UNBELIEVABLE ? Another Rare Bird WoW ! End of The Isle S Uist Polochar Beach & Standing Stone RV

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Let's get [music] out, we can leave this city.

[00:00:03]Let's drive to the open air.

[00:00:07]Yeah, the countryside is so [music and singing] pretty with the wind blowing in your hair.

[00:00:14]We [music] can look back someday.

[00:00:17]>> [singing] >> Baby, don't you understand that we only get one life? I want to make [music] it count. Honey, come on now and take my hand.

[00:00:44]>> Warm welcome to Country Van Life UK.

[00:00:48]Here we are in this lovely >> [music] >> quite a big lay by, actually. You can get a few vans in here.

[00:00:54]You get three or four [music] vans in here.

[00:00:56]Quiet road. This road is not used at all.

[00:00:59]I think this was going to be the new ferry port, but for some reason they've not used it cuz all this is new.

[00:01:06]I think they were going to have the ferry terminal [music] down there, but for some reason the ferry port is still over in the village over there.

[00:01:14]Maybe it's something for future, I don't know, cuz this is quite [music] a new road. Wow, that wind is bitter.

[00:01:20]Oh, it must be about [music] 3 bloody degrees. It is freezing, guys.

[00:01:25]There's a lovely lock down there down at South Uist.

[00:01:30]Right, we're going to have a look down at the harbor down there. I wish these bloody temperatures would go up a little bit.

[00:01:36]Right. There's Christine up there.

[00:01:38]Lovely quiet road. So, it's hardly used.

[00:01:40]I think it was a plan for a port, but I'm not quite sure what's going on here.

[00:01:46]But, anyway, the tide's out at the moment. What's a lovely old ruined boat down there. I'll have a look at that later.

[00:01:52]Right, we've got to the uh the mine where all the fishing boats are. Wow, coming up to the fishing port here, guys. The other end of uh Loch Boisdale. Is Loch Boisdale over there where the ferry comes in?

[00:02:06]From Oban.

[00:02:09]Uh lovely jubbly and there's some lovely walks everywhere.

[00:02:13]All around here some cracking walks.

[00:02:16]Ooh, some bluebells. Bluebells.

[00:02:19]You you tell the temperature that it's summer bluebells cuz the temperature doesn't bloody know.

[00:02:25]It's bleeding freezing, guys. Oh, cuz she's down here.

[00:02:29]Wow.

[00:02:31]Ooh, looks like some deep water down there for fishing off those rocks.

[00:02:37]Oh, this looks promising.

[00:02:38]Right, we'll go down to the uh the quay.

[00:02:41]Always a new sheltered harbor, folks.

[00:02:44]At Loch Boisdale.

[00:02:46]Nice little sheltered bay.

[00:02:51]Yeah, it's pretty cool. Pretty big harbor.

[00:02:54]I wonder if they're going to have the ferries coming in here or what. I can't see any ramps for the ferries here.

[00:02:59]There's still a lot of slack up there building work.

[00:03:03]But uh we'll have a look.

[00:03:15]Oh, what's that all about, Skye?

[00:03:18]It's like a lot of samples.

[00:03:20]I'm quite sure.

[00:03:21]It's a working harbor, folks.

[00:03:25]It's quite a bit going on. A few uh All this is to do with the uh I don't know, the salmon fisheries, I don't know.

[00:03:35]Looks all pretty new.

[00:03:38]Ooh, Skye.

[00:03:40]Oh, back in Craster.

[00:03:42]Oh, got a lovely bench there to sit at, look. Had me breakfast here this morning.

[00:03:47]Me own little bench.

[00:03:49]Uh I'll try and find that shipwreck.

[00:03:53]Can I get over here?

[00:03:56]Oh.

[00:03:58]All right. Come here, Scott. Come.

[00:04:02]There's lots of little birds jumping in out this reeds. I'm trying to get a picture of them to try and ID them. Not quite sure what they are.

[00:04:08]Uh can we get across here? Oh, this is a bit boggy on here.

[00:04:13]Is there a shipwreck here somewhere?

[00:04:17]What the hell am I walking on here? What is this?

