It was so wonderful to finally visit Fair Isle, the most remote inhabited island in the UK and a place I've wanted to visit for years. The welcoming locals made my time on the island unforgettable! Have you heard of Fair Isle before? 🍷 Don't forget you can get your free case of wines w/ £9.95 postage over at www.wine52.com/RUTHWINE
I had a Fair Isle sweater when I was a kid. Not sure if it actually came from there or not, but it was interesting to see the island. Off the beaten path videos are the best. :)
Ruth, all of your videos are wonderful. Your unique view of the world adds a richness to these adventures. But this video in particular, was exceptional! Thank you for bringing us to the Fair Isle! Simply brilliant!!! Cheers!
Took the Ferry between Fishguard, Wales and Rosslare, Ireland. As the passage was so turbulent, the Ladies' Room was packed and many women were sitting on the floor. Many of us cannot tolerate boat travel. You are a hero for posting this video with such composure.
That almost made me cry! The beauty of the island, the kindness of the people and the feeling of being away from all the modern things that can sometimes make you forget the beauty of the world. Thank you for your wonderful video, I have seen almost all of your videos and this was in my top 2 favourites. So enjoyable , taking me outside of my city flat and enjoying the solitude and beauty of open spaces and slower pace of life through your great camera work and the experiences of living there shared by the locals.
@@ruthaisling The one where you stayed on a small island in a cute little cottage for 7 days. So cozy and quiet. I also love the whisky ones, they are great fun. I love all of your videos, I like the small island ones because time seems to stand still and it's a simpler quieter type of life for the lucky locals.
A wee tip to combat sea sickness. Wedge your body against the ship's structure. In other words, you roll with the ship as opposed to your body constantly trying to fight for a stable platform.
Veteran of hundreds of trips on the Irish Sea sometimes in force 10 plus ......your advice is excellent., it does work. You can also prop yourself against the bar and drink brandy.
It's fascinating to me that on Fair Isle you have an American, an Englishman and a French Woman. I would love to taste Tommy's food. It must be a special place.
Remarkable video! What a lovely spotlight not just on the geography but of the lovely people as well. And the beautiful birds! Wow! Thank you for sharing your amazing travels, Ruth! What a charmed life indeed!
I had a dream long ago about being on an island with tall grass topped rock cliffs and pounding ocean surf below, I believe it was my ancestral homeland I was dreaming about.
Words fail me. The sight of you and Tommy, looking out to sea. Just lovely. So peaceful. I look forward to your amazing videos, and exploring the farther parts of the UK. Love you Ruth and thanks for posting these inspiring videos.
I live in Shetland and I know Tommy, we are in the same Up Helly Aa squad! I have lived here since 1997. The first (and only time) I went on the Good Shepherd was when I was 4 years old and I can still remember it well, by far the roughest sea journey I've ever experienced. However this experience was worth it because I think that is how I got my sea legs and thankfully never been sea sick to this day! I know others are not so lucky unfortunately, I saw your Amsterdam - Newcastle trip... Amazing video, always love seeing Shetland being filmed and represented so wonderfully.
There's another person saying to roll over with the ship, and now you say sea legs so it is Jack's Sparrow walking, isn't it? English is not my first language. I think it's so funny, it must be funny, I would enjoy to walk like a drunk but staying still cuz that's the purpose lol
Oh, Ruth! This was so amazing! (After the seasickness, of course...) I just LOVE Fair Isle knitting. I could so easily spend the rest of my life in the Scottish Isles. Thank you for another wonderful video. 🥰
Hello Ruth: This island feels like it is right out of a story book. Your comfortable connection with the local peoples is so touching and warm. Nature at it's best. You have captured it all as you always do. I now have a solid love for the island and it's inhabitants. Thank you
Oh I loved seeing the Border Collie puppies - at one time we had 5 !!! One had pups (4) and they are so cute, how could you resist ? The MOST brilliant dogs - ever ! They are so clever 💙🦋
Hi Ruth, I'm in Sydney, Australia & I was just about to go to bed when I saw you had uploaded a new video, so this was a must watch first! 😊 Fair Isle... Yet another stunning place to visit. I really can't get enough of these remote locations around Scotland. Tommy's guest house looked fantastic too. Your drone footage is always outstanding, really showcasing just how beautiful this area of the world is. As always, some great local information included. Keep enjoying your travels & take care. 😊
Thank you so much Erin! I uploaded a little earlier than usual today so I’m glad you could catch it before bed! The guesthouse was such a lovely place to stay!
Ruth, you've shown us some beautiful Scottish sights but today's video was my favorite to date. Such a beautiful video of a beautiful island. The sunset was simply gorgeous. Thank you for taking us along on your travels.
