TRIP 4: THE

The Faroe Islands (the Faroes, for short) are much smaller than Iceland so you don’t have to tour around them. It’s perfectly possible to base yourself in one or two places and travel around by bus or car or bike from there. I stayed my whole ten days in Torshavn, the capital, and got around fine by bus to every corner of the islands. It just requires a bit of planning and deciphering of the complicated Faroese bus and ferry timetables. There are a few tourist ‘must-do’s’, mainly involving birds and boats, that I won’t be describing here. Instead, I shall be concentrating on the best trails to the best spots that I could find.

40: Fjallid, Gjogv,

If you visit Gjogv, you’ll probably end up at Gjaargardur Guesthouse, the only restaurant in town. From here, you can take their back exit to a road that runs along the west side of the valley. Turn left and look for the second gap in the fence on your right after about 80m – it’s between two fences about 20m apart. You go up between these two fences to the skyline and then veer left towards the pass ahead of you, which you reach after about an hour.

Photo 1432: map of area around Gjogv (copyright: Sansir 2013, www.sansir.fo)

Turn right here and head for the top of the mountain, Fjallid. The best way is not along the ridge, unless you love difficult scrambling, but round to the right of it until you find an easy way up to the cairn at the summit. You may think that the view will improve if you stroll along the lovely ridge towards the sea but it doesn’t:

North – along the ridge to the open sea East – Gjogv far below, nestling in its hollow with beautifully-shaped slopes to either side of it, some convex, some concave; over the bay of Djupini rise the huge hulks of and , two islands that consist of a ridge of mountains culminating in a sheer promontory jutting out into the Norwegian Sea, looking for all the world like dragons setting out to sea; at the tip of Kalsoy stands the Kallur lighthouse (see spot 51) South – the valley behind Gjogv carrying the road you must have come down South-west – across the pass is Novin, Fjallid’s sister peak, and in the distance the massive peaks of Grafelli and Slaettaratindur, the Faroes’ highest mountain West – on the other side of the ridge is Ambadalur, a remote, green valley with one hut in the middle and a stream bisecting it; it sweeps down from the fearsome crags below Sandfelli mountain towards some cliffs over which the stream appears to tumble

You are in the middle of all this, perched on a comfy seat next to the cairn, perhaps enjoying your lunch. Rather than go back the way you came, you can descend the slope immediately below the cairn into Ambadalur, choosing how far you wish to descend into the valley. I contoured round to the right along sheep tracks about halfway down. Then comes a problem. As you turn the corner above the sea, the cliffs become steeper and the cliff path more precarious. I was there after some rain and the path above an almost sheer drop had clearly been trodden recently by sheep but not by humans. My guts told me not to attempt it so I back-tracked and climbed over the ridge behind the precipice, which only took an extra ten minutes. The descent requires an awkward traverse but that’s better than being dead at the bottom of a cliff. After twenty minutes my knees stopped jarring and I rejoined the cliff path. You come to a stile above Gjogv and then there’s another descending traverse but in the opposite direction to tax a different set of muscles. After passing through a gate, you find yourself in a lovely, flowering meadow, specialising in scabious, dandelions, angelica, a white heathery plant and a variety of long grasses. The whole walk took me 4 hours and fitted nicely between bus arrival and departure.

Photo 1558: Gjogv village with Kalsoy in the background (copyright: Henrik Solberg, www.solberg.fo) 41: Kirkjuvatn, Famjin, Suduroy

There’s no trouble reaching the start of this trail for there’s a road from Oravik over the pass to Famjin. There’s also a path that takes a more direct route but covers the same ground. I took the bus – the views from the top of the pass down into the Famjin area are spectacular and as you descend, the views of the bay and the village become clearer.

