It's Iong been said that Britain is an isIand nation
But it's aIso a nation of isIands
Nobody's quite sure how many but there are probabIy about a thousand round our coasts
I've aIways wanted to know what Iife must be Iike for our isIanders
So I'm going on a journey through a hidden Britain
Oh. my God!
From the wiId and wonderfuI isIands of the west
Hooray!
to the sunny pIaygrounds of the south
(Muffled) Goodbye!
But this time I'm heading north to the most remote isIands in the country
Here l am - the most northerly point in Britain .
lt's always a good journey when you see a dolphin . isn 't it?
Is Iife here reaIIy so different?
- Hello. - (Laughter)
The only thing l really. really. really missed was a good Glasgow curry.
He's quite big. Aaargh! He moved!
It's going to be a reaI adventure
For most of us our Iives are pretty hectic these days
But where I'm going Iife is very different
It's aIready taken me six hours to get to GIasgow
My journey's onIy just beginning
I'm heading for the most northerIy isIands in Britain
lt's grand. As you leave mainland Scotland behind you .
everything you see then is an island.
Some of them look so small. and then you check on the map and they're inhabited.
And they look so appealing and exciting.
And enticing.
l can 't wait to get on them.
I've aIways been intrigued by isIands
I wonder if isIanders are much the same as the rest of us
Or if they've deveIoped different ways of coping with the isoIation of isIand Iife
It seems to me the most IogicaI pIace to start my journey is at the very top of the country
So now l'm in the Shetland lslands - way. way. way. way up north.
ln fact. so far north. that if you look on a map they usually take off the Shetland lslands
and put them in a box and put them on the side of the map.
The ShetIands are the most isoIated chain of isIands in Britain
cIoser to the Arctic CircIe than to London
The most northerIy isIand of aII is MuckIe FIugga
Muckle Flugga is a lighthouse rock - used to be manned. but now it's unmanned.
That is the most northerly tip of the British lsles.
lt's touch and go whether we'll get there. as it's quite choppy here.
but we're going out in this splendid-looking boat and see if we can get on it.
l really hope that we can .
It's not going to be easy This is where the AtIantic and the North Sea meet
Ferocious storms are common with Force Ten gaIes and coIossaI waves
In fact over 500 shipwrecks have been recorded in this area
lt's sort of. yeah... They're quite...
..quite a big swell.
Someone who knows these waters well is Shetlander Tony Mouat.
That's where the lighthouse is. Directly ahead of you there.
Oh. yeah. yeah. yeah.
Built by Thomas Stevenson . who was father of Robert Louis Stevenson .
- Remember he wrote Treasure lsland? - Yeah. yeah. yeah.
In fact Robert Louis Stevenson drew inspiration for his book Treasure IsIand from this area
There's 365 steps right to the top.
SuddenIy my desire to reach the very top of the British IsIes doesn 't seem such a great idea
EspeciaIIy when I Iook at my Ianding craft
The swell is getting up. Tony. so l'll get everybody to put a life jacket on .
All right. Thank you .
AIthough peopIe struggIe to survive out here the wiIdIife thrives
Whoo!
lt's like being under a sort of gannet canopy. l've never seen anything like this in my life.
They're just flying round and round.
lncredible.
What do you think the chances are of getting onto the rock?
- l don 't think it's very good today. - You don 't?
We can take somebody for a look. if they want.
Could give it a go. Nothing ventured.
WhiIe the boat crew worry about getting on the isIand
I'm more concerned about getting up it
- Thank you . - OK?
God Almighty!
And there's me scared of heights.
Ha-ha!
lt's nice to be on terra firma. even if it's slightly slidy.
And that - l've got this vertigo thing. so l'm not enjoying the idea of that. but there you go.
The Northern Lighthouse Board has given us permission to Iand
but it is at our own risk
One thing we were told is. ''Don 't hang on to the railings. they're not safe.''
They don 't maintain them.
(Cries out) That's what they meant.
14 years ago MuckIe FIugga had a tiny popuIation of Iighthouse keepers
In severe weather they couId be stranded here for months
It reaIIy does feeI Iike the end of the earth
This is the last few steps. 356 steps in total.
Ah. it says ''no access''.
Come on .
Only joking.
Now. north is this way.
Here l am - the most northerly point in Britain .
