Day S20 - Bridge of Orchy to Crianlarich 

Day S19           For the rain it raineth every day             Day S21

I left Bridge of Orchy in a sunny spell, but two hours later the drizzle started and never stopped. That occurred while I was still climbing a very long, 600-ft hill south of Bridge of Orchy. When I reached Crianlarich, I stopped in The Rod and Reel for a spell of warmth and a sandwich. When I left, I had to apologize for the water running down their sloping floors - all from my clothing.

It turns out that "waterproof" clothing actually means "waterproof-for-a-while" clothing. At least that's what Phil at Glenardron House B&B told me when he saw me take off my jacket.

If I lived in Scotland, I might become a Scottish nationalist purely on the basis of the BBC's weather forecasts. Let's start with a typical statement:


That's an expert-sounding forecast, is it not? It seems comprehensive and informative enough. But actually it forecasts just about everything, and does so for imprecisely-stated locales.

In contrast, the forecast for England may be much more specific, with more clearly-defined regions.

The BBC gives the game away right from the start by displaying a weather map from the vantage point of a weather god located over Spain. From this vantage point, the British Isles is grossly distorted, with southern England looking about ten times bigger than Scotland. For England, the rainy areas are distinctly visible by region; for Scotland, you'll be lucky to see . . . Scotland.

To give the BBC its due, it does also issue local forecasts, so there is better Scottish coverage available on local channels and on the internet. But it will issue many more local forecasts for England than for Scotland. I'm also not sure that this is the fault of the British met office, or just the BBC for reporting so selectively. There's also the point that the English population-density is higher than its Scottish equivalent, so you could argue that the English regions warrant more attention.