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I'm not leaving here without a kiss. Come on. Come on, then. I kind of almost I count. I'm Kuby. An American content creator living in London. And I'm road tripping around Scotland to find out what this land is really about. We've gone up some hills, learned about rock-throwing giants, and braved the night in a bothy. And now we're heading for the islands for some more adventures. As someone who's moved around a lot and now lives far away from where I grew up, I'm keen to understand more about community and what makes a place really feel like home. Oh my goodness, this is beautiful. I guess the only question is where the hell is the ferry?
Right on the horizon over there. Oh, do you see it? Oh, yeah. I see it coming. I used to come to Harris every uh every summer with my family, and uh me and my auntie would drive from Glasgow up to here, get the ferry across. So, it's almost like nostalgic for you. You don't have to pretend. Yeah, yeah. Can't imagine growing up in a place like this. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard the Caledonian MacBrayne vessel. Taking the ferry to the Isle of Harris, in the Outer Hebrides.
Known for its rugged landscapes, extraordinary wildlife, close-knit communities, and of course, the famous Harris Tweed. Feel like cold out there? Uh just a bit. I think the biggest thing I noticed already is this water is hella blue. Just when you thought it couldn't get more remote. No, legit. This is I think this is might be one of the most remote places I've seen in a very long time. All these people are so spread out in almost seemingly random parts of the land, but they're all part of the same community.
It When it comes to community, you know, it was super big in the northern Scotland and in the Highlands. How does compare to that? Are they still pretty close knit or what? Like you can imagine. So, community as we've seen is important to a lot of people and sometimes it's not frivolous, but it's not necessary. It's a bonus to what we have, but out here it's necessary. You need your neighbors, you need your friends, and you need these people close by to help you like to take things back for remedies or if the snow comes, then you need a local farmer to plow for you. It's essential to be able to live here. And this has always been a place that since
I was a kid, it's always been really special. Yeah. And there's a couple of people still on this island that I thought you'd be interested to meet. And of course, like most guys' places, there's a freaking distillery. What a surprise. There's a pair of golden and white-tailed eagles. Oh. Right above us. Oh, yeah. Oh, shoot. See them? Yeah. See them? That's so cool. That's such a good sight to be able to see them sitting there like that. We're off to our farm. Although it's really an animal sanctuary, offering protection and a home to rescued animals. For those that can't return to the wild, my friends Claire and Martin give them the next best thing.
A place in their family. So, she runs a small rescue farm. So, uh all of the animals that she has, they are most of them are animals that wouldn't have survived any other way. And it's quite the eclectic collection of animals. Okay. I'm excited about that, nervous. All the llamas are right. See the llamas? Oh, one llama's getting busy, bro. Backs capture that. Yes, sir. I see you, king. Put them back. Put them Hello, Claire. How you doing? Hi, Brian. How are you? Nice to see you. Very good. Good to see you again.
It's been a while, eh? It's been a while. Yeah. This is Colby. I'm Colby. Colby, nice to meet you. What's How you doing? Do you get hugs? You're too big. Let's come in for coffee. I would actually love a coffee. Oh, I'll be up for getting them if you want to have a little look around. Yeah, of course. Go on native, baby. Going into the wild. What in the world? Is it cool if I can slide through? All right, cheers, man.
Humpty, biggies, Humpty. Wait, they actually come to you? Oh, yeah. Humpty. Come on. Humpty knows his name. Oh, my gosh. Wait, so you I can I? Yeah, yeah. They love to be stroked. Oh, my gosh. So, what are these three names? This is Humpty. Humpty? Dumpty. And Wallace. Humpty, Dumpty, and Wallace. Humpty, Dumpty, suckle the Can I try feeding them? Um, be careful. As you know, they're not going to say It's not that. They're very, very gentle. But they have teeth. So, they really love strawberries.
Yes. I you I just It's just too scary, but like yes, they're pleasant. But these freaking teeth are just right into your arm. It generally seems like these are more than just animals to you, though. Like they're almost like truly your kids, though. Yes, they are. Very much so. You guys truly love this like and I assume you don't make that much money from it. No. We don't make any all?
Not at all. No, no. So, you're doing this from your own pockets and your own goodwill. Uh since we've become a charity, we have donations and any money we make from the cafe goes towards the animals. We don't make any money at all. And these are all since you rescued so from the alpacas to the chickens to the every single one of them. If would you say probably one of the best decisions you probably made? Couldn't be better. Fresh strawberries, fresh carrots on the farm. Okay, sick. If I could explain just in the words how matters this right now. In just a puddle of poo mud and a bunch of pigs, man. This is awesome. Yeah, I truly feel like I could take a
literally and figuratively. But you see pets as is it so normal? dog, cat, ferret, hamster, but to have these big beasts that can essentially bite my fingers off in one chomp right next to me, it really puts things in perspective, doesn't it? I'm far away from home. This is Drizzle. She is what is known here as a house chicken. House chicken is not a breed of chicken. It's just a chicken that doesn't want to be a chicken. It wants to live in the house. She likes to watch some telly and snuggle up with a cup of tea in the afternoon.