And you really can get a sense of the geographical and historical significance of this.
To the west there. in the direction of that lovely bit of sunlight. is Greenland.
to the east 200 miles or so is Norway
Due north. go through the Arctic Circle.
across the North Pole. you reach Siberia.
And then due south there. by my reckoning. 730 miles away. is my house in Dorset.
lt really is a most spectacular place.
And even though it's a bit scary getting here. it's really worth it.
This is the northernmost full stop of Great Britain .
Hee-hee.
It's one thing to be posted to a far-fIung isIand for work
but nearby one man has chosen to Iive aIone on an isIand the size of a footbaII pitch
That's it. Forvik. There. Tiny little dark landmass.
untiI recentIy Forvik was deserted now it's occupied by just one man - Stuart HiII -
who's caused a gIobaI stir by decIaring his isIand independent from Britain
- Hi. Stuart. - Hi.
Hi. How you doing? Lovely evening for it.
- Perfect. - Perfect.
AIthough Forvik is tiny Stuart is encouraging the rest of the ShetIands to foIIow his Iead
and break away from the UK
You can 't go any further than there until you've had your passport stamped.
Oh. righto.
So does everyone who comes get their passport stamped?
Yes.
Stuart beIieves the UK has no IegaI rights over the ShetIands or its naturaI resources
What does that mean - ''Crown Dependency''? l've never heard that before.
lt means l have a direct relationship with the Crown . but not with the government.
l recognise the Queen . but l don 't recognise the UK government or the EU.
- l'm a bit like that. - Yeah.
(Laughter)
How come you're here? How did this come about?
Well. l'd been researching Shetland's legal and constitutional position for five years.
The assumption is that Shetland belongs to Scotland.
- And that's what everything is based on . - Hm.
But no-one can tell you a date when it happened.
So if there is no date. then it didn 't happen .
And my research tells me that not only did it not happen .
but it could not have happened.
Stuart is so convinced of Forvik's sovereignty that he pIans to mint his own currency
He's aIready fIying his own fIag
l've used a Norwegian lion to show Shetland's Norwegian origins.
And it reads... Meo logum skal land byggja.
That's Old Norn for. ''By laws the land will be built.''
To whip up pubIic support Stuart has even started his own website
offering honorary citizenship and Iand saIes
l'm selling tiny little plots all the way round the edge to Shetlanders
until we've got 8.000 of them.
- 8.000 plots on this...? - Yes. all the way round the edge.
And it's important they're round the edge.
because then everyone has a bit of foreshore which gives them access to the sea.
And last week l put an announcement on the website
inviting oil companies to bid for the exploration rights in my bit of the seabed here.
This is only a tiny island. but it's a microcosm of what could happen in Shetland.
- And that's the whole point. - A bit like a show home for the Shetlands.
So would you like a bit of supper?
It turns out that Stuart's not even a ShetIander
He comes from BromIey in Kent
But he's so determined that his isIand shouId Iead the way to independence
he's even written to the Queen
''Your Majesty. l have the honour to inform you .
that having obtained ownership of a small island in Shetland
l've returned it to the true legal and constitutional position of Shetland.
Although facilities are not yet suitable.
we will be delighted if Your Majesty will accept an invitation
of making an official visit at a later stage.
l wait in eager anticipation of your reply.''
- Did you get a reply yet? - Not yet.
- Watch this space. - Yes.
Everyone's always. ''There's this nutter on an island.
who's starting his own thing. wants independence.''
But. to be honest. he's doing an extraordinary thing here. and a courageous thing.
And it obviously means an awful lot to him. He's not doing it light-heartedly.
He's researched the bottom out of it for five years.
But in no way is he a nutter. l mean . look. on a night like this.
lt's beautiful here. Really magical.
l think l'm gonna go on the website and become an honorary citizen .
Get myself a little piece of this coastline.
lt could become valuable real estate. you never know.
Put a car park in . big tower block. Nice.
My journey through the remote northern isIes of Britain has brought me to the ShetIands
I'm here to experience the reaIities of isIand Iife
The first of two ferries here. We get this to an island called Yell
and then drive all the way up Yell and get another one to unst.
The ShetIands are so isoIated they even have their own diaIect caIIed ShetIandic
The most northerIy inhabited isIand in the chain is unst
unst has a unique and some might say strange cuIture
(Knocking)
- Hello? - Hello!
