in the U.S. and the U.K. have led to a greater awareness of the problem but simple precautions are really all it needs. If in doubt get your partner or a friend to check your back (and rear ) after a walk in tick country.
More forum discussion here https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/ticks.26130/#post-220923

Blessings
Tio Tel

 

[David]

I hear that rose geranium oil is a good natural preventative, just a few dabs here and there, ankles, backs of knees, wrists, elbows etc and they stay away.