Have you ever heard of the Faeroe Islands?
It's a small group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean located between Scotland, Norway and Iceland. It's an independent country but also part of the Kingdom of Denmark. There live about 50.000 people and twice as much sheep. The old Norwegian word fær means sheep, so the islands are often referred to as the sheep islands. I'm not sure if this is the correct origin of the name, or that it also might be the other way around. The Faeroe Island have a long history going back to Viking ages.
The landscape of the Faeroe is rough. Like mountaintops topping out of the ocean. Each top a different island, connected with bridges and long sea tunnels. The landscape of the Faeroe is unique, and popular among landscape photographers and hikers. It's an place of unspoiled pure nature with harsh weather conditions and in the same time fairy-tale like beauty.
The small airport is located on one of the bigger islands, called Vagar. This island offers some breathtaking scenery's, like a "floating lake", huge and steep rock walls dropping hundreds of meters down towards the ocean, waterfalls and epic sea stacks.
As the weather on the Faeroe Islands is always changing you never know what a day will bring. I started the day with a 10 mile hike towards a viewpoint that overlooks the so called floating lake. From the high sea walls looking back to the lake, the lake seems to float above the ocean. I was lucky there was not much wind at the time because there are no protective fences or what so ever. You can walk up towards the edge of a 400m drop straight into the ocean and easily be blown off by strong winds. The sight was amazing and I stayed in the area around the lake for a few more hours before I went back.
Going west on Vagar island the road splits to the south-western and north-western part of the island, divided a big fjord. The south-western part is famous for it's huge sea stacks and arch, called Drangarnir. It's one of the longer hikes on the Faeroe and I decided to skip it since I was recovering from a knee injury and didn't want to push my luck to far. Although I really felt sad not going there, I knew I had to be careful not to injure my knee again for the rest of the week to come.
Dragarnir seen from the northern road.
I went to catch the sunset at the north-western part of Vagar at a fairy-tale like place called Gasadalur. I was lucky with the weather conditions, since most of the time the Faeroe Islands are overcast with clouds and thick fog. Gasadalur is a small village situated between mountains on a plateau with green grasslands. A small river flows from the mountains towards the edge of the plateau from which it drops straight into the ocean. I was lucky to catch a colorful sunset at this mesmerizing viewpoint.
My first day on the Faeroe had ended and I went back to my apartment studying the map and planning the next day to explore another island of the Faeroe. Stay tuned for my next update.
Cheers,
Thijs