(Laughter)
- Hi. l'm Martin . - l'm Derek.
- Nice to meet you . Derek. - Or Egil Magnusson .
- lggles...lggles Magnusson ? - Egil Magnusson .
- ls that your real name? - No. my real name's Derek.
Dressing as a Viking isn 't just a weird fantasy for Derek
It's a question of geography
You know. in my ignorance. l thought coming up here - Shetlands. bit of Scotland.
But it's so far away from Scotland. isn 't it?
Yeah. we're as near to Norway as we are...
We're nearer to Bergen than we are to Aberdeen .
Yes. so l... Yeah.
Yeah. Look around all the place names of Scandinavian origins.
- God. look at these shields. - Yeah. yeah.
Every year the peopIe of unst appoint a chief Viking
or ''jarI'' to Iead the isIand's numerous Nordic festivaIs
And if you look at 1 g4T'...
- We had an interesting surname here. - Aha!
So maybe you've got a bit of Viking in yourself.
Perhaps these are wings.
(Both laugh)
John Cluness. Cluness. l would say.
Cluness. yeah.
- How do you get the gig? - You're asked to do it. lf you agree. you do it.
Like when you're a boy... that's what l always wanted to be.
- Really? - Oh. yeah.
- Congratulations. - l made it eventually.
Yeah.
AIthough the other JarIs have grown the obIigatory beard
Derek has gone one step further
- l'm not sure if l can get it up here. - Whoa.
- That's the start of it. - My God. that's a good 'un .
You can just see it. can you?
- Life's tough when you're a Viking. - Yeah.
A bit of blood loss is nothing.
He's not the onIy one who's got a bit of Viking up his sIeeve
Look at that. 1 5p.
Mine however comes from a joke shop
- Guaranteed to last for...? - Ooh. up to a month.
It's no wonder the isIanders feeI in touch with their Norse roots
The Norwegians ruIed unst for 600 years
And before that the Vikings were in charge
30 Viking Ionghouses have been uncovered here
More than aImost anywhere eIse in the worId
The Nordic infIuence even extends to the ShetIands' most famous inhabitants
Oh. look. Shetlands. Shetland ponies.
BeIieved to be the resuIt of cross-breeding with Viking horses
l love these guys. We've got four of these little fellas at home.
These foals are just adorable.
Ooh. mind the cars.
(Horn honks )
(Horn)
It's the onIy type of traffic jam you 'II get up here
Everyone has to stop while the little foal has a drink of milk. (Laughs )
(Horn) - Chaos.
With a popuIation of just 500 unst is a pretty empty pIace
But if you 're a sea bird it's packed
LocaI guide Bryden Thomason
introduced me to some of the 1 40 000 birds recorded at just one coIony
Which as Iuck wouId have it for me is right on the edge of a cIiff
- Highest point of the reserve here is 1 T'0 metres. (Martin inhales sharply )
- lt's quite a cliff. - l'm not a fan of cliffs. really.
- But also quite a spectacle. it's certainly worth it. - Wow.
God. yes. listen to them.
(Squawking and cawing)
- And the smell's vile. isn 't it? - lt's quite a strong smell.
(Laughs )
lt's over a hundred years. probably a lot more. of sea bird pooh.
Not so Iong ago they used to eat gannets in the Outer IsIes
Now they're a major tourist attraction
There's almost 1 T'.000 breeding gannets here.
There's over 1 T'.000 midges as well. lt's horrible.
Eurgh! Eurgh!
Jesus!
Look at that. They're horrid.
Why? Why midges?
(Both laugh)
- Hey! - They're feasting on us. big style.
The Iandscape on unst is wiId and dramatic
Shaped by centuries of extreme weather
There are some signs of Iife
But to Southerners Iike me
aImost everything up here feeIs just a bit aIien
(Chuckles )
This bus stop's quite famous. actually.
lt has its own website.
(Clatter) - Oops.
And it's lovely what they've done with it.
Look. sweet peas.
Someone's put an old computer there.
lt's quite silly. but it's nice.
lt just speaks volumes about island life.
that if all this were left anywhere on the mainland.
it would all get nicked. wouldn 't it?
Or vandalised or spoilt in some way.
