Safe Return Doubtful

I’ve spent the weekend wandering around Tórshavn, parked up at the marina to its south side, and of course, watching a bit of rugby. I find a city with a population of just 14,000 a bit easier to navigate and enjoy. It is a five minute walk to the old part of the city,  known as Reyn, and recognisable because of its black-tarred wooden houses with white-framed windows and grass roofs. Many of the houses date back to the fourteenth century.

At the head of the small peninsula of Reyn is Tinganes, the Faroese parliament. Tinganes is one of the oldest parliamentary meeting places worldwide, along with Tynwald Hill in the Isle of Man and Þingvellir in Iceland. In around the year 900, it was here that the Viking parliament first began meeting every summer to discuss matters of importance.

Walking around here on Friday morning I came across a school group of about 20 sixth graders with their teacher. I chatted with the teacher while the kids had some free time, and he co-opted me to join them for half an hour while he gave some history of Tinganes to his group, and asked me to talk to them about sport and the UK. Perhaps not surprisingly, it was the latter that attracted the most interest, and I was flooded with questions on rugby and cricket, which I chose to introduce them to. We just needed a few balls and a bit of grass.. 

The marina has been very quiet, with just the odd owner coming along to do small off-season jobs to their boats.

The weather has settled down, it’s the same high pressure that’s over Western Europe at present, giving still days here, with mist coming and going, allowing for some sun to break through. It’s good not to have wind though, even if it’s just a few days.

On Saturday after a short chat with two owners docked next to each other, they offered to give me a tour of their boats. It was late afternoon, and in a break between Prem games when I had taken the chance for a short walk. It was the birthday of one of the guys, 64, the same age as me, and it wasn’t long before beers were brought out of the fridge. The two couples are planning a voyage over to the Norwegian coast in May, and over the winter will plan and equip the boats as necessary. One of the couples has owned their boat for a few years, but the other is almost new. 

64 seems a very popular age to be. On Sunday morning I went for a swim at the nearby pool and took a sauna afterwards. I met a Norwegian guy of that age who captains a 294 metre long cargo ship that regularly ploughs the waters between the Tromso, Trondheim, Bergen, then here in Tórshavn, and westwards to Iceland. He has been at sea all his life, since the age of 14. Now he lives here, and has a 6 weeks on / 6 weeks off schedule of working that suits him perfectly. Having brought up a family in Bergen, after his children grew up, his wife left him, and he moved here to live. We got on well, and took coffee in the cafe after the sauna. It could be I run into him again on the Norwegian coast, which I will certainly be back to in the next few years. 

It was a weekend for the underdogs in some of the sporting contests I was following. The national football stadium is about a kilometre from where I am. Last week the national team beat Montenegro four to nil in their World Cup Qualifier, and yesterday they beat Czech Republic two one. Prior to this group of qualifiers they had never won more than two games in a qualifying competition. This time they have won four so far. If they qualified they would be, by far, the smallest country to ever qualify (with just over 55,000 people). But to do so, they are likely to have to beat the top team in the group, Croatia, away from home next month. 

In the rugby World Cup qualifiers, minnows Paraguay easily beat Brazil, a shock result indeed. I’ve coached a couple of teams in tour in Paraguay, and really enjoyed it. It’s a two leg affair, so they need to keep a hold of their 20 point lead this coming weekend in Brazil. That would mean they would qualify for the repechage group, the games for which are played in Dubai next month, along with Belgium, Samoa, and Namibia, with the winner taking the final place for Australia 2027. 

The Norröna ferry is back on schedule. Last week it was delayed by a day due to the storms. It calls in here tomorrow morning and I continue my journey to Seyðisfjörður. It should arrive there early on Wednesday morning.