The Faroe Islands
After taking a break from our world tour for more than a year, it was time to jump back into the truck.
Different from our last trips, will be the weather. So we had some modifications done to the truck, to keep us warm, and bought snow chains for the slippery roads we will encounter during our coming trips.
From base camp Holland, it was about 1000km driving to the ferry harbor in the north of Denmark. Passing the famous Dutch Afsluitdijk, where we had a sunny breakfast with the many windmills in the background. Half way we camped on a campsite for motor homes in Germany, where we – as usual – got a lot of attention from other campers. It’s summer and the holiday season started. Thousands of motorhomes, caravans, cars with rooftents are taking the roads towards destinations away from home.
Arriving in Hirsthals, we were surprised by the number of motorhomes! Hundreds and hundreds were parked in and around the small harbor town, waiting to board a ferry to Iceland, Faroe Islands or Norway. Destinations which have become more and more popular, since the south of Europe is getting very crowed in the summer and very hot!
We parked on a small paid camper parking, right next to the train station (which was not the best spot to park). I had to turn the truck around, to avoid too much noise, and then the train passengers could not look right into my outdoor kitchen anymore when I was cooking my hamburgers.
A friendly Belgian tourist with a 4×4 camper van (who later became our travel companion on the ferry) came to have a chat with us. Hirsthals is located near a beautiful beach, with high sand dunes, which are covered by grey concrete bunkers, part of the former Atlantic wall, during WOII.
Early next morning we were one of the first to show up at the ferry line up, but were sent away, because first the cars for the Norway ferry had to line up. Nearby was a beach were we parked we had our breakfast.
The ferry was huge, with 3 decks for cars and trucks, 4 for passengers and the remaining for restaurants, shops, cinema, swimming pool etc. Its was like a small cruise ship. Since me and boat rides don’t go well together, we booked a room with large windows, so at least I could look at the horizon at all times.
We spent most of the time actually outside on the deck or inside in the large, stylish lounge with large windows overlooking the North Sea and then the Atlantic Ocean. We were lucky, the sea and ocean were very calm, though, I still couldn’t walk straight and my head felt wobbly.
After sailing for about 30 hours, we saw the contours of the Faroe Islands. Surrounded by clouds and mist, huge basalt blocks were rising out of the ocean. After seeing no land for a large part of the ride, the scenery was magical. Passengers were scrambling for the best spot on the bow area, to shoot their best shots. We, with our new Belgian friend (with whom we spent most of the hours talking about all kinds of things), had positioned ourself on three lounge chairs behind the glass windscreens, giving us a first class look towards the islands.
Half an hour before arrival, we said goodbye to our new friend, emptied our cabin and headed down to deck 3, to get into our truck. We were minutes away from “landing” our big Wolo truck on the Faroe Islands.
There were only a few motorhomes, and some cars from Faroe islanders leaving the truck. All other vehicles were heading for Iceland. The main harbor of the Faroe Islands is in the capital Torshavn and is a charming place to arrive.
To be sure that we would have a camp spot for the first night, we had booked a campsite close to the capital (Torshavn), which is also the harbor were we arrived. On the ferry all the foreign vehicles leaving the ferry for Faroe, had a brochure stuck behind their window whipers, explaining the camping rules. And one thing was made very clear, camping ONLY at designated campsites! (Otherwise you would get a fine)
The weather on the Faroe Islands is often unpredictable, clouds, sun, dry, rain, wind, no wind, all could change in minutes. So, yes, you have to be prepared with you clothing, which is something we are not really used to in the Caribbean.
Situated along the coast just outside the city center, the campsite was nicely located, with bathrooms, water taps and power points. While traveling over the island, we experienced later, everything is so well organized and clean. You won’t find any garbage along the roads, everything works, roads are well maintained, the houses look clean and well taken care off. Faroe is of another level. In the weekends you even see groups of children sweeping the streets in the villages.
We took out our new bikes (we changed our electrical bikes for regular mountain bikes) and made a tour to and through the city center. Mind you, “city center” is just a few blocks. And although we expected the capital Torshavn just being a small cluster of houses, it is a modern, thriving small town, with modern office and apartment buildings, stores and large sports complexes and the famous Torshvn Cathedral (Havnar Kirkja).
However, the small peninsula Reyni (the old town), is most interesting to visit. Small wooden, grass covered houses dot the narrow cobble stone streets, some nearly 300 years old. A well known landmark is the dark red, grass covered building of the Government of the islands which is clearly visible when entering the harbor.
If you think this is an island, that could escape cruise ship tourism, you are wrong. Although not the mega sized cruise ship that are visiting the Caribbean islands, the ones visiting the Faroes are smaller, but still. Its of course a different type of tourist visiting these islands. Nature lovers, people who want to see something special and, of course, don’t bother with cloudy, cold, and rainy days.