[00:04:21]So bloody deep.

[00:04:25]All right. Let's go across here.

[00:04:30]Oh, this I just got to disguise that. Ah, there she's there, look. Oh, it looks like the bones of a dinosaur, look.

[00:04:38]You see guys?

[00:04:40]It looks like the bones of a prehistoric dinosaur.

[00:04:43]Got to watch I don't fall in this heather area.

[00:04:48]All right. As you would have clicked, guys, the microphone decided to turn itself off.

[00:04:54]Anyway, we'll crack on down. It's all a bit uh underfoot. It's a bit dodgy. You're sinking in the bloody uh the bog. It's deep bog underneath heather here. But, look at that down there.

[00:05:06]I'd say it looks like a whale a dead whale's skeleton.

[00:05:10]It is bloody massive down there. I can't quite get down. It's down deep down.

[00:05:14]There's all sludge and mud down there.

[00:05:16]I won't be able to get down there to have a closer look. But, uh I wonder how many years that's been there. It's been there some time. Looking across the bay there back at Loch Boisdale. Lovely jubbly. I might get myself another sausage roll. I saw there sausage rolls in the bakery. Which is a bleeding die for. Anyway, that's the the old shipwreck on the other side of Loch Boisdale.

[00:05:41]All right. Let's just get out of this bog and get back inside Christina.

[00:05:46]I'll get a bloody kettle on, mother.

[00:05:48]Kettle's on, mother.

[00:05:50]And have a nice bacon sandwich.

[00:05:52]Lovely jubbly.

[00:05:54]We've had a lovely stroll around. I might go into the village later. Oh, the ferry's coming in.

[00:06:00]Oh, there she is.

[00:06:02]Lord of the Isles.

[00:06:06]She's coming in from Oban.

[00:06:09]Out there.

[00:06:11]Coming into docking.

[00:06:14]Lovely.

[00:06:16]Hello, boys down.

[00:06:18]Uh yeah, I might go over to the village, go to the pastry shop.

[00:06:23]I was getting a bit late now.

[00:06:26]Doing the safety announcements on the ferry.

[00:06:30]I've definitely been on the Lord of the Isles.

[00:06:33]But as I say, it wasn't this route.

[00:06:35]Can't remember what route it was. I don't know whether it was Skye. Can't remember. Years ago.

[00:06:41]But I've been on a lot of a lot of ferries.

[00:06:44]Many ferries over the last 6 years.

[00:06:47]It's a beautiful day though, but it's his bloody chilly. It's still bloody so cold. Feel the wind on my hand, it's really chilly. There's your Lord of the Isles.

[00:06:58]Turning around. She's going to reverse back in.

[00:07:01]I think she's a roll-on roll-off ferry.

[00:07:03]I don't know why she don't go in forward.

[00:07:05]Must be a reason.

[00:07:07]Anyway.

[00:07:11]Lovely. Might pop up to the village.

[00:07:14]A clock. Where we staying?

[00:07:16]And have a look around. Nice. What's that, Skye? Hey?

[00:07:20]Let's go for a walk. Woo.

[00:07:24]Look, I did a singing video of Skye earlier. A little clip.

[00:07:29]On X and uh shorts. With Skye singing.

[00:07:33]That like Oh, what a lovely sunny evening here in the Isles.

[00:07:37]Hey, Skye.

[00:07:39]Still very chilly out here, guys.

[00:07:41]Just settling in. Nice cup of tea. Just doing me supper.

[00:07:44]Ooh, pork and chili beans, fresh pork chops, grilled with some chili beans and some nice tiger bread.

[00:07:53]Lovely jubbly.

[00:07:55]Ooh.

[00:07:56]>> [groaning] >> Sun's blasting through the windows.

[00:08:00]Keeping us warm without heating.

[00:08:02]Even though it's probably about 60° outside, Skye, eh?

[00:08:07]It's pretty chilly out there, guys.

[00:08:09]It really is.

[00:08:12]Beautiful, though. Beautiful.

[00:08:13][clears throat] We love it.

[00:08:21]All right, guys. Just parked up in Upper Taynuilt.

