Ticks on Camino Frances

[akabiko]

Hi everyone, I am going to make Camino Frances in May 2015. Didn't find any info on ticks on this route.
Where I live May is a peak season for ticks, always finding 3-5 of them after walk.
Does anyone have any information about ticks in May on CF?
Thank you!
BR,
Anna

 

[ManyMiles2Go]

I walked in August/September, so no problem with ticks. I do not think you will have any problems at all, as most of the paths are well worn and some paved. Unless you go off the path to lay in the woods or grass, you should be OK.

 

[Kiwi-family]

We just went to the doctor this morning upon returning home because my son has a large lump near his rib that appeared whilst in Spain. Doc asked about ticks and son confessed that one day he found a black thing on his skin and it was stuck there and he had to get his nails under it to pull it off. I had no idea!!!! Doc diagnosed lymph node swelling in reaction to tick bite. That would have been mid/late June.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Yes, there are ticks on the Camino Frances -- big ugly grey ones, and little black ones. There seems to be a real abundance of the little black ones this year. They hang out in tall grass and jump on you (or your pets) when you brush past. They like to be high up, and they´ll climb up you till they reach your shirt collar or hairline. More often than not you´ll feel them moving across your skin, and you can brush them off like you would any other critter. I have not heard of anyone getting diseases from them... just grossed-out!
My neighbor says the ticks prefer animals to people, but they apparently will take what they can get.
They are not anything as bad as bedbugs.
Kiwi, I hope your boy recovers quickly.

Reb

 

[Dutch]

oooeeh, i don't know. A chance of lymes disease or being pestered by hard-to-get-rid off bedbugs.

pffff

 

[akabiko]

Thank you all for your answers.
kiwi-family, I hope everything will be ok with your son.

 

[Valeriina Silas]

We found two ticks from our dog during our 6 week camino in mid May-June. I would say that is not much. We have seen much worse on our holidays.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Ticks are a springtime thing. As the dampness dries up and summer rolls on, the ticks step aside for the bedbugs!

 

[Kanga]

If they are paralysis ticks the little black ones may be the nymph stage of the big gray ones. They go through 4 stages to reach maturity and breed, and to moult from one stage to the next they need a blood meal. Quite fascinating really. Just in case you ever get a Trivia question on ticks.

 

[supersullivan]

If they are paralysis ticks the little black ones may be the nymph stage of the big gray ones. They go through 4 stages to reach maturity and breed, and to moult from one stage to the next they need a blood meal. Quite fascinating really. Just in case you ever get a Trivia question on ticks.

T.M.I. Kanga, T.M.I.

 

[peregrina2000]

We just went to the doctor this morning upon returning home because my son has a large lump near his rib that appeared whilst in Spain. Doc asked about ticks and son confessed that one day he found a black thing on his skin and it was stuck there and he had to get his nails under it to pull it off. I had no idea!!!! Doc diagnosed lymph node swelling in reaction to tick bite. That would have been mid/late June.

Kiwi-family, hope your son is well.

I had a bunch of ticks on my Camino Olvidado. One was in my back, and I had to ask a staff person in the Hostal Moderno in Cistierna to pull it out with tweezers. She was happy to do so, but after the blood started running down my back, she said she wasn't sure she had gotten it all. Two days later in La Robla, I decided I should have someone take a look at it. My first stop was the farmacia, since I've gotten all kinds of medical treatment from pharmacists in Spain. But she told me I really should go to a doctor, since ticks can be serious.

I went to the local "urgencias" and was immediately seen by a doctor. After getting through the part about how I had no medical card, and how she had no way to take any money from me, she examined me, gave me a prescription for an antibiotic to start at the first sign of a fever, and sent me on my way. But not until giving me after a very spirited critique of the US health care system.

 

[Kanga]

Recommended to us by our local hospital during a tick plague - If you get a tick give a short spray with an aerosol hydrocarbon for starting diesel motors (in Australia called "Aerostart" and another brand called "Start You Bugga") which freezes and kills the tick instantly. They fall out by themselves in a day or two. Mucking around with tweezers if you are not good at it can cause the tick to inject more saliva.

 

[Tia Valeria]

We have invested in a pack of tick removing tools - one small, one larger and minimal weight. We bought them in a vets and they are double pronged. In some parts of the body it would need someone else to slide it under the tick and turn it. They are also on Amazon in the pets section