But it seems rather cherished.
There's no bus today or much eIse reaIIy
( Young woman sings traditional song)
With no cinemas or theatres the isIanders make their own entertainment
On Saturdays they hoId music nights in the IocaI haII
Whether you 're 1 5 or 85 it's the sociaI highIight of the week
(Song continues )
What reaIIy impresses me about the peopIe of unst
is the way they deaI with their isoIation through the sheer strength of their community spirit
(Cheering)
To top off an intriguing day I head outside
And aIthough it's Iate at night it's stiII Iight
unst is so far north that in the midsummer it onIy gets dark for haIf an hour
AII very unusuaI
AII the isIands have their own distinct characteristics
Way out in the AtIantic Iie the Outer Hebrides home to the biggest isIand in the uK -
Lewis and Harris
But its size isn 't the onIy reason it's unique
So this is Lewis.
The top half of an island that is Lewis and Harris.
l thought they were two. originally. But the top half is Lewis. the bottom half is Harris.
You work it out.
lt's supposed to be the most traditional of the islands.
lt's very religious.
They hunt. they fish. they shoot.
They also push large rocks into the ground.
Beautiful rocks. actually.
And if viewed from above. this whole shape of stones forms a Celtic cross.
These CaIIenish standing stones assembIed around 5 000 years ago
are thought to be part of an ancient astronomicaI observatory
And people come here to hug them. to feel the energy.
They look like fossilised wood to me.
Erm. but...
Quite nice. actually.
(Man chants prayer)
With few incomers and an ageing popuIation of 22 000
the isIand remains conservative and very God-fearing
Church attendance is higher here than anywhere eIse in Britain
It's a stronghoId of the Wee Frees a reaIIy strict branch of the Church
who have banned instruments in services
and not so Iong ago they even padIocked chiIdren 's swings on Sundays
I'm heading south to Amhuinnsuidhe CastIe once the home of the 7th EarI of Dunmore
But more recentIy it's been reinvented as one of the finest sporting estates in ScotIand
Wahey...
They started marketing themselves as a place where you can enjoy traditional country pursuits:
fishing and stalking deer.
with an eye to shooting them.
which l've never seen done before.
l don 't really enjoy seeing things being killed.
But l am a carnivore and l do like a bit of venison .
Oh. my gosh.
What a place for a castle!
It costs £22 000 a week to rent the castIe
And it attracts tourists from aII over the worId who are keen to Iive the Iife of a Iaird
- Hi. Martin . - Hi.
- l'm lnnes. nice to meet you . - Hi. Martin . How do you do?
- l'm the estate manager here at Amhuinnsuidhe. - Nice to meet you .
Traditions run deep here
Innes Morrison 's father was the estate's gamekeeper before him
You can see why they said. ''Let's have a castle here.'' can 't you?
He's offered to take me staIking
But first I need to be wearing the right gear -
fuII Harris tweed woven for centuries on the isIand
Never had a matching hat and trousers before. (Chuckles )
Anyway. it's important to look a tosser on these occasions.
Off we go.
On the practice range is my feIIow staIker Jonathan Tunmore
who's come aII the way from SuffoIk to kiII a stag
- Just block your ears up. (Gunshot)
Bull's-eye.
- How often do you come here? - This is my first time.
My father's been coming here since '84.
This is one place l've always wanted to get.
Innes wants to get the measure of our shooting skiIIs before we head up the mountain
That's loaded.
I shouId point out that as the son of a conscientious objector
I'm a bit of a novice with guns
Just fire when you're ready. Martin .
(Gunshot)
Bull's-eye!
No? You're joking?
Well done.
- Well. he can take the shot. - No.
l don 't want to kill anything except that target.
SeIIing a tradition Iike deerstaIking to weII-heeIed tourists
is about the onIy way for peopIe Iike Innes to keep theirjobs
and for estates Iike this to survive
IronicaIIy it heIps the deer to survive too
There's one. two. three. four...
five. six. seven . eight. nine... l can see at the moment.
Ten .
Yeah! They look quite big.
They do.
MARTlN : You have to control the numbers. don 't you?
Yes. the problem is. if you don 't kill any deer.
there'll be too many of them on the hill.
What would happen with them then is.
there wouldn 't be enough grazing for them all.
Each year you have to shoot a certain number.
