Sgurr nan Gillean from Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Skye's Cuillin can be seen from all over the island and that includes its "capital", Portree. My first ever visit to the place had me seeing the distinctive profile on a stroll up Portree's higher parts and later from the Dunvegan to Sligachan road on the west. A glimpse of the Red Hills was put my way too but non-familiarity with Skye's topography meant that I was incredulous that I could be seeing such things.

Such are the contortions of Skye's coastline that you could be seeing things like the main Cuillin ridge without realising it and the photo above is a case in point. Now, I am inclined to think that I somehow managed to point my camera down Glen Varragill with any map making it too obvious how I achieved the feat. You are looking over Loch Portree with Ben Tianavaig out of sight.

The visit this vista was captured was but a fleeting one, an escape from rain advancing from the east that had caught up with me the morning after. This was to be the north-western turning point for a glorious week's travelling that took in Edinburgh, Stirling, Callander and Fort William. The Highlands element of a summer Scottish escapade might have been coming to an end, but there was still a bank holiday weekend to be spent in Edinburgh with friends.