JOGLE 6 Day 4 Sat 11 May 13

Departed at 0830 hrs. Arrived 1630. Bridge of Orchy to Cranlarich 13 miles.  The Stance Cottage B &B was good and welcoming and provided a very nice breakfast. A good days walking alongside the railway and road most of the way.  We knew what to expect along this section of the route because we had seen most of it on the way to Fort William by train. The weather was wet and windy all the way to Tyndrum. We had coffee and cake at Tydrum which is very touristy but also proved to be a useful recce for my motorbike trip to Scotland later in the month as it had a proper bikers parking spot. The weather cleared. We had lunch on a nice bench next to a ruined monastery and quite a chit chat with people as they went by. I haven’t said much about people walking from South to North.  Most look fairly miserable and you do wonder why they are there.  I make a point of saying hello to everyone but mostly get ignored. I’ve now got to the point where I can’t bothered as there are loads of them coming towards us and mostly unsociable and not from the UK. I think one American got the joke “about it being nice weather for a Duck” someone thought I said something else beginning with “F”  as if! We had a steep climb through forest to get to Crianlarich. At the end of the track we met three mad cyclists aiming on getting to do the WHW in a day - no chance, it was 1600hrs and they had only just got half way! We stayed in the Crianlarich Best Western Hotel. The Best Western was definitely not as good as a B & B. It’s a shame the Glenbruar House B & B had to close on us. The owner phoned us and apologised profusely about having to close for the weekend and then kindly booked us into the Hotel. The bath towel was missing, the toilet wouldn't flush properly, the packed meals were very expensive and sod all in them! A good point was the drying room, it was the best one yet! There was no O2 signal and I had to use a phone box, now there's a novelty. (note to self must phone O2 and complain!) It’s crazy that I could download on the internet using my phone but I couldn’t ring anyone! The local pub was serving pasta and chips together, the deep fat fried mars bar was not on the menu!!! The meals at BW where fussy so landed up having a spinach pasta but there wasn't enough of it and no stodgy puddings either considering just how busy the WHW is they still don't cater very well for walkers here. I've not found one place that sells Pizza! Having withdrawal symptoms. We came to pay the bill and they tried to charge us for a bottle of wine we didn't have and nearly forgot to charge us for packed lunches, I wish I hadn’t been so honest!