Safe Return Doubtful

I had a really good day in the mountains on Thursday, but since then there have been two days of wind and rain, so it’s been a case of battening down the hatches, and only getting out for a short time in the morning and early evening. 

I’m still between the islands of Viðoy and Borðoy though will move on tomorrow, Sunday morning. These are two of the six islands that make up the Northern Isles,  the others being Fugloy, Svínoy, Kunoy, and Kalsoy. The mountains here are higher, the cliffs more rugged, and the weather even more unpredictable than elsewhere.. a good starting point I thought. 

I took on a circuit from the little fishing village of Árnafjørður on a fine but windy day on Thursday.

The ascent and descent was very steep, with ladders and rails in a few places. They were slow going, as it’s so wet, and much of the rock was very loose.

Having gained the Toftaskarð plateau at about 600 metres though, every stress and slide was worthwhile. It was every bit as wild as I had hoped. I saw no one all day, and was out for just short of four hours, just over seven miles, or eleven kilometres. 

I stayed a couple of nights just above Árnafjørður village at the football pitch, with an excellent view down the fjord, and a good 4G signal for the rugby on Friday night.

The weather closed in, and after just a short time out along the ocean front this morning, I headed into Klaksvík this morning for a swim and a sauna, the latter is always a good chance to chat to a few locals and get some tips on where to head. This morning it was a very hungover guy who had played for his local social football team last night and won the championship and then partied until 5 am, and a pilot for the island’s airline, Atlantic Airways. The Faroes, the latter of the two told me, currently produces 50% of its own power, the large part of it is hydroelectric, which is little wonder on a day like today with water cascading down the mountains everywhere. In ten years it is planned that will be 100%.

Travel around the islands using the four sea tunnels is easy, but the costs are relatively high for visitors, about 40 euros for a return journey to the southern island of Sandoy. I came to the Northern Islands through the Eysturoyartunnilin, which has achieved fame as it has a roundabout in it, the ‘jellyfish’, the world’s first undersea roundabout. 

There are 19 mountain tunnels that are free of charge. 12 of these have been built in the last twenty years and are two lanes, lit, and high enough to take trucks. The old tunnel is in most cases next to them, but closed and not maintained, dark and single laned, like the other 7. The smaller of the 19 Faroe Islands are reachable only by ferry. 

It’s a wet and windy Saturday afternoon and I’m more than happy to give the rest of the day over to sport; Argentina South Africa from Twickenham, a couple of Prem rugby games, and Cardiff Munster tonight, all on my 52 inch screen. I’m parked up at Hvannasund marina where there is an electric hook-up, which is very useful as the sun has made hardly any appearance this last week, and even it did, it’s too low in the sky to give my panels any benefit. It’s still warm enough, at around 13C for the van’s heating to only be used later in the evening.