Orchids, orchids everywhere!

A drizzly start to the day - but my friend Tim was staying another day and wanted to visit the island of Lismore, where he'd never been; he lives on Skye. 

I have to admit that I was rather dubious about spending several hours on the island, in the rain and with sore knees, but I agreed to go with him and we caught the 11am ferry, which takes just under an hour. The weather perked up before too long, so all was well!

We walked along a boggy coastal path and joined the single track road through the centre of the island - see extra. We stopped for lunch at the café/visitor centre/museum and ambled back along the road, marvelling at the many Early Purple  Orchids - my Blip today - and the swathes of Twayblades - my second extra. We spent so much time flower-hunting that we suddenly realised the ferry left in 20 minutes and we had over a mile to go. I haven't walked so fast for years, but we made the ferry by a matter of seconds - the crew were about to raise the ramp! The last ferry would be three hours away!

I hope to go back again soon to see more orchids and to visit 'The Secret Garden', open under Scotland's Gardens Scheme. A friend of mine is working on the island too, planting a 'sedum garden' on the roof of the visitor centre so I will catch up with him too!