[00:08:25]It's a very, very quiet town. Just a couple of shops. Not a lot here at all, folks, but it is pretty.

[00:08:31]Uh we were camped over on the far side last two nights over there. Lovely.

[00:08:37]Just have a little walk around before I leave. I might buy a sausage roll from the bakery. Lovely. Cafe working there.

[00:08:42]So open in the summer, no doubt.

[00:08:45]Ooh, it's so chilly again today, guys.

[00:08:47]Lovely gardens here to sit in and chill out.

[00:08:51]Overlooking the bay.

[00:08:52]That's where the ferry comes in from Oban.

[00:08:56]Beautiful. We were over there last night.

[00:08:59]Well, the last couple of nights.

[00:09:01]All right. Just have a bimble around.

[00:09:04]Ooh, nice viewing viewing platform.

[00:09:07]I'm keeping you out of the wind as much as I can.

[00:09:10]Ooh, there's a nice marble surface there.

[00:09:13]It's pretty cool.

[00:09:17]A bit like a ship.

[00:09:20]Yeah, very, very quiet. Very quiet town.

[00:09:24]For a main town down here at South Uist, it's uh very quiet. You got a Co-op about a mile and a half, 2 miles up the road in the next village.

[00:09:34]Which uh this is pretty impressive, innit?

[00:09:37]It's where the ferry comes in and the big hotel is up the corner there.

[00:09:41]And that's the new fisherman's uh harbor over there.

[00:09:50]Lovely gardens here, very well done.

[00:09:53]Very pretty.

[00:09:57]Lovely.

[00:09:59]Nice and quiet and interesting here.

[00:10:01]Here we are, right at the southern tip at the Uist Isles here down at the Tail of the Boy Isles.

[00:10:08]Obviously, we've done all these islands and way up far as Harris and Lewis further up north, so we've covered a lot of ground so far.

[00:10:16]We've got Eriskay to go, which is the next island by a big causeway, then the ferry over to Barra, which is way down south.

[00:10:27]Lovely.

[00:10:31]Lovely frontage, absolutely lovely.

[00:10:34]It's probably packed in the summer, but deserted and not a lot going on in the winter.

[00:10:40]The weather like it. Uh oh, here comes a bloody rain. Oh, here comes the ferry. Ferry's coming in.

[00:10:46]No, mate, here comes the rain. I was going to sit outside and have me snacks from the biker. Lovely biker there. So cheap the coffees [clears throat] and teas and milkshakes and everything is so cheap.

[00:10:57]I bought another sausage roll and a strawberry milkshake. Oh, my strawberry milkshake.

[00:11:04]Freezing bloody cold it. Piddling down rain.

[00:11:07]And I bought a milkshake before I leave Loch Eriboll Boy Isles.

[00:11:12]Uh it's a lovely quiet place, but it is very quiet.

[00:11:15]Just turn the camera around. Skye sea training, guys. Here comes the ferry.

[00:11:19]Lord of the Isles is coming in.

[00:11:22]Oh, you can't see that through the rain.

[00:11:23]Oh, focus. Here we go. Lord of the Isles is coming in.

[00:11:28]Lovely. I've got a lovely milkshake. I do have my milkshakes. Oh, look at that, guys.

[00:11:33]Oh, I'm zoomed in. Hold on a minute.

[00:11:35]Oops-a-daisy, Stephen. Zoom back, ace.

[00:11:38]A lovely milkshake. Look at that.

[00:11:40]Homemade milkshake with cream on the top and sprinkles and chocolate.

[00:11:45]That's lovely. So cheap, as well. And uh I bought one of their uh amazing sausage rolls. I had one the other day.

[00:11:53]Absolutely lovely.

[00:11:55]Uh I've got it hot this time. Wasn't hot last time.

[00:11:59]And they are delightful. Got thyme and herbs on the top. It's lovely. So tasty.

[00:12:05]Uh I think it was £2.

[00:12:07]I think uh the milkshake was £3.

[00:12:10]Lovely. I'll get you a stamina kit.

[00:12:18]Oh, that is lovely. That is bloody lovely.

