Before breakfast (which in my case included haggis and black pudding) I had a little stroll around the hotel and photographed some Butterwort and Sphagnum mosses on the roadside as well as the Elm in the grounds. The owners of the Sconser Lodge , Philip and Debra Grice, are new, having only had it for three weeks.

The glorious weather of yesterday had disappeared but we had the day to explore the island and began with the serpentarium (http://www.skyeserpentarium.org.uk/) at Broadford where we were allowed to hold Goldie, a Royal Python.

We passed The Cuillin; dark and forbidding today.

After coffee, with which we tackled the crossword as usual, at Portree we headed up around Trotternish and stopped first of all to photograph that wonderful mountain, The Storr, a 2359 feet (719 m) high geological masterpiece.

As if this landslip were not enough a 160 foot (50m) high rock called The Old man of Storr, the remains of a volcanic plug, adds to the brilliance of the scenery - whatever the weather.

After exploring the path that leads to abandoned industrial architecture associated with the diatomite industry I photographed Lealt Falls.

Then we stopped at Kilt Rock. This is a 200 foot high cliff of basalt with a tartan like pattern.

In the foreground of the view from the viewpoint is the spectacular waterfall where the River Mealt plunges 200 feet over the cliff.

We had a tea at the Duntulm Castle Hotel in the rain which did not stop me photographing the castle itself. This was first a broch, then a Pictish stronghold before becoming a Viking fortification and then a castle. James V visited it in 1540 and it was abandoned in 1730.

We waited in the rain at Uig for the DSMV Hebrides which was late and after boarding my first trip up on deck yielded sightings of three separate pods of dolphins. Brilliant. Unfortunately the rain and dull light, speed of the ferry and tendency of the dolphins to appear only briefly above the water meant that not a single photo showed them. Got plenty of shots of waves though!