But that doesn 't make what I'm about to witness any easier
lNNES: We now have a stag just above us here.
We're going to crawl up here.
and Jonathan 's going to come right alongside me because he'll take the shot of the stag.
We have to keep low in case the stag shoots back at us.
We've lost sight of Jonathan .
The stag l thought he was going towards has just run off with a couple of hinds.
Jonathan reappears having not fired a shot
JONATHAN : l got the cross hairs on him as he was lying down .
As he stood. he turned and faced away.
lt's not considered sporting to shoot them up the arse?
- Not really. - No.
lNNES: lt's time to head back down the hill.
Get a wee toddy inside you boys to warm you up.
Five hours. no kill.
Some could call that a happy ending.
AIthough they aren 't reaIIy for me
the traditions on Lewis and Harris do provide the isIanders with a Iiving
My next destination is far Iess tweedy
It's home to an ideaIistic popuIation chasing a dream of utopia
I'm traveIIing south through some of the remotest isIands of ScotIand
and finding Iife off the isIands just as fascinating as Iife on them
Hey!
Wow!
lt's always a good journey when you see a dolphin . isn 't it?
lt just makes you feel sort of lucky and special.
Look. look. look!
We're right by a big shark.
Wow!
This is fantastic.
Basking sharks are the second-Iargest fish in the worId up to 40 feet Iong
It's a rare sight
Numbers are now so Iow that they have to be protected
Beautiful.
Look! lt's gone right under us!
Whoa! (Chuckles )
That's a big fish.
It's a Iong trip to my next destination
which Iies just south of the Inner Hebrides -
the tiny isIand of Eigg
WhiIe the popuIation on other isIands is in decIine
Eigg is one pIace that's bucking that trend
Just five miIes Iong and three miIes wide
Eigg has 87 inhabitants and rising
In the Iate '7 0s
the previous owner advertised for settIers to create an isIand utopia
It's now a unique seIf-sufficient community
- Welcome aboard. - Thank you very much.
Stuart MiIIer known as Scruff came here from GIasgow
Yeah. yeah. we did.
He's offered to take me up An Sgurr
the huge voIcanic crag which dominates the isIand
Can you actually get right on the top of it?
Aye. we'll get right to the very. very top.
Once we've made it to the peak
we'II see the whoIe of Eigg
which now beIongs to Scruff and the other isIanders
1 1 years ago they raised £1 5 miIIion to buy it for themseIves
That's my house over there. Martin .
Where? Which one?
The furthest away one. The roof blew away three years ago.
l think the gust was something like 1 22 mph. recorded that night.
lt's not all plain sailing in the winter. you know.
It's not aII pIain saiIing in the summer either
The weather changes by the minute
lt's certainly clearing up now.
By the time we get to the top. Martin . it'll be beautiful.
Yeah. right!
Do you think island people are different from mainland people?
l think they're hardier.
They're definitely more patient. during the winters.
You can really feel the wind tunnelling through here. can 't you?
Agh! (Laughs )
There's the top.
Wooh!
It's easy to see why this beautifuI but tough Iandscape
captured the hearts of settIers Iike Scruff
l got a chance of this caravan .
And l thought. ''lt'll be all right. l'll just use it at the weekends and stuff.''
- And l came and l never went home. - Really?
lt just sneaked up on me.
The only thing l really. really. really missed was a good Glasgow curry.
And l still have cravings 1 g years later for a Glasgow curry.
(Martin laughs )
The isIand is stiII drawing peopIe away from the city
Brothers Ben and Joe Cormack have returned to Eigg after university
to turn a ruined croft into their home
What was it that prompted your return ?
Traditionally. people your age leave islands. don 't they?
Every kid. or everyone from here. appreciates where we're from.
Beach...you know. mountains. lochs and all that.
But how's it work? None of you are builders.
and yet you're building this yourselves.
A few guys that know what they're doing. we've gone to them for advice.
The stonework gets better the further the wall goes up.
We were crap when we started. and got a bit better as we were going up.
As part of the isIand's scheme to encourage young settIers
the boys have been given a Iow-rent Iease on this spectacuIar beachside pIot
When you've finished your house. how will you keep yourselves?
l'm qualified as a graphic designer - something l can do from here with a laptop computer.