Photo 1448: map of Famjin area (copyright: Sansir 2013, www.sansir.fo)

From the waterfall behind the church, you can choose one of two rudimentary paths up the hillside. It’s a ten-minute climb to the top where you are greeted by a lake and the full force of the prevailing westerly wind. Find your spot along the embankment – mine was a green tuft on a hummock from where I could see almost all of the lake:

North-east – the lake sits in a glorious amphitheatre of precipitous rock faces with mountain-tops looming behind; a couple of waterfalls trickle into the lake South-east – another waterfall splashes out of the lake, behind which the southern part of Famjin village spreads out on the hillside with yet another waterfall on the hillside beyond it; the road you have come down winds its way up the valley towards the pass West – Famjin Bay opens out to the North Atlantic between two steep mountains

For some reason I couldn’t work out, the locals have constructed some stone banks jutting into the lake just before the outlet. There are also a couple of pipes further along which presumably supply fresh water to the village and what looks like a fish factory. If you haven’t gone up that way, it’s a good idea to come down by the stream, which is steep but easy, providing lots of tumbling cascades to delight your eye. This short walk and the view at the lake offer an ‘essence of the Faroes’ in one easy package, including as they do the essential ingredients: steep mountains, lake, crags, waterfalls, bay, village, church, fish factory, ocean. 42: Tjornuvik,

This is a whole day excursion that took me just over 7 hours. I was alerted to it by the Faroe Islands Tourist Guide – it’s not mentioned in the only other guide, the Bradt guide- book (6). That’s a pity for this trail is simply epic. The village of Tjornuvik, like Gjogv and Famjin, is the end of the line, or rather road, but can be reached by bus. It’s hunkered down in a steeply-sided ‘botnur’, a circular glacial valley formed during the Ice Age (thank you, Bradt, for that information). In front of the village, a bay opens out to the sea in the north-east. By the way, there’s no longer a seasonal café here, as indicated in Bradt and on the Tourist Guide map, just a tiny waiting room by the bus stop.

Photo 1435: map of Tjornuvik area (copyright: Sansir 2013, www.sansir.fo)

The path starts about 200m along the road to the west of the village and heads up a rocky slope. You pass a wooden step that helps you up an awkward rock and reach a green sward from where there’s an excellent view of Tjornuvik and also of two sea stacks off the northern tip of Eidiskollur peninsula on the other side of the entrance to Sundini fjord. These stacks feature in lots of photos and have some legend attached to them, but, to my mind, are over-rated. Hold your horses, though, because this view improves as you ascend the path. My best view is from a grassy knoll just before the path meets the main stream coming off the hillside:

North-east – Eidiskollur, the two sea stacks and the north-western coast of Eysturoy East – the village of Eidi on the opposite shore of Sundini fjord; behind Eidi, rises a range of shapely mountains, two pointed ones with graceful ridges ending in a sheer drop to the sea – these are the mountains seen from the other side from Fjallid (spot 40), i.e. Grafelli and Slaettaratindur South-east and South – the cliff road descending into Tjornuvik; most of the village can still be seen West – a beautiful valley you are about to ascend up to the ridge between Tjornuvik and the next bay, Sjeyndir Soon you come to a memorial stone to milkmaids who used to climb up here morning and evening to milk the cows at their summer pasture, which makes a welcome change from the usual memorials to men who died in battle or men who died at sea. About 400m further on, you can choose whether to turn right over the shoulder of a ridge or continue up the valley past a cairn that isn’t too obvious from below. The right turn takes you round the coast on a cliff path into a semi-circular cove that you can traverse just below the almost vertical crags above you. The path degenerates into a sheep path but is quite manageable.

43: Tjornuviksstakkur, Streymoy

As you exit this cove, there’s a jumble of rocks across the path, above the sea-stack of Tjornuviksstakkur. From here you get your first glimpse of an incredibly steep pinnacle ridge across the next bay that almost knocks you off your feet. This is Mylingur, which you will see closer up later on:

North – the Norwegian Sea, with nothing between you and the Arctic East – Eidiskollur, the two sea-stacks and the mountains behind can still be seen and you can contemplate the path you have just traversed, which looks almost impossible from this angle, much more dangerous than it actually was South – the ridge between Tjornuvik and Sjeyndir; I tried to find a better view from higher up but no such luck West – the distant view of Mylingur, which will be described in more detail under spot 44

This spot would be wonderful in the early morning with the sun shining from the north-east, particularly into the cove and onto the cliff-face that terminates the Mylingur ridge but you’d have to camp somewhere above Tjornuvik in order to be here early enough.