Thank you Ruth for making my weekend i enjoyd seeing where you took us to the Fair isle look so beautiful as for tommy what a lovely kind man come to that evey one in the island were so kind and open wih you take care lovey lady
Lovely to see and learn more about Fair Isle. I love how you are featuring locals in your videos and taking the Ranger walks. It's so interesting to learn more about life in the Scottish islands from the people who live there. Not an easy life I'm sure, even in our modern times. And I have to say, that Fair Isle throw blanket was absolutely INCREDIBLE. A stunning work of art, really.
Ruth, you are Scotland's absolute ambassador par excellence! You do your country a great service with your truly amazing contribution. Without you, people would not know the wonders of this absolutely fascinating land. Thank you so much!❤❤❤❤
Them birds pure dive bombing at you 😮the sheep look so cute and i bet they love living on the island. I remember Ben from that show from years ago 👍it looks so beautiful there. I live in Glasgow so watching this is a treat. Great video Ruth.
@@ruthaisling yes defo 👍 there's some episodes on youtube and they're really good. I remember the episodes when Ben spent time with the weavers who made the Fair Isle jumpers, it was fascinating to see all the work that gets put into one garment.
Outstanding Ruth, your best to date, everything about this video was just amazing 👏 you put so much work into documenting everything about the Island, I loved every second, thank you so much ❤ 🏴
Wow! what an amazing adventure, the people are so nice. you looked completely in your element alongside the puffins. Such a magical experience, one that will never be forgotten. Many thaniks for sharing. It has been on my todo list for years, keep looking at it on the map. I'll get there one day!
What a brilliant video! It's a Saturday night, we have our 88 year old mum staying with us and we were all rivited. Tommy, what character. Fair Isle is now on our bucket list. 👍
My wife rescued an injured puffin at sea least year. So she took care of him with a damaged wing till we got back to shore. I named him snoop dogg. The wife never got the joke till she realised… Oh, puffin 😂❤
Hello Ruth, I hope you have the time to read my entire comment. Your videos bring me back to my favorite country. It wasn't always my favorite; however, beginning in June 1994, Scotland took first place in my heart. I arrived by train in Waverly Station after taking five trains and one ferry from Munich, Germany, where I had been visiting a very special (female) friend for one week. Several people asked me why I was traveling to Scotland, and at that time, my only best answer was that it made perfect sense to me because I loved Single Malt Whisky. On my second day in Edinburgh, I stopped into a beautiful pub named the "Guildford Arms" that is near the famous "Balmoral Hotel" on Princess Street. I walked in at about 5:00 pm, and I took a table with my favorite whisky called Lagavulin. Since I liked to save photos of myself (in 1994, the advent of our phones of today) had not yet been available I asked a fellow who had stopped in the pub along with one of his best friends for a pint or two before heading home. After taking the photo I invited both gentlemen to join me at my table and since neither of them we're friends with an American (especially one from New York City) we chatted until the pubs closing time (11:00pm) and to make an even longer story shorter the three of us became wonderful friends until 2007, when Dougie passed away his late fifties and the other fellow of the same age had died in 2001. During the years that proceeded their loss to me they both visited me seperatly in New York City having stayed in my apartment that I gave to them. Dougie, allowed me to stay in his house in Edinburgh several times. During the intervening years, I visited your country about seven or eight times having seen so much of it including Ornay and the Shetland Islands. Of course I visited Isla so I could see the home distillery of Lagavulin (16) Year Old Single Malt Whisky. Ruth, you along with Steve Marsh have become so very important to me as you both trigger so many special memories of my time having traveled East, West, North, and South loving Scotland and the wonderful people who are the citizens of Scotland. All of this from having asked a stranger in 1994. I'm now 77 years old and I hope to visit Scotland one more time before I visit with Dougie and Alex above. If you read this entire message allow me to thank you and please continue to show off your wonderful country. Kenneth Millstein PS, My lady friend who I visited in Munich also passed away at an early age because she smoked much to much.
Thank-you, Ruth. I had no idea that the population of Fair Isle was so low - and yet it still seems to work as a community, and a blended one at that. They have much to teach us all.
Fond memories of Fair Isle. I used to fly birdwatchers there in the early naughties. Always a terrifying landing... but the friendliness of the islanders always stuck with me. I've explored every inch of that island, fond fond memories. Thank you for a trip down memory lane Ruth.
Hi Ruth, I so enjoy your adventures and want to let you know about our Island of Newfoundland in Canada. So very similar to Shetland and Isle of Skye. It’s as if in the ice age a large chunk of Scotland broke off and floated west to North America! We are so fortunate to enjoy Puffins and Gannets and sea birds. They are delightful bids and are plentiful in places on our North Coast in Bonavista, Elliston and Trinity as well as St. John’s area. The majestic cliffs are everywhere on Newfoundland and on the south coast of our island you can visit Cape St Mary’s Bird Sanctuary. I must say that I hope to visit Shetland and Fair Isle, they are at the very top of my bucket list. Thanks so much for sharing your adventures!
