Kira: Coming up next on Islands Without Cars: we surrender our senses to the incomparable misty beauty of Scotland's western coast.

So come with us to learn the history behind a singular Scotch sensation, learn a couple of crafts from the ground up, and compete in a one-of-a-kind international competition.

[music] Hi, I'm Kira Cook and it's my great pleasure to be your guide as we search for islands lost in time, places where cars are restricted, and whose inhabitants wouldn't have it any other way.

So come with me on a journey that you won't forget.

[music] [music] Scotland, the northernmost country in the United Kingdom is a beautiful, magical rain-soaked country that is comprised of nearly 800 islands.

Ninety-four are inhabited.

Our destination is the Scottish Hebrides, a group of more than 40 islands and innumerable barren islets extending off the west coast.

We'll be making our way to the Isles of Eigg and Easdale, where cars are as scarce as sunshine.

Eigg is a 12 square-mile rustic greenscape whose 100 residents are committed to living sustainably through renewable energy.

And the tiny island of Easdale is the smallest permanently-inhabited island of the Inner Hebrides.

And while it once employed more than 500 people in their slate quarries, there are currently only 65 year-round residents.

But first, after leaving Glasgow and before leaving land, in this case the Scottish "high" land, we satisfied our bucket list item of sleeping in a castle and caught up with our host for a fireside chat.

Kira: Can you give us sort of the history of this castle?

Donald: My understanding is it was built during the 1200's as one of the fortifications up the western coast.

It fell into disuse in the 1870's, I suppose.

We didn't really have an arterial until 1978.

Before that, almost everything came in by sea and went out by sea.

The sea is now perceived to be as a barrier to transport.

Back in those days, the sea was the artery, it was the arterial route for everything.

Kira: Located on a ridge of rock jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, the recently renovated 13th century Mingary Castle opened its drawbridge to guests in 2016 for the first time in 150 years.

Kira: What's the most enjoyable thing about sort of changing this landscape into a usable, livable hotel?

I don't know if any of it is enjoyable, I think that's possibly not the right word.

It's very satisfying, gratifying, to see how it's turned out.

The level of skills of the people, and it's predominantly young people, and how they managed to put everything together using traditional techniques, that was very satisfying to see that.

I'm hoping you're going to tell me nice things, but what is it about this place that you've enjoyed?

To be able to come here, and truly sleep in a room that is almost 900 years old, and hear the creaking and hear the wind over the stone walls-- You don't worry about the ghosts, no?

I love-- I want ghosts, I invite ghosts.

Right?

Good evening.

Kira: After a frighteningly good dinner including some of the best homemade, or in this case castle made, sourdough bread I've ever had.

Cheers!

Cin cin!

Cin cin!

[music] Mmm.

It's good.

Kira: And a restful night's sleep, without ghost sightings, I might add.

[music] We're making one more irresistible detour on our way to Eigg, the beautiful isle of Mull.

Known for its colorful harbor and flavorful scotch, has been home to the Tobermory distillery since 1798.

Kira: Thank you.

Graham: Okay, so this is the original warehouse, dating back to 1798.

Very thick stone walls, stone floors... Kira: Graham Alexander, the local musician, historian and bard, explained his personal fascination with the spirit.

I remember raiding my father's cupboard and sipping whiskey, I must have been about 10 years old.

I thought it was ghastly stuff because it was caramelly.

Malt whisky was so out of fashion.

Anyone coming to me today saying, "I don't like whisky", I will bet you they will love whisky by the end of it because of all the different finishes.

There's a different whiskey for you to suit your tastes.

Kira: So how does whisky attract different flavors?

Graham: It attracts different flavors depending upon the cask that it's finished in.

All our whisky is a minimum of ten years in bourbon casks; some in wine casks, port casks, white wine, red wine.

And it just will reflect the textures, the colors and the flavors.

So it's important to understand, whisky is not one single taste.

It's as sophisticated as you want to be.

Okay.