Broadband's moving in soon . as well.
So it will make it possible to work from here.
- Do you think of yourselves as islanders? - Yeah. aye.
We definitely feel part of the furniture.
Wooh!
This evening Ben and Joe have invited me to one of the reguIar beach parties
Lucy Scott who moved here four years ago
is another convert to isIand Iife
l mean . it's a fantastic. beautiful place.
And it's full of amazing people.
But there are loads of those.
But there's something special. to do with independence. resilience. tolerance.
The other thing is. islanders are outward looking.
We're really used to people coming to here from all over the world.
and accepting them.
When they go. do you have a little... ''He-he. we're still here''?
(Lucy laughs ) - Do you?
Next morning I want to see for myseIf how this isoIated community works
On some evenings the tearoom doubIes as a bar
providing a meeting pIace for the isIanders
And the new pier means that twice a week
suppIies and post can be brought from the mainIand
untiI Iast year there was no mains eIectricity
so the isIanders had to survive on generators
But they found a soIution -
turning the isIand's reIentIess wind into power
Hello. ladies.
With so few peopIe
everyone has severaI jobs to keep the community ticking over
One day Scruff's a crofter
the next he's a coastguard
Today he's a fisherman and I've voIunteered to be his crew
He's quite big... Agh! He moved!
(Laughs )
Sorry!
That's the wee brother of that one.
- Oh. is it? - We don 't want that one.
Look what we've got here.
Look at that! lt's a big fella.
- You've to take that out. - l'm not!
lt's facing you as well.
He's looking at me.
ook a : : ''os,o o aws,
There's a lobster for you . Martin .
Watch your fingers.
Let go. Let go.
That's it. encourage it.
God. Whoa. look at that.
Look at that beauty.
Whoo!
Martin . that's the crushing claw.
He grabs things and just crushes it.
And this one's the cutting claw.
He's very sharp.
Say your finger was to go in there. like that. you know.
That's what that would do.
- That's not what you did to your finger? - No.
lt was that thing that did it.
What happened was. my fingers went between there and the rope.
and it just chopped them off.
You don 't want to do that.
Agh. you stroppy...
- Did it bite you? - They go for you .
- lt's too wee. you can just... - Run free!
- Do you like fishing? - l love fishing. l just love it. yeah.
ls there ever a point when you think. ''l'd be better off on the mainland''?
Never. No.
Sometimes it feels like that.
Just put that one on top of these.
What's the worst thing?
The weather. Despite the weather. just keeping the boat.
trying to make a living.
lt's just a constant battle against the weather.
lt's all right. you've only got another 450 to go!
You have to admire the ingenuity and doggedness of peopIe Iike Scruff
This is hard Iiving
But the residents do get heIp
AIong with other remote isIands around Britain
Eigg is heaviIy subsidised by the mainIand
l'm very pleased with Eigg.
lt's criticised a lot for taking a lot of grants -
1 .6 for the electricity.
l think it's about eight million for this pier.
But what you've got here is a unique. sort of hand-crafted.
custom-made community.
unlike any other.
And as a taxpayer.
l think that's worth preserving.
(Bagpipes play )
As I Ieave I'm struck by the extraordinary variety of ways of Iife on these isIands
I've got one more to visit in the far north
And by aII accounts
it's the most extraordinary isIand of the Iot
For my finaI destination in the remote Scottish IsIes
I'm fIying right out into the AtIantic
Barra is the most westerIy inhabited isIand in the united Kingdom
After this there's nothing tiII Canada
ArrivaI can be pretty hairy
as what you think is a beach
turns out to be the runway
Here's the big beach...
that we're going to land on . l think.
It's the onIy airport in the worId
where fIight scheduIes are governed by the tides
The tide is inside the markers. covering approximately 1 00 metres from Runway 3.
Very smooth landing on the beach.
Not aII the beaches doubIe as runways
With its picture-postcard scenery
Barra couId be everyone's idea of a romantic isIand escape
On a sunny day you 'd aImost think it was the Caribbean
if it wasn 't for that Scottish wind that rips right through you
lt's great to finally be on Barra.
And look at all this beauty here.
This is allegedly the most beautiful island off the coast of the British lsles.
l don 't know quite how they measure that. whether it's a cubic thing or a length.
but they've come up with this statistic.
lt is really. really lovely.
