Wednesday 24 June 2015

Impressions of the Faroe Islands

Let's go for a drive in the Faroe Islands.



The roads are well-made, and quiet.



The Faroese don't fuck about - back home, what would merit a winding single track road sputtering miserably to a dead end and a long detour, has a big tunnel bored through solid rock and a twin lane road.



There's subsea tunnels connecting the main islands, but sometimes it seems they've built a tunnel just for the hell of it. This is Gasadalur, 17 houses in the arse end of nowhere.



In Scotland it would have been long abandoned. In Faroe, millions have been spent on a tunnel and a wide, smooth access road.

We'll pass dozens of picturesque villages on our drive, colourfully painted, turf roofed.

Kvivik:


Bour:


Gjogv:


Funningur:


The views speak for themselves.

And the best kept secret? Not the tunnels. The access road going to the radar station on the summit of 749m high Sornfelli.



Maximum views, minimum effort.



I particularly like this picture below. can you see the solitary house in the dale? Back home, this would make a great bothy. Here, no doubt some mad bugger in the Faroese government is planning a tunnel and an access road right now...

Vagar from Sornfelli:



3 comments:

blueskyscotland said...

Cracking set of photographs. I had no idea the islands were connected by tunnels. Some achievement.

allisimpson said...

looks like a good cycle touring venue if the weather was reliable

Robert Craig said...

Hi Allison - I don't think I would like to ride on the Faroes, and the reason isn't the weather, but the tunnels. We saw a number of local sport cyclists and I did wonder how they negotiated them! Apparently the subsea tunnels are illegal for bikes, and the other tunnels are downright scary unless you can flag down a friendly local driver to drive behind you. However you can ride from Torshavn to Westmanna on Streymoy, or Torshavn to Eidi, Gjogv, Leirvik or Toftir on Eysturoy without negotiating a tunnel.