And then, how does it acquire the different colors?

Graham: That's through the textures of the casks that it's finished in.

So, for example, if you look up there you'll see the 18-year-old Ledaig whisky, Oloroso Sherry Finish.

And it's got all the characters and the richness of the Oloroso cask.

Kira: Where's my drink?

[laughs] Graham: Right!

[laughs] I'll get you a dram!

Now, this is a big Oloroso Sherry butt.

Okay, the whisky's been maturing in there.

This is a bung mallet.

[bang] Hey, hey.

Hold that.

Thank you.

[laughs] Now, this is a valinch.

Now, I don't think this has changed in centuries.

Want to have a go?

Kira: Okay.

Yeah.

Graham: Put it in the barrel and just rock it up and down.

Kira: Oh, up and down.

Now, lift it up, but put your finger over the end of it.

Okay.

You've got to turn it.

Take your finger off.

And keep coming, keep coming, keep coming, keep coming, keep coming.

Keep coming.

Ahh!

There you go.

There you go!

Perfect dram!

You have poured the perfect dram.

[laughs] Alright!

That is absolutely spot on perfect.

Thank you so much.

I've studied a very long time under a gracious tutelage.

[laughs] Cheers.

Kira: Whisky.

Graham: It's our whisky.

Kira: This is the Tober-- so this is the Tobermory whisky?

They're all in Sherry cases?

No, no.

Not all of them.

No?

Oh okay.

No, no, a lot of them are in bourbon casks.

That just happens to be in the Oloroso cask.

[shudders] I think that cask's empty.

You might want to put a little bit of water in it.

I would love a little bit of water.

[laughs] Kira: That is-- I'm warm.

Graham: We very nearly had prohibition under the Prime Ministership of Lloyd George in the first World War.

He was a vehement, temperance man.

He passed the Immature Spirits Act, which said "Whisky must be matured for two years", thinking that would be the end of whisky, not realizing that far from preventing whisky and banishing it, he'd actually set the benchmark for the future supremely.

The law of unintended consequences.

[acoustic guitar] ♪ Crystal glasses, plastic cups a teacup, or a mug ♪ ♪ For a receptacle to put it in you should not be stuck ♪ ♪ A drop of water is advised but please, no other muck ♪ ♪ Drink it down with gusto, you will change your luck ♪ [acoustic guitar] ♪ As I end this song I want to tell a story ♪ ♪ The finest whisky in the world it comes from Tobermory ♪ ♪ Its colors and its textures are from the bourbon casks ♪ ♪ Sip it very gently in heaven you will bask ♪ ♪ Sip it very gently and in heaven you will bask ♪ Kira: As we wave goodbye to Mingary Castle and The Isle of Mull's spirited sensations, our next stop is the uniquely rugged Isle of Eigg.

[music] Kira: Ten miles off the west coast of Scotland, Eigg is one of the most beautiful of the Hebridean islands.

Three miles wide by five miles long, this island is known for its superb wildlife, fascinating history, and a vibrant, growing community.

Kira: Residents and visitors on Eigg choose to live simply and harmoniously with nature, carefully considering the effects of daily actions on the environment.

Norah: Welcome to the Earth Connections Center on the Isle of Eigg.

The main thing is about the electricity here.

On the whole island we have a renewable energy system, and we each have this owl monitor, every household, which just shows us how much power we're using.

We can't go over five kilowatts.

At the moment it's just 1.5 kW so we have to stay within our limits.

So if you could remember to turn the lights off.

We don't have too many appliances on at one time like the-- if I have the washing machine, and the kettle, and the Hoover, then we would go over five kilowatts.

Kira: Maybe the ecologically friendly, but luxury challenged, Eco Center wouldn't have been such a shock if we hadn't just come from staying in a castle.

[music] But our hosts have such reverence for this island that we happily gave up blow dryers and dishwashers to lessen our own impact on this Scottish Eden.

[music] Norah: The main change in the last ten years has been the Eigg electric system that we have.