[00:12:21]I think he's got a dollop of ice cream in there or something. Yeah, it's a big dollop of ice cream in there.

[00:12:26]Delightful. Proper bloody milkshake, not your powdered shite.

[00:12:30]All right, let's try this sausage roll.

[00:12:32]This time it's hot.

[00:12:34]When have you When have you seen a sausage roll covered in herbs and thyme and whatever it's on top of there.

[00:12:40]Absolutely got a bit of cheese on there, as well, I think.

[00:12:43]Bloody lovely, those are. £2, I think they are.

[00:12:54]Oh, you can You can taste those herbs straight away.

[00:12:57]That is delicious.

[00:13:02]But we'll move on from there. I don't have anything else to snack. This little treat. Oh, yeah, I bought some You know I like with my uh Viking stuff and my uh Gothic stuff, guys. I love my Gothic stuff.

[00:13:20]Love me éclairs.

[00:13:21]I have to have a couple of éclairs when I go to bed. Yeah.

[00:13:25]What am I going to have now? I'll have to look guys.

[00:13:28]I think these were uh £7. I've got four of them.

[00:13:37]What do you think this is going to be?

[00:13:39]Here we go.

[00:13:41]Get off Sky.

[00:13:43]You know I love me skulls guys. Look at that.

[00:13:47]I think there was four of them for £7, I think.

[00:13:51]They're different designs. You get four in the set.

[00:13:54]Another one there.

[00:13:57]Here we go.

[00:14:02]>> [clears throat] >> What else? Are they all different? I'm not quite sure if they're all different.

[00:14:06]There's another one. Get off Sky, you nut. That's not bloody food.

[00:14:12]You know what I like? Me me gothic and me viking stuff guys. I love this.

[00:14:16]Absolutely love it. So, that's my little treat for myself.

[00:14:21]Right. Well, we're coming from Loch Boisdale. Lovely job, though.

[00:14:25]Very, very, very quiet. Uh the most of South Uist, it's all machair and flatlands. There's a few mountain ranges down there.

[00:14:34]But, to be honest, it's all a bit samey-samey.

[00:14:38]Uh it's not like North Uist and Harris, where you got magnificent beaches and magnificent mountains. It's a bit machaish, you know, flatlands and glens and rolling lots of lochs and whatever. It's beautiful, but I'd say it's beautiful, but it's uh we'll move on.

[00:14:58]We'll move on to Eriskay. Uh there's only one little road on Eriskay. I don't believe anybody lives on Eriskay, never mind there being a shop on Eriskay. It's only a tiny island. It's the smallest island that we go to via the van.

[00:15:12]Uh one of the smallest, anyway. I think we've done about 26 now, 27.

[00:15:17]So, we'll move to uh Eriskay. Uh I might stay down there a a of nights, but I'm not sure.

[00:15:22]And then from Eriskay we take the ferry.

[00:15:25]Here come all the cars off the uh the ferry from uh Oban on the mainland Scotland.

[00:15:32]And from Eriskay we take the ferry. I've got to book that up yet. Over to Barra.

[00:15:37]I think it's about 1 and 1/2 hours to Barra on the ferry.

[00:15:40]Then we'll spend the next couple of months on the Isle of Barra.

[00:15:43]>> All right. On our way. Hello boys down.

[00:15:46]Lovely jubbly.

[00:15:48]Onto the uh causeway to Eriskay. Another island. Yeah, lovely. Catch you later, guys. It's a bit of a mucky day.

[00:15:58]But uh all good in country.

[00:16:01]We're at the the end of the uh Okay. Uh South Uist.

[00:16:06]This is the tip of South Uist, guys.

[00:16:08]We're right on the end.

[00:16:10]Uh I'll show you in the morning. I'll camp up here tonight. We've got a lovely view out here in front of us. Absolutely stunning. It's all a bit naff at the moment uh with the weather. Uh but that's the Polochar Pub there. We've got a standing stone behind me somewhere.

[00:16:27]There's a nice little park up here right on the beach.

[00:16:31]I think this might do us for tonight.

