Faroe Islands
In July 2003 Emma (my wife) and I spurned the soaring temperatures of our native Britain and headed north, to a collection of Danish islands in the North Atlantic: the Faroe Islands.
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We booked the trip with Explore Worldwide, a small package-tour operator specialising in small-group holidays off the beaten track. (And you can't get much more off the beaten track than the Faroes!)
So why go to the Faroe Islands? In short - three reasons: The scenery is stunning. Fantastic fjords and cliffs, tiny villages and picturesque buildings. It's very photogenic.
The walking. Both Emma and I enjoy our walking - and the tour
we picked is called "On Foot in the Faroes". We walked most days.
It's off the beaten track. Neither Emma nor I know anyone else who's
been to the Faroes - so that's certainly reason to go!
And yes, we got very wet in the Faroe Islands. We rarely saw the sun, but as we were properly dressed and it was what we expected, it didn't matter.
Highlights of the trip included:
- Walking from Oyndarfjordur to Elduvik (for lunch) and then walking to Funningsfjordur. Fantastic scenery!
- Staying at the hostel in Gjogv. Great atmosphere and really relaxed.
- Saksun village, which is just so picturesque that I wish we could have stayed longer there (see the photo at the top of this page).
- A boat-trip to the Vestmanna bird cliffs, which the Faroese actually scale to get bird eggs (which they eat)
The bird life was amazing. We saw puffin, arctic and great skuas, guillemot, fulmar, oystercatcher (national bird of the Faroes - and breeding with their chicks while we were there), kittiwake, snipe, whimbrel, hooded crows, eider duck, tufted duck, great and lesser black-backed gulls, golden plover, wren - and more. And we're not particularly good at spotting birds (thanks to some of other members of the party who were experts).
Our top tips for the
Faroe Islands are:
- You can get free internet access in Torshavn public library. (The library is near the tourist information office, in the shopping area.)
- Pack extra pairs of pants in case of delays. We were delayed two whole days in leaving because of fog at the airport.
- Take a deck of cards. Once you leave the Faroese capital of Torshavn, there really isn't much to do in the evening. Bars are non-existent, so you'll spend most of your evening (if the weather isn't good enough to go out exploring) in the hotel or hostel. You may therefore want to take a deck of cards to pass the time.
- You will get wet! Waterproof your walking trousers - even if you are taking overtrousers, the weather can change unexpectedly. (You can waterproof your clothes using Nikwax - available from most outdoor shops in the UK.)
- Take binoculars - the bird life is great. Everyone in our party had binoculars.
- If you stay in the hostel at Gjogv, and you have a room, you can find the controls to the underfloor heating next to the toilet. Fantastic for drying out wet walking boots!
While I probably won't be going back to the Faroe Islands (I'm not sure how much more there is to see - you can pretty much "do" it in the week), I've no doubt we'll be off to other off-the-beaten-path places with Explore.