Funny that...
Kirsten, we saw your tent pitched nicely away from the road nearish the Allt Phocaichain bridge and since we already had passed our planned stop, thought we'd look for somewhere nearby. Whilst Malcolm rested by the road on a flat bit of ground that he had become rather attached to, I scouted around for something, anything, a little less dire. When I got back, having had not much luck, I found him lolling shoeless and ready to put up a tent. However when I remarked at the infestation of tic nymphs on his feet, he very quickly had the energy to tromp on to the Fort Augustus campsite. Scores of the things. Glad you did not have the same experience!
We did have to use our tic lasso a few times on this outing, but more often we were dusting for nymphs--lots of those around.

Hi Martha, yes, I thought it was you two crossing the bridge there and wondered.
I hacked my way through the shrubs on the north side then crossed the burn to reach a patch of grass I had spotted from before I had reached the bridge. It wasn't a mown lawn but quite OK and tick-free.
When we had spoken earlier I had mentioned one burn looking good for camping, and that was in fact the next one going south that I had remembered. Ticks can be very local and it sounds like Malcolm must have sat just where some infested animal had been resting - a nasty experience! At least you hadn't pitched before you found them.