[00:16:34]And have a look at that magnificent view in the morning. Hopefully if it uh the sun and the clouds clear.

[00:16:39]But uh over here you've got uh Eriskay uh which we're going to next. And uh over in the distance you've got the Isle of Barra on the horizon which is the most southerly island which we're heading for in a few days' time.

[00:16:57]I might be able to get a drink up there or a coffee in the pub.

[00:17:00]Or might do me monthly treat of a meal.

[00:17:03]I don't know yet.

[00:17:04]I'll have to see how the weather's doing.

[00:17:06]But it's a nice good day, isn't it?

[00:17:09]We're well south now of all the Isles.

[00:17:11]We're well, well south on the southerly tip of South Uist.

[00:17:16]And then I'll hop over to Eriskay, then hop over to Barra.

[00:17:19]Lovely. I'm just getting everything sorted out for the in about a week's time.

[00:17:26]From Eriskay to the Isle of Barra.

[00:17:28]Lovely. It looks lovely out there.

[00:17:31]All right, settle in.

[00:17:33]Hey Skye, let's settle in.

[00:17:35]All right, guys. Settled in.

[00:17:37]Squared up.

[00:17:38]Skye's having her dinner in this lovely camp right by the boozer.

[00:17:43]>> [laughter] >> And it will be a stunning camp, guys, once that sun comes out. Look at that, the beach right outside the window.

[00:17:50]I've aligned the van north to west, so we get the north to south, sorry, so we get the sun on the window in the morning.

[00:17:56]Hopefully. Lovely job, boy.

[00:17:59]That will be a stunning view out there tomorrow when these clouds lift, folks.

[00:18:03]Kettle's on, mother. Right, settle in, get squared down.

[00:18:07]Sort a few things out.

[00:18:09]Have a nice cup of tea. Kettle's on, mother.

[00:18:12]And settle in now for the weekend.

[00:18:14]Lovely.

[00:18:16]And we've got a pub just up there.

[00:18:19]Happy days.

[00:18:33]Right, my lovelies. So, this is a bit special. As you know, I spend many hours looking out of my window living in my van looking for wildlife, and this was a special moment.

[00:18:43]This beautiful bird you can see here outside, Christine.

[00:18:47]The last time I saw one of these was back when I was a teenager I've teenager I've only ever seen one once.

[00:18:53]And it's you'll probably recognize this bird, guys. Not many people see these.

[00:18:57]They are an endangered species in the UK. They're on the red listed list. This looks like a male to me with a light coloring. Absolutely stunning bird.

[00:19:10]The reason they're rare is cuz they've been persecuted because they they feed on [music] small grouse and the hunting parties don't like that and they're taken illegally.

[00:19:21]Uh, so there's not many left in the UK now and they live in the uplands in the summer and the lowlands in the winter. This one is working now. The diet is small bird voles and grouse chicks and they're ground nesting birds. Amazing.

[00:19:36]Absolutely stunning.

[00:19:40]in harrier.

[00:19:44]All right, I just can't believe this.

[00:19:46]What an amazing sight to see just a few yards from Christine.

[00:19:50]And this is a second rare bird that I've seen on the Isles.

[00:19:56]Or what an absolute privilege. Beautiful birds.

[00:20:00]It would be lovely. It's good morning.

[00:20:02]Good morning. Good morning.

[00:20:04]Oh, it's a lovely morning, too. It's breezy and it's chilly again.

[00:20:09]All right, we're going to go out for a little walk on this beautiful camper mat. Look at that.

[00:20:15]Ready, Sky? Let's go.

[00:20:18]We've got a lovely grassy area here to camp, guys.

[00:20:22]You can camp all the way down there.

[00:20:25]It's a bit of gravel in the grass, so should be all right on the tires.

[00:20:28]All right, just going to have a look around. There is a standing stone here.

[00:20:31]We're going to have a look, Sky.

[00:20:34]Lovely camp. Beautiful.

[00:20:37]That's my pitch for last day and a half.

[00:20:40]I'll probably stay here tonight as well.

[00:20:41]Look at all the blue colors in the ocean.

[00:20:45]Wow.

[00:20:48]Beautiful eye. The North Atlantic out there.