It's very environmentally friendly because it's using hydro, and solar, and wind.

I think if you don't understand the place and love the place, you're not going to look after it.

So, it's kind of both, kind of learning to feel and love a place and then learning about how to look after it using new technology and old things as well, it's a mixture.

I suppose, just the challenges are, we all have to keep within a limit.

We can't use as much as you might on the mainland.

From an eco-point of view that's great, but for some people it's a bit of a challenge just to watch.

And for the team it's difficult.

It's just a fine balance of getting it all working and having enough power for everybody.

Kira: Once owned by a private landlord, Eigg was bought by the community in the late 1990s and has since become a leader in Scotland's land reform movement.

Norah: All the land is held in trust.

You don't own a particular bit, but it's just held commonly together, so it's a very loose community in that everyone does their own thing.

But we're all in it together looking after the island, really, and so a bigger picture of it.

Before, everybody had diesel generators that you'd have to start up yourself every day.

Very noisy and smelly, and lots of pollution.

So now, we have this fantastic green energy system.

Kira: Eigg now generates virtually 100% of its electricity using renewable energy.

I made the rounds with Norah's partner, Bob, to check up on the island's solar panels.

Kira: These are amazing.

So, there's wires that go down to a generator?

Or what?

Bob: All the wires on the island are for the whole electric underground.

Underneath, yeah.

But I mean, they go from here-- Bob: So they go from here to little boxes at the end there and then from there, underground.

Kira: Cool.

Kira: The electricity generated by the sun, wind, and water can be used immediately, or it can be stored in batteries for later use.

Kira: I understand that there's a lot of engineering and science involved.

Is there a way you can just sort of explain how that works?

Yeah, go on.

Okay.

Bob: I'm not sure I could, really, in really simple terms but I could say that wind turbines are like a generator you might have on your car, like an alternator you might have on your car and as it spins around, it generates electricity.

We've got 96 batteries.

So these are the storage for the electricity on the island.

So, the whole battery banks here can power the island for about 12 hours.

So there's renewables coming in, it's being stored here, and then when people put their kettle on or something, then power goes out to power that.

So this is being powered by wind turbine energy?

Solar?

Wind, solar, and hydro.

And hydro?

And it's enough to power the island for just half a day, if only the batteries are used.

So, if there's nothing else.

So, it's very unusual that there's no sun, no wind, and there's not been any rain.

[laughs] Yeah.

So that's really unusual here.

At any one moment, there's a five kilowatt limit.

So, it means you can't have the vacuum cleaner, the kettle, and something else on.

So you just have to just limit your use of it.

That's all.

Kira: Okay, confession time: During our stay at the Eco Center, we ran over our limit and they couldn't process our credit card payment, but they trusted us and were too busy to worry about it.

Norah: There are definitely no two days the same, that old cliché.

Very varied life.

Everything depends on the weather and transport, as well, the ferries coming in, so life kind of revolves around the ferries and provisions coming in, and that's a sort of meeting place.

Bob and I were studying in Edenborough, we were studying human ecology and we wanted to build our own center and put all that we learned into practice.

We're not big fans of cars, we're environmentally friendly-minded.

We have a little electric buggy, so the fact that there's not too many cars, it's good for cyclists and walkers.

[music] Kira: Traditionally, the economy here is dependent on, and known for, a method of small-scale farming and food production known as crofting.

But today, the island is recognized for its artisans and their uniquely-sourced materials.

Kira: Are they like these sort of things that we're stepping on here?

Catherine: No, you're just going to see them have-- And every single rod is cut by hand.

Kira: Catherine and her partner Pascal left city-life and their first careers to make baskets and started their aptly named company "All About Willow".

Catherine: This is our office, this is where we work.

Kira: [laughs] Yeah.

Catherine: This is everything, this is it.

Kira: This is part one of the office because then you go down and you do the manual, manual labor.

