THE FAROES

 

The Faroe Islands has a total population of only 55,000 people, 80,000 sheep & 25,000,000 farmed salmon. And in total only 960kms of road with nearly 10% of these are beneath mountains or the sea!

It has been an unexpectedly smooth crossing and we pull into the capital, Torshavn, early in the morning. The ferry is going to stay here in port for an extra night while the storm passes. We head off by 8am and drive down the road to the very same carpark we stayed at 10 years ago, then  wander into town. It is bitterly cold and starting to rain. We get maps from the info centre and explore, but it’s not pleasant so we end up back in GR3. No hot pools here to soak in so we head to the surprisingly good museum. Not a bad way to spend a few cold wet hours. We are meeting friends for dinner but still have some time spare, so drive up the fjord and watch the waterfalls gushing madly, the wind whipping up waves in the fjord, wind gusts sending streaks of water flying across the road and water going upwards at the top of the waterfalls. A crazy drive. After a lovely dinner with our friends we stay in our carpark for the night.

No rain during the night is a good sign. It’s still windy but at least we can head out in GR3 to explore the islands. There is a lovely network of tarsealed roads with numerous tunnels through the many mountains. Connecting the Islands there are undersea tunnels that are rather pricey for trucks (which is what we are labeled) up to $200 one way. John has opened a toll account as we have been told it is much cheaper to prepay and we will totally avoid the most expensive tunnel as there is a longer land route we can use.

So, we head along our fjord and into the first of many tunnels. They are mostly double laned and very dark. We exit into the next fjord and start stopping at some of the little towns, mainly to look at the old Churches, rows of traditional houses and the old boat harbours.  If we don’t stop, we do a slow drive through every village where the houses seem to spill onto the road  making some very tight corners.

We cross a bridge to the island of Eysturoy and rather than plunge through another tunnel we follow the coastline. As this isn’t the main road it is only a one laned tarseal road with frequent small passing bays. This means constantly checking where oncoming cars are located so that not too much reversing is involved. Fortunately, the rule here is for smaller vehicles to give way to trucks. Mostly this is adhered to! And often these roads are on the edge of a steep drop off, so a tad nerve racking! We stop at Eidi and wander around. Then on to the gorgeous village of Gjogv where John parks right in town. Phew, it’s a tight squeeze to get between the houses. We walk out to the viewpoint, look down at the tiny steep port, walk along to the river gushing through the centre of town and onto the Church. It is very picturesque. But time to continue those narrow roads to Funnigur at the mouth of the fjord. We park right on the tiny harbour, have our lunch and head out to explore. The tiny turf roofed Church would have to be the cutest I have ever seen.

Then it is on along this fjord to Funningsfjordur and then down a tiny side road to the lovely Elduvik. Again, we wander around town, which admittedly doesn’t take long and decide to stay overnight in the waterfont carpark that is a campground in season. A magic spot – in fact my favorite spot to camp here.  The next day we return to Funningsfjordur and head directly to the undersea tunnel, to the Northern Islands. It is only 6km long but goes down for 3km and then back up for the final 3. We exit at Klaksvik, which has grown vastly since we were last here. There is a string of fancy new modern buildings in the centre of town and a very big, busy port area. It was at the next tunnel we came to a halt on our travels years ago as we were too tall. Fortunately, a new tunnel has been built so we can head through 2 tunnels and then cross a causeway to Vidoy Island and continue out to Vidareidi. We drive through town right to the edge of the cliffs where the Church is located. Again, it is very picturesque. Now we are as far north as we can drive so we turn around and head back, but this time stop in each town and head up all the side roads. Our detour out to the tiny town of Kunoy takes us through a crazy one laned tunnel. There is a tiny village split into 2 sections - new homes and old cottages that are huddled above a boat harbour and of course a Church. Much later in the day we head back through the undersea tunnel and continue our exploring stopping for the night at a Sports Centre carpark. There is a campground in town, but at $80 per night we will avoid it.

We wake to more rain. Autumn is probably not the best time to visit the Faroes. We finally head off in the rain to Fuflafjordur at the end of the road. We wander the waterfront and when we hear Church bells pealing, we head up to Church. The singing is lovely, but we slip out before the sermon. We simply don’t understand a word of Faroese! The rain is starting to ease so we enjoy our next stop at Nordragota. Yet another Church and rows of pretty houses. I am addicted to these turf covered roofs and have way too many photos of turf! Finally, we head back to Torshavn and park at our favorite spot. There is an English service on at a Church in town, so we head out on foot, but alas the building is locked. Instead, we wander for miles around town and stay in our carpark yet again.

We have something different planned for today. We walk to the port and get on a huge ferry for the 2 hour trip to Sudoroy Island (we could take the truck, but there is a tunnel we won’t fit through) We pass lots of Islands before reaching Sudoroy and disembarking. At the port we jump onto a local bus that heads to the tiny southern town of Sumba passing lots of pretty villages and going through a few tunnels. Then we have an hour in Sumba to explore before hoping back on another bus. John finds a very chatty local to talk to (listen to really!) Back in the main town of Tvoroyri we explore for an hour before hoping on a much smaller bus to head north to Sandvik. This road has the small tunnel - only 3.2m high and very long, dark and rocky. A very definite no go for GR3. The bus driver informs us we need to ring and book the bus so it will return – immediately John books a return bus with our driver! We have 2 hours at Sumba which proves to be way too long as there is only a handful of houses, a small boat harbour and a locked Church. The wind has picked up and it is downright chilly. We find the public toilets (at least there are plenty of them!) and wait inside as the building is warmed. Our bus turns up (phew!) late. He had forgotten. Anyway, back to town and we find a lovely café for our next wait before our final bus to the port. 2 hours onboard before heading back to GR3 in the dark. Another night in our carpark. John doesn’t think we should stay here again -it may be pushing our luck!

We only have a few more days left in the Faroe Islands….