Faroe Islands -1

FÆRØERNE - 1

FAROE ISLANDS - 1

Thursday 29th June - Sunday 9th June 2017

On the ferry Lucy realised that she could watch the live feed of the ship's progress on the television in the cabin, so while I braved the elements on deck to watch the sunset/sunrise Lucy stayed in the cabin as she didn't want to get blown away. There were a lot of people on deck 8 sitting in the hot tubs as we travelled through the night and in the morning I joined a group of people watching the gannets flying over the boat.

I was the only cyclist to get off the ferry when it docked at Thórshavn (pronounced Toe-ush-hawn) as all the  motorcyclists and the four or five other cyclists were continuing to Iceland, so I was first off into the drizzle. I pushed my bike up what seemed like a mountain wondering if I was doing the right thing stopping here as there won't be another ferry until this time next week. I had booked a small room at a B&B with shared lounge, kitchen and bathroom, but when I arrived she offered me an annex at the side of the house for the same price. I jumped at the chance as it isn't a lot more expensive than staying at a hostel. It is a bit ramshackled, and was probably a granny flat that hasn't been used for a while. It still has some personal possessions and a fair bit of junk piled up behind curtained-off areas, but I have my own front door, a kitchen, shower, and a very nice bedroom. And a hallway to keep my bike, perfect. 

The next day I explored Tórshavn and found out that there is hardly a flat area anywhere on the islands which all rise steeply from the sea. I also discovered that as Tórshavn  is central you can travel by bus and ferry to most places  and back in a day. The plan had been to cycle to different islands but I decided to give the bike a rest for three weeks and have a holiday here. I managed to negotiate a price at my Granny Flat and I am  enjoying the freedom and really feel at home. It overlooks the Island of Nórsoy, which I love, and this photo was taken from my window at about 11.30pm. I don't  think it is getting dark at the moment.

 A fjord on Esturoy

As I am not doing much cycling here I won't do a daily account of Lucy's travels but will just describe some of the things that she has done and give  a few facts about the Islands. The family who live at the B&B run the Island Tour business and invited Lucy to go on a free excursion, including an excellent lunch on the second day. Luckily they invited me as well. It was a really good introduction to the islands, and we travelled into the mountains, along fjords and through tunnels to Estturoy. There were only 10 of us, Lucy, me and two people from Denmark, Sweden, Russia and Israel. It was all very laid-back and we had about 30 minutes to wander about at each stop. The list price for the tour is 890 KR, which is about £105 so we did well. The Faroes have their own currency and bank notes, the króna which has the same value as the Danish krone.

Lucy's first impressions

Lucy loves the sheep which out number the people by at least 2:1 and has spent a lot of time talking to them learning  about the history and culture of the Islands.  She also likes the fact that the Vikings from Norway were the first people to inhabit them, although it is possible that Irish monks arrived before them. She has also enjoyed the museums, the ferries and like me loves sitting watching the sea. 

The first thing that struck me was that it is very clean and fresh. The  green grass almost hurts your eyes, the skies are fabulous and are constantly changing along with the weather. You can sit for an hour and the clouds and sea change, sometimes two or three times. 

The Islands are in the Gulf Stream so have a maritime climate and at no point are you more than 3 miles from the sea. It can be very wet and windy and gales can rage for days in the winter cutting off the more remote districts. The average winter temperature is about 3 degrees and between 10 and 12 in the Summer. It is very hilly, wild and desolate, there are no trees and no indigenous animals, but up to 300 different species of birds either live on or visit the islands. The  roads wind steeply up from the sea often with several hair pin bends and then drop abruptly down to the next fjord and at no time are you more than 3 miles from the sea.

The Islands 

The archipelago with a population that has just topped 50,000 this year is composed of 18 islands formed from layers of basalt laid down by volcanoes and cut by glaciers, Since they gained Home Rule in 1948 they have been a  self-governed region of the kingdom of Denmark although they are not in the EU. There are 33 MPs in the Faroese Parliament and the everyday language spoken by the islanders, and the language of education and government is Faroese, which is closely related to the ancient Norse language of theVikings and wasn't a written language until 1823. Islanders also speak Danish and most of them speak English. The majority of tourists here are from other Nordic and Scandinavian countries and the common language for communication is English. Interestingly they say that they find people from England harder to understand than the English spoken by Northern Europeans. 

They have rebuilt their economy after the crash in the 1990s when a lot of businesses folded and they were bailed out by Denmark. They pay no direct taxes to Denmark and receive 14% of their GDP in subsidies. Education, health care and care for the elderly are free. People from Nordic countries are covered by their respective public health plans while visiting the islands, and surprisingly UK citizens are covered by the NHS.

Tórshavn and the Tinganes

Torshavn, on the Island of Streymoy, has a population of about 20,000 and is the smallest capital city in Europe. Its brightly coloured buildings sit alongside the traditional black tarred houses with grass roofs and rises up the hillside from the harbour. Grassed roof  dwellings are found throughout the islands, both on old village dwellings  and on large modern buildings in towns. 

 

The Tinganes, is where the red, wooden government buildings are situated on a small headland between the two harbours on  the site of the early Viking Ting. The buildings are closely packed and linked by steep narrow lanes. The photo shows Lucy sitting outside the office of the Minister for Finance. 

I have taken the above information from locally produced publications and from what I have been told by local people. A young man at the Akvarium gave me a very interesting booklet of up-to-date statistics. He is leaving soon, as most young people do, to complete his education in Denmark. He told me that many don't return and there are approximately 20,000 Faroese living in Denmark. This creates a problem for the Islands  and the government are trying to encourage more to return. I also met the leader of the Woman's Organisation and she told me how far behind they are in terms of equality compared to Denmark and other Nordic countries. They have recently reformed the law governing prosecution for rape and gay marriage was legalised in December last year. According to one book that I read the fertility rate is the highest in Europe with a birth rate of 2.9 per woman. It also has the lowest divorce and abortion rate compared to other Nordic countries.

So, I have spend my first ten days getting to know the country and meeting some of the people. I have also sat in cafes, walked along the coast, hiked over land, visited several islands, and been to museums, the art gallery, and found out about the culture of the Islands. I could write a lot more but don't want to bore people so have just givenn snippets of information. When she visited the history museum  Lucy was horrified to read that the last three of the early breed of Faroese sheep introduced by the Vikings were shot on the island of Litla Dímun and stuffed. They are in the museum and Lucy made sure that she didn't visit that island.

It is hard to believe that I am halfway through my stay and there is still such a lot that I want to see and do while I am in this fabulous, very different, remote country. I am leaving for Iceland on the 19th and will post the second half of Lucy's, Faroese adventures after I arrive there on the 20th. As before I will not be in email contact with people while I am on the ferry.