Fly Me to the Faroe Islands: the land of wonder and trust
I’ve just come back from a long summer journey. 1,5 months, 10 countries, even more cities, a decent amount of flights and bus travels, and plenty of emotions. I’ve seen beautiful forests in Lithuania, art nouveau buildings in Riga, Stockholm daily life, had a cold weekend in Copenhagen, visited huge Hamburg and smaller Bremen, extremely hot Amsterdam, romantic rainy Paris and villages nearby, suddenly went to Nice&Monaco, and completed the route in brutal Italian port city Genova. All these places brought me joy, surprise, inspiration. But besides them, there was one more extraordinary place—
Faroe Islands
“How did you come up with this destination?” is a common question I’ve heard from people I’ve met during the trip as well as from my friends. And I barely can name the specific date and hour this idea came up to me.
It all has started last year when I visited the Azores Islands. I realized how wonderful it is to observe nature in its pure state—unspoiled, unexplored, unbelievable, as actually, the Faroe Islands slogan says. When there is no crowd of tourists as it is next to Trevi fountain any day of the year. When there are hiking trails that lead you to a foggy mountain hills. When after a long walk you go to the beach to tan and swim.
Oops, the last one doesn’t work on Faroe.
And surely, Instagram did his job as well. Many fancy explorer-wanderlust photographers have already discovered this land and posted photos from there. Looking at them I thought “Jezz, they might have been waiting for years to take that shot!”. But the truth is, everyone is a genius photographer on Faroe as all the work is made by nature—surreal views, perfect light and sheep is added as the main hero.
Ready, Steady, Go
Smart travelers book such trips one year in advance. In the most extra cases—half a year. Flights, accommodations, checking routes and connections.
Me? 1,5 months before my flight landed to Vagar airport.
That’s impractical and crazy, for sure. But everything went the best possible way.
“The next bus is coming in 2 hours. Try hitchhiking instead.”
Smart travelers…ok, wait, I’m also a smart traveler but I just don’t have experience in driving and thus, I very much relied on the bus schedule.
Could you expect to hear the same words pushing you to try hitchhiking from the info center employee, let’s say in London? I don’t think so. He, in his turn, also convinced me it’s safe. And so I did. Not even once during the whole trip.
This way I’ve met Polish guys heading to the music G! Festival “Can you image, there will be 5000 people?” they smiled mentioning what they’ve heard from proud locals. Old Swedish couple from Gothenburg saving me from hiking next to Gasadalur—scenic hike for sure but very steep the naked eye can see. The photographer from California, the one, well you know, with a huge camera lens. Didn’t ask for his Insta profile, can’t promote ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Also the number of local people speaking perfect English, honestly and proudly telling how much they love their land. Yes, the extremely strong wind can occur and you’re not recommended to go outside then. Yes, the Faroe Islands is the part of the Kingdom of Denmark but in no case do not call Faroese people Danish. Otherwise, your hitchhiking experience would finish quite unexpectedly.
Overcoming new challenges
My first days on Faroe I was lucky to stay at the host who likes to meet new people and share the stories about Faroese, their culture and traditions. Besides, a hiker himself Øssur revealed the map and emphasized the most interesting, picturesque points and roads to see.
One of the most unique experiences was a route Hvalvik-Saksun-Tjørnuvik.
The first part I simply walked by the plain road for around 2 hours. Easy, relaxing activity. No one around except sheep, of course, only the favorite songs playing from my headphones and spectacular views all around.
I came to a lovely Saksun village, had a stop at a tiny and cozy cafe, met guys from Texas, asked the local girl once again about the hiking path and then, started the next part of the route.
And here it was, that special experience that happens once in a blue moon. I’m not a top-notch hiker and nearly any hiking path for me is a great, memorable moment but this one was absolutely unique.
Going long way up, discovering a new area, stepping on the rocks not to get into the mud, actually get into the mud, and once again. Surprisingly, there was no one following me, only people going in the opposite direction from time to time.
Climbing higher and higher I saw the same view from a different perspective. Sometimes there were loose rocks and I thought shouldn’t I come back while it wasn’t that far? After all, I’m a newbie in hiking, at the same time being only on my own. Maybe it’s not a good idea to follow the unknown path? Should I mention the strong gusts of wind meet you face to face?
But I continued my way.
“I, I follow, I follow you”—the Fog
Here I was, more or less in the middle of the route, no one around and I saw how the fog was covering quickly all the area. By the way, how about the connection on my mobile, just in case? Nope, no connection at all.
Luckily, I could still see the next cairn to follow and realized, it’s not the best idea to stop and wonder here for a while, so I continued my way.
There were new hills and new horizons, new waterfalls, stones, and… sheep. At least, I thought, one day someone should come to grab sheep from here, right? I mean, in the worst case. And then, they’ll find me. And I still have some cookies. No reason to worry then. No, not at all.
When I finally saw Tjørnuvik from the top I was quite happy. But there was still a long road going down.
Closing the fence door and seeing the map of this hiking route I finally completed it. New level unclocked, yay! I went to the beach, wet my waterproof boots completely and then came to the cafe.
How can I get from here if there are no bus connections and no cars on the road? Who knows and for a while I didn’t care about it.
To be continued.