The city center has not that much to offer in terms of entertainment (restaurants, bars and shops). The ones existing are a bit spread around, and a city tour is short. I saw that the Faroes are not really catering for day shoppers from cruiseships.
Biking on the islands is not for the untrained, we found that out when biking the city. The city is built along the slopes of hills around the harbor and that needs some good leg muscles. Luckily that is what we have!
The first night on Faraos was to begin and the word night, doesn’t really fits in a place where in the peak of the summer, the sun not sets and darkness remains absent. You missing the time that day light shades away and your body gets ready for the night to sleep. Here we had to go from light to dark in a moment. We kept our metal panels on the windows and when we are inside the truck, its dark, except for the lights we turn on. These lights give us the impression that it is dark outside and helps us to stay within our normal routine (the cold and wind outside helps a lot with that).
Despite the windy and foggy weather we went out the next day to explore more of the main island by bicycle. There are no bike lanes along most of the roads and on the roads outside the villages the speed limit is 80km (some drive a lot faster). The roads are also not that wide and due to the construction boom around the capital, there are a lot of big trucks driving fast and close to us. Add some thick wet fog to it and you notice it is a lot of fun to bike!
We took a little side road, which brought us to an open air museum of an old farm house with outer buildings. It’s interesting to see how the first settlers had to deal with whatever they could find to build their first homes and farms. Often just piling up rocks on top of each other to make the walls and then cut the few trees on the island to make the roof structure. For covering the roof they use sods, which worked as isolation. It must have been a tough time for the first settlers on the island, but yeah, they were Vikings and they were tough.
The fogs got replaced by a light drizzle and a cold wind. Biking in this weather on these roads became a little suicidal, so we headed back to the truck. Later in the afternoon the sun came out again (yes it changes fast in the Faroes). We took the bikes again and went back to the old town. Visiting the bakery shop in the harbor and trying to find a small part for the bicycles. A very friendly bicycle store owner helped with one part and for the other we went to the hardware store, where they had about a million different bolts, and of course also the one we needed. So that mission was accomplished.
Unbelievable but true, the Faroes are home to three Micheline Star restaurants! A well known chef has managed to put the local kitchen on the world map of culinaire enthousiasts! Fish and lamb are the main ingredients, which he has managed to present in unbelievably tasty variations. Mixed with locally produced vegetables, you are really experiencing a culinaire journey, you wouldn’t expect so far out in the North Atlantic ocean. So after a day biking in the rain, fog and wind, we headed to the old town, where in the setting of an old cozy house, you find ROKS (the sister restaurant is called Koks, and the third one is called Raest). And indeed, they did not over advertise themselves at all! With a pairing wine selection, the cod, lamb, mussels and salmon were absolutely wonderful! And besides that, we found good company during this 11-course diner. It was a very memorable evening!
Interesting thing was that some of the staff members are Mexican, which brought some exotic twist to the vibe!
Time to explore more of the islands as we headed out of town the next day, storing our bikes first back in the truck.
The island of Sandoy in the south is the island which is said to be the most “flat” island and is a short drive from Torshavn. And short is because since a couple of years the island can be reached by a sub-sea tunnel, which goes 155 meter under the seabed and is close to 11km long. It replaces the ferry, which is still in operation.
For a small island country with around 65,000 people, it is an amazing feature that – besides this tunnel – there are 3 more sub-sea tunnels connecting several islands and by doing so, making traveling between the islands faster and more reliable (with bad weather the ferries can often not make their trips). It also helps in nation building, since it brings the people of the different islands more together.
Reaching Sandoy we drove to the small town of Sandur, which is the major harbor town of this island. From here fishing vessels come and go and aggregates are loaded and unloaded.
Driving to the other side of the island, we reached the small town of Skopun. Also here a small harbor, cozy wooden houses and as in every town and village, a wooden church, covered with a grass roof. The small streets makes it often challenging to manoeuvre with our big truck and I wonder if we are sometimes looked at in a disapproving way by the locals, although, the kids get often enthusiastic and want me to blow the horn. (Which I of course do).
Just outside of town, there was a construction site for the extension of the town. During our travels over the islands, we see this often. The Faroes people love their big families, so extra homes are constantly needed. We stopped at the site to have a coffee and I admired the way development is carried out here. As I said before, on the Faroes it is clean and well organized. Things are properly done.