Like many of the Scottish isIands
Barra is easy to get to know
You can waIk round it in a day
We're so lucky.
lt's so clear up here today.
You can see Vatersay. Mingulay. and Barra Head.
They're all different islands.
lt's quite beautiful.
There are onIy 1 000 residents on Barra
And it's a weIcoming pIace
I've been invited to Iunch with IocaI musician Donnie MacNeiI
- Have a wee glass of wine. - Thank you very much.
This looks great.
- l did tell you l was allergic to seafood. did l? - That's OK.
(Laughter)
We're joined by his friends Catherine and CIare
who seem to be under the impression that I'm a chef
What do you want? Butter?
These are the biggest scallops l've ever seen .
Do you want butter? Do you do them in butter?
- Cook them in butter? - lf you like. a little butter.
Anything just to get them caramelised.
These are local scallops. aren 't they?
- Where do they get sold to? - l think to Spain .
Like many of the isIanders
Donnie and Catherine share the surname MacNeiI
As Barra is the seat of the MacNeiI cIan
it aII adds to the feeIing that they're one big famiIy
We all know each other and who the children are. who the cousin ...
l'll probably. by Monday. know who's staying up with Clare and have met them.
l remember. in our village. going into the pub.
somebody said. ''You've got people coming for the weekend.''
l go. ''No. What...?''
Do you get that here. where people think they know your business. or want to know it?
Yeah. sometimes it can be invasive.
but sometimes it can be quite nice.
l think it's a great thing...
if you get the balance right.
that it's not invasive. that it's comforting.
When times are hard and something happens.
and you think you want privacy and that...
..and the whole island will come and wrap itself round you like a blanket.
lt's the most comforting. warming thing ever.
And l. for one. l'm sure you . as well.
would never be without the people of this island.
That's fascinating. You wouldn 't get that in our village.
Given that the community is this tight.
l'm wondering what it's like to be an incomer.
- Hi. Kay. - Hi.
Ka 'y O oo '': a '''' oo :o '' 'yoa ''s, ago .
and now runs a kite-surfing business with her partner.
Did you ever see yourself ending up on an island?
Er...no. definitely not.
Are you very different from the people who for generations have lived here?
No matter how long we live here.
- we will always be incomers. - lncomers.
But island folk here have been absolutely fantastic to us.
- Have they? - Absolutely.
Another deciding factor of why we stayed here was the fact people were so nice.
That's good. isn 't it? Whoa!
(Laughter)
Sorry. you were saying?
Just straighten her up to the right a wee bit.
Right. a wee bit.
l'm quite pleased with my turn .
The peopIe of Barra have aIways been saiIors
In the 1 9th century CastIebay was a thriving herring port
Every year the isIanders unite to pay their respects to the sea and the Iives it has taken
with a Fishermen 's Mass
l've always admired the sailors of the Hebrides.
You can tell by their eyes
that they believe that there is someone up there
who is looking after them.
The bIessing is aII the more poignant
when you reaIise that in the Iast decade
over 7 0 fishermen have Iost their Iives on Scottish boats
lt's a very moving... very moving. very warming occasion .
l'm not particularly religious. but just watching everyone there.
all focusing on the priest and the boat. and the priest said.
''There's no unbelievers at sea.
Everybody who works on the sea believes in God to get them through it.''
lt's just another example of what an absolutely perfect working community it is.
They're all bound together in so many ways.
lt's very interesting to see. and very rare in my experience.
l've not seen it. l don 't think.
(Accordions play )
After the formaIities of the Fishermen 's Mass
the isIanders gather for an oId-fashioned ceiIidh
And it Iooks Iike it's going to be quite a night
Barra may be off the beaten track
but the cIoseness of the peopIe here
with each other and outsiders Iike me
is truIy something to behoId
Wa-hoo!
Hey-y-y! Thank you !
Well. l've just about finished my trip to the remote. far northern islands.
And l think if l've learned anything.
it's that life here can be extremely hard.
And it isn 't for everyone.
But l really have seen some incredible things.
unique things.
But above all.
the thing that unites all these islands is.
the most amazing sense of community that l've never seen on the mainland.
as if...the circle of the coast concentrates it and focuses it.
And l think for the people who live here. and who love it.
it really is their kind of paradise.