You get to see all these uh you know, some thriving, some not doing better. Uh but some of the ducks out back only have one leg and some of them are blind and still just part of the team. And it's a really uh like Claire is a really special person. Her and her husband do a fantastic job here of um looking after all these animals. Most of these things came from here. There's literally a mother duck that drops off her bright white ducks on this farm because she knows that they're not going to survive in the wild. They've got five of them, each a separate year old, and she'll bring them here, leave them here knowing that it's going to be looked after. So even the wildlife knows that this is a sanctuary for wildlife.
It is the people here that made it that and give these animals the freedom to kind of be what they were meant to be. I mean, at this point I feel like a proper outdoorsman, from parties to feeding pigs. Now that I'm coming out with a Look at this, man. A big bill of hay to feed our pack as I was not imagining this one today. So if you spread it along the fence. Okay. Oh. Move. Guys, watch out. I have no carrots. Move. Come on, then. Come on. This is all they're coming. Goodness gracious.
Put your head down now. Head down. They're not going to spit or bite? No, no, they're not going to spit. Do I bend down or like bow down? If you turn down, see if he kisses Okay. They're going to be really gentle, but they're prey animals in the wild. So, if you're going to touch them, they think you're going to eat them. But, if you stand there and go down like this, they might kiss you. Sorry, it's it's kind of Being that close to their face is kind of crazy. Sorry, just I'll I'll be calm. I can feel her breath right on my neck. Has it been that long without any affection that you're just looking for anything that you can get?
It's been a long day. It's been a bodily drought. I need something. All right, here we go. Eyes closed. It's like I'm back in high school waiting for my first kiss. That's exactly how I was, too. Why won't you love me? Oh, here we go. I got it Oh, does that count? Being with these people, I'm starting to find out a little bit about myself. I think Martin's joy for these animals are almost rubbing out rubbing off on me. He just seems so peaceful and so happy, but having these like 800, 900 lb beasts just right next to you that could literally rip my hand off, but yet they're so chill,
greedy, and just like almost pet-like. It's just such a It's so It's a weird thing for me that I've never experienced before. Kobe. Yo. Want to hold the smallest chicken in the world? Bro, is that even a question? Is the sky blue? Let's get it. She's She doesn't have solid feathers, so if you feel her struggling, either try and keep hold of her or place her on the Got you. Make sure I don't drop Should I just She's only a handful. Oh, I see her mouth opening. It's not about being one with nature, it's about being present. Everywhere I go, present with Humpty Dumpty and Wallace.
I'm present with alpacas kissing my neck. Something about being immersed in this nature, in this lifestyle. I'm like, I made a joke to Martin saying, "Hey, can I come next summer?" But genuinely, if he said yes, I would come live with him and volunteer if I honestly could. Thank you so much again. I knew Kobe would like it here, but maybe not as much as he did. And it's glad that everyone got on. Honestly. You're very welcome. We've enjoyed ourselves a lot. I just I'm genuinely lost for words. What about you, Brian? You're used to this, but what I feel the same way. Like it's not a zoo where people just kind of filter through to see animals. It's a
it's a sanctuary and it's it's a rescue and it's by people who really care about the stuff they do. Yeah, they're real wholesome characters. And in a really special place. And in their back garden, they just so happen to have one of the best views of one of the oldest things on this entire island. What may that be? Oh, shoot. It's the standing stones. How old do you think they are? These have been here way before most things here. So, like 5,000 years. Older than Stonehenge. any kind of religion that we follow.
This is actually so beautiful, bro. Just everything. Look at these guys. And our alpacas just make sure they're guarding it. I was here last winter solstice and it was quite busy up there. Yeah. And I thought that was kind of taking away from my experience. But what I ended up realizing was that's exactly what these things were used for. People gathered here for thousands and thousands of years and would talk about local things like what are you doing? Someone's fallen ill. We're going to plant these this year.
Like all these kind of things that people still talk about. This is what was going on in that area 5,000 years later. Geez. We are pretty far away from everything and everything. Way on the west coast of Lewis. And this is a particularly fantastic beach, Mangearsta Beach. It's about as good as my Gaelic gets. It's wild. It has beautiful white sand, turquoise waters, but it's also got a real element of wildness to it. It's got sea stacks coming off the side of it. On days like this, waves crashing off them and
What are you doing? I'm getting my swimsuit on. To jump in this ice-cold water. You've got like a uh like a wet suit? Yeah, I don't know. No, literally just Pair of shorts? Just my shorts. Yeah. Are you the question is, are you joining me or what? No, man. What? No. I might quite frankly regret this. I'm getting stripped down just to my freaking swim swimsuit or when I go jump in the ice-cold water. Going to feel alive, genuinely. I mean, I think it'll be super fun and what a great way to continue this trip, just drop jumping in some ice-cold water. I, Colby Jordan, consent to this on my own free will.
This is the perfect use of free will. I don't care what y'all say. Even if I freeze my nuts off. Just turns out that down the road in this completely random, remote location on this island happens to be one of my old school friends. And uh he's up for coming to say hi. Oh, mate. It's good to see you, man. Good to see you. Good to see you, as well. I was actually thinking how long it's been. Do you know? Probably 20 years. 20? Could be. I can't really comprehend how long that is. It's good to see you.