Photo 1559: Mylingur (left) and Eidiskollur (right) seen from Slaettaratindur (copyright: Henrik Solberg, www.solberg.fo) 44: Sjeyndir Bay, Streymoy

The bay between you and Mylingur is Sjeyndir, a deep slice into the coast. As you contour round into it, you are confronted with a scene of utter majesty and remoteness:

West – Mylingur rises from the far side of the bay like a thin wedge of cheese from sea level to 564m, covered in green right to the top, where a jagged razor’s edge stretches along a ridge for maybe 2k; two of its pinnacles end in what look like faces turned upwards to the sky in awe and admiration (a bit of projection there, perhaps); the ridge ends in a sheer triangular cliff that falls vertically to a couple of sea-stacks and the churning sea-spray below; Sjeyndir Bay is far beneath you, roiling with waves and surf that have carved out numerous caves South-west – further inland, Mylingur sweeps down into a hanging valley, out of which a waterfall tumbles into the bay; this is twinned with another hanging valley towards the south, also with its waterfall emptying into the bay; and beyond all this, more and higher mountains encircle the stunning vista South – the ridge you have just walked round stretches away to the head of the second hanging valley East – steep mountainside North – the Norwegian Sea

This is without doubt my no.1 view in the whole of the Faroes and is why I recommend you do this trail in this direction: the view would not be so surprising and spectacular walking clockwise from Tjornuvik. Another reason it knocked me off my feet was the ferocious wind that whipped down the valley and made it hard to stand up, let alone proceed along the path. Fortunately, there had been no such wind on the previous cliff path, which would have made it dangerous. The wind was roaring so strongly in the crags above that I kept looking up to see where the waterfall was. I spied one solitary hut at the back of the bay and a single patrolling skua – no other signs of life were present until I came across a flock of bleating sheep as I struggled further along the path. The only drawback to this extraordinary bay is getting out of it: the ridge to your left is pretty steep but the sooner you ascend it, the shorter the trail back to Tjornuvik and the less height you will have to gain. However, I felt pretty tired and preferred to continue along the valley until the ridge was less steep. When you reach the top, you are at a height well above the botnur around Tjornuvik and extensive views over the whole of Northern Streymoy and Eysturoy can be enjoyed. In the distance, you can even see the eastern coast of Eysturoy around Gotuvik and beyond that, the open sea. The huge ridge of mountains running southwards from Slaettaratindur is particularly clear, with Svartbakstindur especially beautiful. Further to the east, the fingers of Kalsoy and Kunoy fill the horizon, while, far down below, Eidi with its lake, its peninsula and its two sea stacks has reappeared. The path down brings you out at the previously mentioned cairn just above the milkmaids’ memorial. All the way, you can enjoy this wonderful view, a further reason for doing the trail in this direction. Strangely, there are no postcards of Mylingur, even though it’s one of the most photogenic sights in the Faroes.

45: Vidareidi, Vidoy

Sandwiched between the Sjeyndir and Saksun hikes, this walk may seem rather tame but the surroundings are so unusual and breathtaking that it has to be included. Vidareidi is a village situated on an isthmus at the northern end of the northernmost island of the Faroes, Vidoy. As such, it affords unique views towards the northern capes of the other northern islands. These views could perhaps be enhanced by climbing the massive Villingadalsfjall mountain that rears up to the north of Vidareidi and fills up the whole peninsula. I did not feel up to it after my exertions on the Sjeyndir hike and knowing I was going to tackle Saksun the next day. The climb looks like a tough one, involving a steep 800m ascent from the village, up the western spur and along a lofty ridge to the peak, where, says Bradt, “You’ll have a bird’s eye view on a clear day of all the northern islands”. You can also follow another ridge to the vertical sea cliffs of Enniberg at the northern tip of Vidoy, which Bradt describes as “a totally exhilarating experience”. However, I have my doubts about these mountain- and cliff-top ‘experiences’. This may to some extent be a rationalisation of the fact that I find such climbs increasingly difficult and tedious, but I now lean towards viewpoints that are not so lofty. Mountain-tops mean that everything is below you and appears dwarfed in scale and consequently the views are too remote and usually lack an engaging foreground to contrast with the rest of the view. Be that as it may, I found a spot just to the west of Vidareidi that provides a sumptuous view of the whole area.