Oh wow, Guelph very close to London where my Husband & I grew up. We were fortunate enough to retire in Gros Morne National Park ( Rocky Harbour) in Newfoundland. A stunningly beautiful and very memorable place. I truly hope to visit Scotland again someday, after researching my family tree I discovered my 2x great grandfather came from the Isle of Skye. No wonder I’m drawn to the rocky shores and the ocean!! Keep up the great work!!! 👏
I spent a week with Marie on one of her knitting holidays this summer! Absolutely fantastic teacher, host, and artist! Thanks for sharing your journey...brought back some memories of the friends I made there!
Long ago,,I was privileged to serve on board an ,, SUBMARINE,,H.M.S. ILEAKY,,I WAS THE OFFICIAL WINDOW Cleaner on BOARD,,I GOT FOR- GOTTEN ABOUT AND WAS SWEPT IN TO THE SEA,,BUT MANAGED TO USE MY LADDER AS A FLOATER,,AND surf boarded on to the beach,on the. Exact island your on,,I was rescued by the R.A.F. 5 WEEKS LATER..WHAT A STRANGE 5 lonely week's it was,,any way good video.brought back a lot of memories,,Thanks.
What a wonderful video! Puffins, crazy birds, puppies. The people. The scenery. And that knitting!! Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us.
Simply sublime. Lovely people. Stella landscape and incredible wildlife. Fascinating history. Beautiful crafts. Superlatives galore. i really enjoyed the video and you are very talented. Sundance Festival would love your vlogs.
Steve Marsh mentioned Fair Isle on his most recent video so I ended up on a deep dive yesterday and today you’ve released a video! What a fascinating and beautiful place. You imagine they have their own rules and ways of doing things there.
As someone who knits, Fair Isle is complicated and time consuming. But very lovely. Yes, I can't see how hand-knitted would be commercially viable anymore. But the machine knitted is just as lovely and more affordable. So good they can still share their lovely crafting. And the puffins are adorable. PS Do you know why they had those silly Porgs in Star Wars? The Irish island they filmed those scenes on had so many puffins and the birds would not leave the film makers alone. So they gave up and just covered them up with Porgs. So every porg is really a puffin stealing a scene.
That blanket was gorgeous. I'd love to have some Fair Isle sweaters. I've got some beautiful hand knit Norwegian sweaters from my ex mother in law. She and ladies in her town knit the sweaters for the Olympic team years ago. I got one! They are so thick and warm. Thanks for the video, this is great!
A great video of a fantastic place so peaceful. A tip for seasickness, I think you can buy bands to go around your wrists which exert pressure on points just below your wrist, I have know these to work. Or just find two small pebbles and put them inside your cuffs on your jumper at the same pressure points, this also works, don't know why, but it does.
When I was on the local lifeboat, we used to give people dry biscuits for sea sickness. I think it just sort of gums up the works a bit. My partner also suffers badly and those sea bands seem to help her. Some people suffer badly, I knew a local trawler skipper who never beat it and suffered so bad he had to give up the sea.
Arguably your best video Ruth. Put together very well and with exactly the information one would look for before heading out there. Definitely on another level this video. Never seen a better video on Fair Isle than this. Looks like Fair Isle’s got a bit more going for it than Foula. Thank you for making this and sharing with us all 😊
I have been to Fair Isle a couple of times, but only one trip on the Good Shepherd which I remember with misery. 😮 Staying on the island is a fantastic experience.
Fair Isle and Foula are among the highlights of my trip around Shetland in 2005, when I researched my Shetland travel book, BETWEEN WEATHERS, Travels in 21st Century Shetland. The islands really got under my skin in the most positive way. Wonderful settings, amazing sights, warm, friendly people. Ron McMillan
Watching your videos is my moment of peace and relaxation in a mad world. Those islanders were so lovely - wish I had them for neighbours! Great filming, well done.
Fair isle is definitely the most geographically isolated, but the lack of a dedicated shop on Foula leads some to argue that makes Foula more practically isolated. But technically Fair Isle bears the title, not Foula.
Just discovered your channel Ruth ❣️ you are amazing and thank you so much for showing us parts of Scotland I have always wanted to see! I’ve been to Scotland twice and have some family in Lossiemouth but you are an amazing adventurer🥰
It's a sure sign that this vlog was really interesting, as those 43 minutes absolutely flew by! Another superb view of life in the outer reaches of the UK. Well done Ruth, keep em coming! 👍🏻👍🏻
Ruth! These videos just get better and better ;) I get so excited when a new one arrives, and after watching, I know another Scottish holiday plan is forming in my head.
I wish you would show a bit of a chit chat at the dinning table. Also a peak at Tommy doing the actual cooking would have been wonderful. I thought Tommy was a very loving human being ❤!