Yeah, you too, man. You too. Nice to Colby, nice to meet you, man. It's time I went and got some clothes on. Professional dude. No, I told you I'd jump in the water. You're brave. Yeah, very brave. Some would say. You got your shorts, don't you? Absolutely not. No, I didn't either. Don't worry, I'm not going to either. So, uh I chose this because this is my favorite place, one of my favorite places to come. Uh he chose this because he wants to go for a swim. And they don't quite know what's
going to happen when you get to the ledge and you see what's there. So, how cold do you like If you had to take a guess, how cold do you think it is? Just give me a guess. On a scale of 0 to 10, I'd go like minus three. Ah. That's That's very reassuring. I don't I think I'm going home now. IT WAS A PLEASURE MEETING YOU ALL. As kind of hidden here, you don't see you see about 5% of what's going on there and you get to have this approach down to it and this massive reveal of what's going on.
This is looking awful. And thankfully it's quite calm. Pretty calm, yeah. You wait, you said this is calm? You're a big guy, you can handle those waves, can't you? Yeah. I'm excited to see this. I'm so glad I'm not getting forced to do it. Mama, if you're watching this I'm a Go FOR IT, PAL. STILL GOING. OH, he's going for it. He's going for Oh, that's going to be cold. To be fair, usually what happens is you go in and then you get right out but just dancing around like that, that feels like absolute torture.
The waves are absolutely killing me right now. But we're taking a full on, baby. This is what life is about. Look at it. That nice cold tip in this Scottish Hebridean island will definitely wake you up. Man, what a job. It makes you feel alive. I see you watching like, yeah, hell no. You think though? What a privilege to grow up somewhere that close, man. I'd be doing that every single morning, man. Feel good? Oh, hell yeah. My nuts are cooking fast. But other than that, I think I'm okay. I feel so alive right now. Holy cow.
Man, you attacked it. That was good. Surprised you didn't take you to the beach down the road where there's the sauna. You can jump Oh, there's a sauna as well? Wish I had known that earlier. You know what? There's nothing you can do now. This screams Scotland. You have the beautiful landscape. You have the hills. You've a rock with the stream going through it. And then it's it's beautiful picturesque. Genuinely. It's like a It's almost like a fever dream. It doesn't even feel real. Like this is Scotland. If you'd have told me 3 days ago the best beach I've been to
is in the Hebrides, I would say you're absolutely mad. But look at it now. And it's changed my perspective, man. This is crazy. After an invigorating dip in the Atlantic, we decided to get Colby some local rum to help keep him warm. I know whiskey's such a staple in Scotland, but after drinking it almost every day, I think it's a nice change to have a little bit of rum, you know. Yeah. Oh, that's good. Smooth, brother. So, what did bring you here? Um family, family and community. Like I've never been happier than living here. Like it's absolutely fantastic. It's just stunning place.
Stunning people. There is something so like not very cliche, but something so magical about the Hebrides and Lewis Island I just can't describe really. Yeah. Yeah, I struggle to describe it as well. Struggle to describe it well. It's just It's like nowhere else really. I love especially like maybe I shouldn't have said this, but I love the miserable weather. I love the rain. You said you love it. Yeah. Absolutely love it. I guess you almost have to when it's like blowing in your face and it's icy and snowy and yeah, it's absolutely fantastic.
You might be the first person I've ever heard that said they love that type of weather. When there's storms blowing up here, it's you know, it's wild. Absolutely frighteningly wild sometimes. Like the winds get up to like hurricane levels and stuff like that at times. And it's just like I love it. You guys have a awesome culture and are very inviting for everyone to be fair. Good. Which I was a bit shook at first, but Mhm. the more and more we go, it's not even becoming a surprise knowing how inviting you guys are.
I'm so glad. It's lovely to hear that. Like you hope that's what it's going to be like, but it's really nice to hear that you feel so welcome. No problem, man. What makes Scots so proud to be Scottish? Cuz like that's one thing I think one theme I've noticed in Scotland that everyone's just so Scottish. You've managed to hold on to kind of a heritage and a culture. And what like that also includes being open and welcoming and you know we've always been a nation of immigrants and a nation of like kind of openness, warmth.
Yeah. Hosting people in your house. Especially up here, they talk about ceilidhs. So you everybody recognizes a ceilidh as somewhere where you go to dance and you have a you know you have a party and it's in a big barn and stuff, but here you would talk about a ceilidh just around somebody's table. So like that would be a ceilidh just now between us. Like you would stop in at somebody's house and have a ceilidh is just having a chat, having a yarn. Yeah, it's a good definition of it cuz um we've got this really long history, but the basis of it has always been the same.
Yeah. And I guess when you get to somewhere like this that in a place where you could say time doesn't really move on too fast that it's still got that essence of the exact same thing it always had. Yeah. Yeah, there's always there's a wee bit of the past everywhere. I keep saying the last thing was the highlight and I think this might be the most truest of all. At the side of a road, in the back of a car. What else do you want?