Photo 1302: map of North-east Faroe Islands - Vidareidi top centre (copyright: Sansir 2013, www.sansir.fo) Starting from the bus stop in the centre of the village, you head west along the road and then take the right fork so that you are climbing north-west towards the western spur of Villingadalsfjall. You keep taking right forks until you reach the end of the road by a cylindrical tank. Continue up the track by the stream until you are outside the walls and then veer left towards another wall that climbs the hillside towards the spur. On reaching this wall, find your spot:

West – the village of Muli at the end of Bordoy island just over fjord; behind that is the precipitous tip of Kunoy and beyond that Kallur, the lighthouse at the far tip of Kalsoy, which features later on as spot 51 North – the aforementioned spur and a huge amphitheatre of rocky crags formed by the two ridges of Villingadalsfjall East – on the far side of the amphitheatre rises the sharp and apparently unclimbable eastern ridge, beyond which can be seen the north-easternmost island of with its sheer cliffs and also part of Svinoy island to its south; in the foreground, the whole of Vidareidi village is spread out below you like a long blanket covering the isthmus; this is what makes the spot special – the intimacy of the village lying serenely in this astounding setting of huge mountains and picturesque fjords on either side (I doubt if the view would appear so attractive from 841m at the top of Villingadalsfjall. Excuses, excuses….) South – the bulk of Malinsfjall acts as a backdrop to Vidareidi village with Hvannasund fjord between it and the mountains of Bordoy

This turned out to be the best view I could find of Vidareidi for I tried without success to improve the view by taking a semi-circular route around the lower edge of the plateau that forms the base of the amphitheatre. It was a lovely walk over tufty, heathery terrain with a pretty resting-place by the stream, once you have negotiated a barbed-wire fence. The only problem was a determined onslaught by seagulls who were presumably defending their nests – one scored a direct hit with its very own liquid bomb (I thought seagulls nested on cliffs?). You can return to Vidareidi at any point by cutting down the slope.

46: Vikarskard Pass, Streymoy

Saksun is the village everyone wants to visit – it looks so pretty on the postcards, nestling between dramatic mountain slopes at the head of a lagoon that empties into the ocean through a narrow defile. There’s a road to it up a long 8k valley but no bus. Short of hitching or using a vehicle, there’s no way to reach it apart from hiking. You can set out on paths from Langasandur, Haldorsvik or Tjornuvik: I chose to go from Haldorsvik and return to Tjornuvik but any other combination would work. Probably the quickest route would be to walk up the flattish valley from Hvalvik but that would be kind of boring. The Bradt guide-book suggests the trail should take 2hrs from Tjornuvik and from Haldorsvik. It took me 3 ½ and 4 ½ hrs respectively (including breaks), so decide whether you are a route marcher or a stroller before you set off and plan accordingly. From Haldorsvik, you meander through the fields behind the village and climb out of the valley via some steps up the left-hand crag. At the top you meet your first cairn, a magnificent tower construction, the first of many. It’s built like the best dry-stone walling from northern England and reminded me of the cairn on Thornthwaite Crag in the Lake District and is about 3m high. Now that’s what I call a cairn! I’m a big fan of cairns – not only do they show the way, they can also be elegant and I always find them encouraging on a long walk. This was particularly true for me on this walk for the best route was not at all obvious and the climb was clearly a long one up a gradual slope. In fact, I started counting the cairns and noting their shapes, their locations and their peculiarities……

Photo 1764: map of area around Saksun (copyright: Sansir 2013, www.sansir.fo)

At the 3rd cairn, the village of Eidi comes into view. At the 4th, a pyramidal mountain, Vikartindur, appears ahead. The 5th cairn I christened the “Michelin Man”. The 6th stands by a pretty little waterfall and commands a complete view of Eidi. By the 9th cairn, the terrain becomes more stony, while the 11th is “The Leaning Tower of Pisa”, after which there is a steep rise. At the 13th, you can appreciate the view south from Slaettaratindur along the spine of Eysturoy – I particularly liked the graceful conical shape of Svartbakstindur that reminded me of Sgurr na Ciche in the west of Scotland. By now, the pyramid of Vikartindur is in full view and I started to wonder which side of it I would have to pass. The 16th cairn is an “Armchair”, complete with footrest (I take credit for most of this as I spent 15 minutes improving it and another 5 minutes testing it out). Between the 17th and the 20th was Arctic Skua territory, five of them dive-bombing me – take a walking pole to wave above your head as protection. The 20th cairn is “The Dolmen”, two large flat stones on top of two uprights but the effect was spoiled by a stone jammed in the gap between all four of them. The 23rd is “The Venus of Willendorf” – or, for those of you not familiar with archaeology, “The Spare Tyre”. At the 27th, it’s not clear which way the path goes as no cairn or path is immediately visible. I guessed that it would go to the left of Vikartindur and this was soon confirmed by the 28th cairn, another “Michelin Man” – or rather “Michelin Boy” since it’s much smaller than the previous one. Now you are on a delightful traverse below the steep slope of Vikartindur, springy turf between boulders fallen from the mountainside above. Finally, a path emerges but there are no more cairns because you are approaching the top of the pass between Vikartindur and Givrufelli to the south-east. This is Vikarskard. A very comfy boulder awaits you to the right of the pass, from which you can admire the magnificent view in every direction:

East – the knobbly terrain you have just climbed, with the by-now-familiar shapes of Kunoy, Kalsoy and the Slaettaratindur range in the distance South-east – the best possible sight-line down the length of Sundini, the fjord between Streymoy and Eysturoy, all the way to its southern mouth between Toftir and Torshavn, maybe 50k away; running parallel to Sundini are the mountains of Streymoy and Eysturoy South – the rounded shape of Givrufelli and the ridge leading up to it from the pass, which leads your eye over the watershed to…. South-west – the awe-inspiring view down into the deep inverted pyramid in which Saksun lies hidden; from here, there appears to be no way in or out, since you can’t see the way in via the Saksunardalur valley nor the estuary leading to the sea; what strikes you is the steepness of the surrounding mountainsides, except for the one below you, which fortunately slopes more gently until just above Saksun; on the other side of Saksun is a hanging valley containing a jewel of a lake which spills its inevitable waterfall into the valley below; as if all this is not enough, there is a spectacular view over the Saksun valley to the northern shore of Vagar ending in the cape of Bardid, and further still to the walnut shape of Mykines, another 50k distant West – Skipadalur valley below you forms an amphitheatre surrounded by crags and mountains, the most conspicuous of which is Melin around which you will have to walk on the way to Tjornuvik North – ridges leading up to Vikartindur on whose slope you are seated

This whole panorama is, as they say, too much. These must be two of the most extensive views in the whole of the Faroes and the view over Saksun must be one of the most intriguing.

47: Saksun, Streymoy

From Vikarskard, your first task is to find your way down an initially steep slope past some mysterious metal wires placed on the hillside, whose function I could not fathom. Then you reach the 29th cairn and can see a line of them ahead. Here, you re-enter the kingdom of the skuas, two of which again decided to try to skewer me. The 32nd cairn was a “Henry Moore” and the 33rd and 34th were a return to the tower construction. Then the cairn-builders seem to have become lazy for the standard definitely fell off, often comprising a few rocks on top of a boulder. The 39th is important as it indicates the way down over the precipice that protects the northern side of Saksun and provides your first view of the village itself. The 40th affords your first view of the estuary. Soon you find yourself on a shelf immediately above Saksun village, confronted by a steep descent. The only way down appears to be on the right side of the precipice where the ground is slippery but not quite so vertical. Anywhere along this shelf provides wonderful views but I chose a perch just above the route down:

South-east – down Saksunardalur valley, the way into Saksun from the main road South – Saksun village, consisting of a few farms and a church, backed by an almost vertical mountain-side and the waterfall first seen from Vikarskard South-west – the lagoon and estuary at the western end of the village; this is the view that features on all the postcards and with good reason - the circular lagoon issues a slender wiggle of a stream that rounds a bend between precipitous cliffs on its way to the sea; the effect reminded me of the same graceful curves made by the river at Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower Peninsula (see spot 54); apparently the lagoon is tidal so the graceful curves won’t always be there (Photo1560) West – you can just make out the entrance to another hanging valley which has to be the route over to Tjornuvik North – the almost vertical bulk of Melin on which you may well be precariously perched North-east – Skipadalur valley, now hidden by the steep slope you have just descended

Having drunk in the views, you have to concentrate on the steep slope to the right of the precipice. In my case, it was literally “squeaky-bum time” as the slope was too steep and slippery for me to feel safe upright. I chose not to go down to Saksun since I didn’t know how long the return to Tjornuvik would take and I had a bus to catch. At the bottom of the slope, you join the cairned path from Saksun and start to climb towards the hanging valley that leads to Tjornuvik.