Catherine: Yeah, but for us, without this, the other half it just doesn't matter.

Because if a lot of people buy their material and then they make a basket, well for me, personally, I could be making anything and buying anything and it's about the willow, that's where the name comes-- All About Willow, the name came from.

I can come up here, and I can look and see how it's growing, and I know what kind of basket I'm going to make.

Kira: Really?

Because it's different from the last year and it's just that intimate knowledge of the material that goes into the basket.

You can see the basket that's being made.

Pascal: You're probably talking, for a small-ish basket, 150 individual different pieces of willow.

We have to harvest it, and take it into the workshop and dry it, and then we have to pick it for the basket, and then soak it, and then-- [laughs] We also have to sort and grade it, as well, after it's been harvested.

Wow, this is a multi, multi-part process.

Catherine: Yes, it is, then it all gets taken down, carried down by hand to the workshop.

And I push that in front of that with my thumb, you see?

And then that just comes out there.

You take this one, and you're going in front of that one.

Okay.

Like that?

Nope, I did that one wrong, I see it now.

Excellent!

I see what I did.

[laughs] A long time ago, well, actually, I was looking for a washing basket and I was using boxes because I didn't want to buy a plastic washing basket.

Is that still not good?

And I just stumbled across a course, a weekend course in basketry and I thought, "Oh!

I'll go make my washing basket!"

And I fell in love.

Kira: Really?

Catherine: Absolutely, and I also realized that I had to grow the material.

That weekend changed my entire life forever.

Kira: Wow, that's a good course.

Catherine: It was a good course!

Yes, it was very good.

That's how we ended up here on Eigg because of the land to grow willow.

Kira: And how did you convince Pascal that he needed to be all about the willow as well?

Catherine: Well, when he saw Eigg, he didn't take much convincing.

Kira: Okay.

[laughs] Pascal: It's great.

We don't miss the traffic at all.

When we go to the mainland, which is not very often, if we can help it, we get irritated when we're in five minutes of traffic.

So, when you see items on the news, people stuck in the traffic for two hours, commuting to work two hours each way, you think, "How can anybody live that way?"

I did live that way, for a while.

I did have a-- I used to have an hour's commute.

I don't miss it at all.

It's much better here where there's no traffic at all.

Kira: Do you miss anything about city life?

Catherine: No.

Nothing.

Pascal: No, no, no, it's um-- When we go to the mainland, we have to go to cafes and have a coffee and a piece of cake for something to do.

Well, we've got plenty to do here.

Catherine: Yeah.

So... We don't miss that at all.

Catherine: No.

Catherine: I didn't really understand until I was doing it, but living in harmony with the wildlife is educational, it's enchanting, and it enhances our life, taking care of our impact on them, thinking, "How will this impact with some other species living here," It's mindfulness, and it encourages all of that.

[music] It's hard work, it's relentless, but it's our life and it's a life that brings joy and happiness just by doing it, and by being here and doing our thing.

Kira: Atop a windswept hill, with her dog for company, Jenny Robertson's personal brand of alchemy is turning locally sourced fleece into unique fabrics.

Kira: This is beautiful!

Jenny: I love that, it's such a gentle color, isn't it?

Kira: Yeah.

Kira: As a spinner and a knitter, Jenny turns different varieties of goat and sheep wool into her own brand of hand-spun yarn, and then creates beautiful, hand-knitted cobweb lace creations.

That is lovely!

It's so delicate!

Kira: Because environmental and ethical issues are a high priority for Jenny, she replaced silk with mohair and uses only natural dyes.

As a result, her wearable art leaves a minimal carbon footprint on both her adopted island and the world.

Kira: Do you ever miss city life?

Jenny: No.

[laughs] When I go off, I don't mind going off, but it's not-- I wouldn't go off by choice.

But you come back again, and it's quiet, and it's lovely, and you just feel everything relax and settle into life again.

I think Eigg's a bit of a time thief.

You have to be quite careful if you're working for yourself.