An iconic village on the island is Dalur (which means valley in Faroes). Via the village of Husavik, we entered a near one lane road, which runs along the steep slopes and cliffs. A few lay-by’s allow passing other traffic, but they are small and we had some difficulty to crawl into these spots (as they were mainly on our side of the road it was up to us to make space). The views – on the other hand – were spectacular. Along the slopes the grazing sheep got scared from the noise of our truck, and run down (which makes you wonder if they don’t fall in the ocean).
We passed a construction site were the government is working on a tunnel through the mountain, which makes this dangerous winding one lane road absolute in the future.
At the end of the road, we looked down on the small village of Dalur, tucked between the green slopes of the valley and the rocky beach on the ocean. A narrow road divides the small village and brought us to a camp site. Although, the site was closed (due to floods, the site became very soggy), we were allowed to park on the nearby parking. We could still use all the facilities, but of course we didn’t need that.
From here two nice hiking trials commence, so we took the one towards the tiny settlement of Skarvanes, which was a 4 hour hike, using an old trail. The trail is well marked with colored sticks and old cairns (stacks of rocks, like small pyramides), which got to be centuries old. It’s a steep climb and unfortunately we took a wrong turn, ending up at a barn, were the local farmer with his family was in the process of gathering their sheep for wool shaving. In summer time, Faroes people who often live in Denmark, return home, to join the family and help out on the farms.
We found the right track again and continued our walk over the hills, encountering the Faroe sheep, the many birds and the cairns. You can walk for hours over the grassy soggy fields (its like you walk on a foam or rubber floor, the grass is on a layer of muddy soil, which gives you that tipping feeling when you walk) and see nobody. Every turn or corner has eye wonderful views of the surrounding hills, cliffs, lakes and other islands.
But these views are often temporary, since fog can take over quickly. Especially higher up in the hills. In a matter of moments, you are surrounded by clouds of fog, which limit your views to a couple of meters, making it hard to find the markers and the cairns.
The weather became worse and we had lost time with the wrong turn off, so we headed back to the truck.
Its nice to get back in the truck, turn on the heater, take a hot shower, put on some dry clothing, turn on some easy listening music and finally have a good cup of coffee or hot chocolade. It all feels better, when you come back from the cold and the wet clouds.
One of the major advantages of our expedition truck is the amount of storage, refrigeration and the electricity supply. For a couple of weeks, we have enough fresh food (vegetables, meat and fruits), so we don’t depend on daily or bi-daily shopping. Saying that, we have good and fresh meals on a daily base. And also that night, we had a culinaire feast in the truck.
A good night sleep after the hike, the shower and diner, would be the next thing. But, it turned out that the supposedly small and quiet village, was turned into a discotheque that night, by a small invasion of Faroe youngsters from the capital, other islands and Denmark. It was their annual reunion, which the celebrated with a lot of signing, story telling, food and lots of alcohol. And all of that almost next to our truck.
A group of them knocked on the door and were curious about us, from where we came. They figured the Americans had walked in!
I had to drink some shots (Unterbergh) together with them and we had some good laughs. They were jolly and fun, but above all, very polite and well behaved. It showed me how the upbringing is on the Faroe islands. There is strict social control and a level of discipline, lost in lots of other places on the planet. That they have a good time and get drunk once in a while is part of the culture and that I had to give up some of my sleep, I had to just accept. (Mind you, for the people here, summer is special. It’s very short and the days are long. Many activities and get-togethers are organized in the three summer months).
The small bird, called Puffin, is one of the major attractions on the Faroe islands. The island of Mykines is best known to see these little birds, however, it is already too touristic to our liking. So after some studying we discovered there was another island with a large colony of these birds, Skufoy. And it happened to be close to the island we were on now. Its off the beaten track, so you are more or less on your own, with hardly or no other visitors.
To get there we had to drive back to Sandur to take the ferry to Skufoy.
On the way back, near Sandur, there was a “Viking Festival”. Well festival, it was Faroe island style. Small and in some way clumsy. About 20 small middle age style tents were erected, with people dressed as in the times of the Vikings, showing skills from those days, selling food and hand crafted items. The kids could fight with a Viking and even buy a complete Viking outfit (helmet, sword and shield). Actually its not strange at all, since the Faroe islands were discovered and inhabited by the Vikings and most present day Faroe islanders are descendants of the early Vikings. So the festival is also a cultural festivity honoring the heritage. It’s a nice way to see, how these people hold on to their traditions, culture and identity. Walking around you only see Nordic people. Nothing reminding me of the multi-cultural changes in Europe.
Arriving in the harbor we saw the small ferry boat. Inside somebody was cleaning the boat. He called the captain for us, and we were told that the ferry would leave in 45 minutes. So we quickly gathered our camping gear, some food and changed clothes. We were done just in time to catch that ferry! A next adventure was coming up.
