Midges and Summer Munro Bagging: How to Enjoy the Long Days

Summer is, on paper, the perfect Munro season — eighteen hours of daylight, warm summits, snow-free paths and settled spells that let you tackle the long remote rounds. Then you meet Culicoides impunctatus, the Highland midge, and understand why experienced hillwalkers have such complicated feelings about June, July and August. The good news is that a little knowledge turns the midge from a misery into a minor footnote.

When midges are actually a problem

The midge season runs roughly from late May to September, peaking in July and August. But midges are far more particular than their reputation suggests. They are most active in still, damp, overcast conditions, especially at dawn and dusk, and they cluster in sheltered, boggy, low ground — exactly the glens and car parks where your walk starts and ends. Crucially, midges struggle to fly in any meaningful wind: a breeze of around 7 mph or more grounds them almost completely.

The single best defence: go up

The most reliable way to escape midges is altitude and exposure. The summits and ridges where you spend most of a Munro day are usually breezy enough to be midge-free, even when the car park is unbearable. The problem zones are the start, the finish and any sheltered lunch stop in a hollow. Plan your day so that you are moving through the low ground quickly in the morning and evening, and you will spend the bulk of your time on midge-free high ground.

Timing and route choices that beat the midge

• Pick a breezy forecast. A day with a steady wind is not just safer for navigation judgement — it keeps the midges off the tops entirely.
• Start early. An early start gets you off the low ground before the worst of the evening hatch, and rewards you with the best of the long summer light.
• Favour higher, more exposed approaches in midge season. Save the sheltered forest and boggy glen approaches for the windier shoulder seasons.
• Do not stop in the still hollows. Take your breaks where there is a breeze, even if the view is slightly worse.

What to carry

A few small items make a large difference. A midge head net weighs almost nothing and is the difference between a relaxed packing-up at the car and a frantic one. Repellent helps, particularly products containing DEET or the Scottish favourite Smidge; long sleeves and trousers cover the most-bitten skin. None of this is needed on the summit — it is for the transitions at either end of the day.

The rest of the summer story

Midges aside, summer is a wonderful time to be on the hills, and it brings its own genuine hazards worth respecting. Warm, clear days dehydrate you faster than you expect — carry more water than in spring, and know where you can refill. Sun on an exposed ridge is deceptively strong; sunburn and even mild heat exhaustion are real on a hot Munro day, so pack sun cream and a sun hat alongside the usual waterproofs. And settled summer weather is the season for the big, committing remote rounds that are unwise in winter — the long days give you the daylight margin to attempt them safely.

Plan around the wind, check the mountain forecast as carefully as you would in any season, and target the regions at their summer best — the summer Munros guide highlights where to go when the days are longest. Keep your offline maps and summit forecasts to hand in the Munros app, log each peak as you bag it, and the season that hillwalkers love to grumble about quietly becomes the one that adds the most peaks to your round.

Related guides

• Best time to bag each region — where summer conditions shine
• Understanding Scottish mountain weather — reading wind, cloud and temperature
• Summer Munros — the best peaks for the long days