Photo 1560: part of Saksun village and the lagoon (copyright: Henrik Solberg, www.solberg.fo)

48: Tjornuviksskard Pass, Streymoy

The path rises above the lagoon and the estuary until it reaches the plateau that lies at the start of the Frammi-i-Dal valley. It then climbs relentlessly up its eastern side, passing 17 more cairns before it attains the pass of Tjornuviksskard at the watershed between Saksun and Tjornuvik. As you ascend, the views of Bardid and Mykines, already seen from Vikarskard pass, improve until finally Mykines disappears behind a mountain. From the pass, yet another spectacular view presents itself:

South-west – the whole of the Frammi-i-Dal valley leading down to Saksun with its river wriggling through its centre; overtopping the Saksun scene are Bardid and the north coast of Vagar – this view seemed to resolve itself into two circles: the upper one formed by the coast of Vagar, two mountainsides and the coast beyond Saksun surrounding the open sea; the lower one formed by the same coast beyond Saksun and the sides of the Frammi-i-Dal valley West – the mountains that form the west rim of the Frammi-i-Dal valley North – the ridge leading down to Tjornuviksstakkur (see spot 43) North-east – the long valley descending towards Tjornuvik, with our old friends, Eidiskollur and Slaettaratindur, seen from a slightly different angle South-east – the mountains forming the east rim of Frammi-i-Dal ending in Melin

From the pass, there are no more cairns, just a gentle descent through a long, green valley, with paths appearing and disappearing from time to time. You again enter a skua fiefdom – at least ten of them patrolled my progress and they were right to do so for I saw a frightened chick scurrying away from my feet. You can choose how many times you cross the stream until you come to the edge of the botnur above Tjornuvik. There’s a cairn here which presumably indicates the way down but I didn’t like the look of it so went round to the right where I thought the descent might be easier. Not a bit of it – I again had to resort to some horizontal sliding and manoeuvring. It took me over an hour to pick my way down this awkward slope. On re-examining the slope from lower down, I would have done better to descend by the cairn as that route seemed to be less steep after the initial steep pitch that put me off. Anyway, I caught my bus but whoever claims to do the trails to and from Saksun in 2hrs must be super-fit and certainly never stops to admire the scenery.

49: Soltuvik,

Sandoy has the reputation of being the flattest of the Faroe Islands and while its mountains are not as high as those on the other islands, it’s definitely not flat. I found this out by walking round the west coast from to Sandur. The Bradt guide-book talks of a hiking path but there is no such path. You have to find your own way over the fells and fences but there’s nothing difficult en route. You start off up the road leading west out of Skopun and keep turning left up a farming valley until you reach a track by a fence that heads off towards what looks like a pass between two hills. The track turns into a path after about 60m. When you reach the ‘pass’, it turns out to be the west coast and you can see along the coast to the south. Two monstrous pinnacles jut out beneath the enormous cliffs. Clearly there’s no path there and you will have to go up and over the fells. After a while, there’s a farm track to follow but then the ground becomes rougher and you have to choose your own route. A couple of hours later, the island of Skuvoy comes into view and you have to cross a wide valley that leads down to the sea on your right. At the top of the ridge on the far side of this valley, the bay of Soltuvik appears. If you climb the knoll to your right, you get a comprehensive and varied view of the surrounding area:

South – after the relative bleakness of the ground you have just covered, Soltuvik is a delight; a solitary house stands amidst a curving sward of green behind a classic, surfy bay; beyond lie mini-versions of the typical Faroese green upwards slope, ending in vertical cliffs; out to sea, rise Skuvoy, and the northern capes of Suderoy South-east – the cliffs at the southern tip of Sandoy across a wide bay East – some average inland hills North – the terrain you have just crossed, rising up to Eiriksfjall, plus a bit of the coastline you’ve not been able to see from above North-west – if the weather is clear, you’re able to see Vagar and Mykines over 40k in the distance West – the open Atlantic

Photo 1445: map of Sandoy – Soltuvik is at the end of the road going west from Sandur (copyright: Sansir 2013, www.sansir.fo)

Soltuvik is touted by Bradt as “a remote windswept bay of jagged shores which offers some of the best coastal scenery anywhere in the Faroes”. The beauty of it for me is the relative openness to sea and sky compared to other places in the Faroes which can feel rather enclosed by the height of cliffs and mountains.