You've got to be very disciplined with getting up and having your day planned and doing what you need to do, otherwise, you would just drift around and never do anything.

[laughs] Jenny: I'm quite easy, because I love the job.

I find it quite easy to just get going on work, and I love the peacefulness of, just life.

It stops you worrying about the stuff that you can't really do anything about anyway, and if you can't deal with it, leave it and it will come right.

[music] Kira: As we leave the worry-free island of Eigg, [music] our next destination is the tiny and barely off-shore isle of Easdale.

Once the epicenter of the slate industry, and now putting what's left of that particular rock to a very creative use.

[music] Jess: Easdale was the most productive of the Slate Quarrying Islands, and in the heyday, over a million slates a year were quarried from this island.

They went all over the world.

They called it "The Island That Roofed the World".

Kira: Is slate still an industry here?

Jess: No, no.

It all came to an end in 1881, essentially, when there was a very severe storm with a massive storm surge in front of it, and the island was essentially flooded.

And, that really was the end of the slate quarrying industry because they just didn't have the capability to pump out the quarries.

Kira: Ah, but the Scots are innovative, and they took the piles of slate and looked at the horizon.

[music] Each year, the island, and its 60-some residents, put the fine-grained, foliated metamorphic rock to use in an annual World Stone Skimming Championship.

[music] And I'm in.

Donald Melville: So, the reason that Easdale is home to "World Stone Skimming Championships" is we have an abundance of these stones.

And it's a soft stone, so the wave action tumbles it on the shore and rounds them into these perfect skimming stones.

Kira: Donald Melville, affectionately called Mellon, is one of the organizers and promoters passionate about the event.

Kira: So, this is the tenth annual Stone Skimming competition?

Donald Melville: No.

22nd.

22nd Annual stone skimming competition.

It started off like a bad joke; a Scotsman, an Englishman, an Irishman walk into a bar.

And it started in the pub here and it became an idea that ran once, and there was a cup made and engraved for it.

And then we resurrected it 14 years later as a fundraiser for our local community funds, and it's just grown arms and legs ever since.

Kira: Am I going to get one of these hoodies?

Donald Melville: Yeah, we have these for sale.

[laughs] Ah, okay!

Maybe we wrangle something for you.

Okay maybe we wrangle!

[music] Kira: Okay, enough talk.

I've got a competition to win.

[laughs] Right, we're moving on now to Kira Cook from the U.S. of A.

[cheers] Donald Melville: Hands up if she's got to go first.

[cheering, laughing] Donald Melville: The people have spoken!

You're all dead to me!

Kira: Can I get a bit of a cheer, maybe?

[crowd cheers] Thank you.

[crowd cheers] Okay, it's within the boundaries.

That's all I need.

[claps and cheers] Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Kira: No surprise that I did not win, but I did meet a BBC Producer who interviewed me.

Hilary: So, how did it feel 'cause there's everyone watching you today?

The actual technique of stone skimming could have been a little better, but I am proud that I placed.

They were within the boundaries, they skipped twice each time.

She needs boundaries.

Give her boundaries.

Kira: How did you do?

Hilary: I did really, really well.

Just sitting and laughing at everyone else.

Kira: Okay, great.

Hilary: But I didn't actually skim.

[laughs] Like, why would you do that?

[laughs] I skimmed.

[music] Kira: I have many feelings about this magical country.

And fortunately, our dear friend Graham captures many of them in a song.

[music] ♪ There's a burn I know in a special place ♪ ♪ That runs down to the sea ♪ ♪ A tea shop tree, a dragon log ♪ ♪ How simple pleasures be ♪ ♪ Walking arm in arm across the land ♪ ♪ That runs down to the sea ♪ ♪ Its course so true ♪ ♪ its healing power will reach and touch you ♪ ♪ There's a burn I know in a special place ♪ ♪ That runs down to the sea ♪ [music] [music] Kira: For more information about our series, visit our website at www.islandswithoutcars.com.