That looks nasty Des and I hope you're now fully recovered.
The region of France that we live in is beautiful; heavily wooded and teeming with wildlife. Unfortunately, it is also a hot spot for tics. For the ten years we've lived here this has not been a problem, but a couple of Sundays ago I returned home from a customary long walk with a tic embedded in my forearm. Although cleanly removed asap, it swelled up and reddened. So, it was off to the doctor's the following day. He cheered me up no end. The moment he saw it he said you've got Lyme's disease from the tic. There were no ifs, buts, maybes, perhaps, I thinks, etc and he went on to regale me with the various stages without treatment. Anyway, I'm near to finishing my 60 elephant-treatment sized antibiotics.
It's all left me feeling very tired and must have affected my judgement - why else would I be about to embark, as reported elsewhere, on the Copper State Taube?
Best wishes
Nigel