50: Grothusvatn, Sandur, Sandoy

A road leads from Soltuvik eastwards towards the main village of Sandur. It’s an undulating walk through sheep territory, until it becomes a cliff road for a while and then drops down to the southern end of Grothusvatn lake. Just before you cross the causeway that divides the placid lake from the boulder-strewn shore, there’s a bank around which the road hairpins, next to a house with a green roof, a green barn and a green fence. Find a spot here to sit and admire the view:

North – the lake with the main valley of Sandoy beyond, leading up to a nipple- shaped peak on the horizon East – the outskirts of Sandur backed by a ridge of hills; the rest of Sandur is hidden behind a beautiful spit of brownly-striped cliffs jutting out into the sea for a couple of kilometres and pointing towards….. South – Skuvoy with the smaller islands of Stora Dimun and Litla Dimun peeking over the shoulders of the island in front; in the distance, the northern capes of Suderoy hover on the horizon South-east – the hills of southern Sandoy ending in the cliffs at its tip West – the cliff road you have just walked with the cape of Salthovdi beyond

On the day I was there, everything, particularly the sea, was sparkling and gay – even the clouds seemed to be bright and breezy, enjoying themselves in the mid-day sun. Contrary to Bradt, which describes Sandur as “not an immediately appealing place”, I found it absolutely charming, both for its village-green centre, where a kids’ fair was taking place, and for its open location between the sea and two lakes with attractive views all around.

51: Kallur Lighthouse, Trollanes, Kalsoy

This was a fitting spot with which to end my trip to the Faroes, providing a distant view of some of the best locales visited in my 10 days. To get there, you first have to travel the length of Kalsoy, which involves a ferry from Klaksvik and a journey through four tunnels that slice through the mountains that make up most of the island. In between the tunnels, you glimpse the glacial valleys that make up the rest of the island and a couple of villages clinging precariously to the shore. When you emerge at Trollanes, you are in a deep bowl sloping down to the sea at your right and you may wonder where the lighthouse is – for some reason, I expected it to be at the end of a flat plain. Wrong again – it’s out of sight over a hill and round a corner. First you have to climb a steep bank, accessed through a red gate at the northern end of the village street. A gully seems the easiest way up since it provides better footholds. At the top, you can see the way ahead, which is to follow one of the paths round the slope: the higher you go, the shorter the distance but the steeper the path. As you round the corner, you see the lighthouse ahead, perched on a little hill, and you can make a bee-line for it. Once there, truly breath-taking views await you:

North – an arête leading to a small promontory and the Norwegian Sea; I wish I had had time to venture out there but again I had a bus to catch East – a sheer cliff with the usual bird action, topped by a sharp ridge, right at the end of which a lone sheep was grazing on the brink of a sheer drop; over the waters, Kunoy and Vidoy rear their vertical heads and you can just catch Vidareidi round the corner of Kunoy South-east – the undulating ground you have just crossed with the three massive peaks of Kunoy behind South – an even bigger cliff with even more birds wheeling about nonchalantly South-west – the vast bay of Djupini is revealed, backed by the serried ranks of the mountains of Eysturoy; you can make out the villages of Elduvik and Gjogv and the sea stacks off Eidiskollur; and in the far distance, I was glad to discern the unmistakeable outline of my favourite place, Mylingur (see spot 44) West and North-west – the Norwegian Sea

Photo 1311: map of north Faroe Islands (copyright: Sansir 2013, www.sansir.fo)

What you get at Kallur is the feeling of having a privileged view of the whole of the Northern Faroes unobtainable otherwise, except from a boat. I felt satisfied to be concluding my Faroes trip with this view – probably misguidedly, I felt there was nothing more worth seeing. Obviously, there are corners of the Faroes I have not visited, notably northern Vagar, northern Suderoy and many of the smaller islands, but I doubt very much if there is anything there to match what I have already described. Perhaps anticlimactically, I want to finish this Faroes section with a point that is important to walkers. At Trollanes village, there is a waiting room with toilet, shower, tables and chairs, which is a real blessing to tired, cold and maybe wet walkers. Would that every village in the world was so thoughtful and generous, particularly those at the end of recognised hiking trails.

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6. James Proctor, Faroe Islands, Bradt Travel Guides, 2nd Edn, 2008.