[00:20:51]Wonderful.

[00:20:52]Here we go. Walking up to the pub.

[00:20:54]There's a pub there, right in the middle of nowhere.

[00:20:57]We want a bit of warmth in our place. If this wind died, it would be glorious.

[00:21:02]Anyway, we've got a standing stone up here.

[00:21:05]Uh, this was an unusual one, the standing stone. It's very very unusual very unique. It's only small but we're going to have a look. Is the lovely Pol char Inn.

[00:21:16]Pol a char Inn.

[00:21:18]The last pub.

[00:21:20]On the oils of South Uist.

[00:21:24]The furthest South pub you can get on the oils.

[00:21:27]Of South Uist anyway in Harris Lewis and.

[00:21:30]North Uist.

[00:21:32]We're right down South now guys. Looks a nice pub.

[00:21:37]Right in this standing stone is just behind me.

[00:21:41]It's pretty unusual guys. I usually standing stones folks as you know they usually in planes and on high peaks and prominent points. But this one is unusual. It's only one stone it's only a small one.

[00:21:53]It's unusual because it's.

[00:21:55]Right on the coast. It's actually on the shore.

[00:21:59]It is is in front of us.

[00:22:02]And there it is.

[00:22:04]The Pol a char standing stone.

[00:22:08]Amazing I.

[00:22:10]It's unique because it's.

[00:22:12]The only stone here.

[00:22:15]And it's on the seashore which is very unusual place to put a stone for the ancient ancestors.

[00:22:24]It's covered in lichen.

[00:22:26]It's only about about 6 ft tall I reckon.

[00:22:30]Probably about my height actually. Perhaps a little bit a bit taller than me. And there it is.

[00:22:40]2000.

[00:22:42]Sky's having a wee up it. Get out of it Sky you nutter.

[00:22:45]2000 3000 years old guys.

[00:22:49]How far does that go into the ground I wonder.

[00:22:52]And there it is outside the Polch.

[00:22:56]Pol a char Inn the Pol a char standing stone of South Uist.

[00:23:02]Pretty unique for each location.

[00:23:05]More than anything, guys, really unique.

[00:23:08]Right on the seashore.

[00:23:13]Lovely job, lovely with that magnificent view all around.

[00:23:17]The Pol Char Standing Stone, South Uist, as far south you can get on South Uist Isles.

[00:23:24]Beautiful. What a lovely location. And the camp's just up there.

[00:23:29]Right, we'll crack on.

[00:23:49]Here you go, guys, the Pol Char Standing Stone.

[00:23:53]Wow, that's amazing, isn't it?

[00:23:55]Very unusual location.

[00:23:58]Uh it was lovely to see that in in Harrier.

[00:24:01]It took a couple of moist as well, I think. Blimey, them birds tonight fly fast.

[00:24:06]Uh I think uh a rook was uh harassing it, trying to bump it.

[00:24:12]And it went like a rocket across that glen. Absolute like a tornado jet, it shot across the glen.

[00:24:19]They move so fast. Beautiful birds, the hen harriers. I do love the hen harriers.

[00:24:23]Uh I think that's the second one I've seen in my lifetime.

[00:24:26]Which is another joy, another bird spotted.

[00:24:31]Lovely. Here you go.

[00:24:33]The Pol Char Stone.

[00:24:34]And I Pol Char in here down on South Uist.

[00:24:39]Lovely. What a lovely area. Cracking.

[00:24:42]Oh, back at Christine.

[00:24:43]Oh, let's get inside.

[00:24:45]Lovely job, lovely. Oh, what an amazing day that was, guys. Thanks very much for watching. Uh coming the next video, we make a pilgrimage to another island that you can get to via causeway on low tide.

[00:24:57]It's a long long walk. We're going to do that. And we all sit get mobbed on a massive beach by thousands of birds.

[00:25:04]Come and watch the next episode on country. You will stay cozy. Thanks for watching. Give us a like, share, subscribe, and smash the heart button, guys. See you on the next video. Stay lucky.

[00:25:16]>> Join us on our next adventure with Country Van Life UK.

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