Faroe Islands Days Two and Three: culture, sea cliffs and mountains

​Day two dawned a little grey and drab. We had a boat trip booked for the afternoon and decided to head off beforehand to Kirkjobur near Torshavn. The capital was much larger than we’d anticipated but we didn’t have time to stop on this occasion. Kirkjobour is home to a never completed medieval cathedral with massive 1.5metre wide walls, a lovely old timber church and a 900 year old turf roofed farmhouse (Roykstovan) - the oldest still inhabited wooden house in the world!

We also stopped to enjoy a viewpoint over to the tiny island of Koltur - the top half of which was covered by low cloud and in front of which were some of the ubiquitous fish farm cages:

Our boat trip was to see the Vestmanna bird trips and our drive there took us past a few interesting little stops at coastal villages and always minimal views as we drove through low cloud and drizzle.

Our boat trip was fairly full - mostly local tourists as far as we could tell - and we set out of the bay in the light drizzle but with surprisingly calm seas. I don’t think we were quite prepared for the sight that awaited us when we came round the headland - and I don’t think we were the only ones gasping:

Even in calm seas, composing images was a challenge and there were a fair few people to share viewpoints with, but I was armed with two cameras with focal lengths of 28mm to 200mm covered - so plenty of options! We were also soon armed with protective helmets to ensure no nasty surprises when the boat went in close to the cliffs - which it regularly did, much to our delight!

The water was an incredible shade of turquoise and the scenery truly awe inspiring. Plenty of birds keeping us company too of course but I decided to concentrate on seascapes, knowing the conditions were not ideal for bird photography. The return journey gave us some particularly moody conditions:

I was constantly having to wipe down the front of both lenses as we returned to the light drizzle we had left. Back the way it was now pretty clear and sunny - extraordinary how the weather can vary from one spot to another here.

I couldn’t resist some lovely old boat huts as we returned to harbour. An incredible trip! From there we drove to our location for the next 3 days - Gjogv. A lovely and remote little village on the northern tip of Eysturoy. The following day we woke to find the sun shining! Not the best conditions for photography but ideal for a good walk and so we set off along the coast. When I say ‘along’ think up and down very steep cliff sides! ;)

We were regularly checked out by aggressive bonxies and we surprised a good many snipe, golden plover and curlew. After a massive descent, we eventually reached a viewpoint over Bugvin - the highest sea stack in the Faroes - and beyond the much smaller but more shapely stacks of the Giant and the Witch:

Rob then had the bright idea of heading up one of the horrendously steep mountains to get a view - a nice idea but we had precious little water with us and it was now very hot! Nevertheless we did it - just! and the views were indeed spectacular:

Quite daunting to see where we had to get back to though:

The descent was steep but of course much less hard work than the exhausting ascent and we took our time, only seeing other walkers when we neared the village, but plenty of the lovely looking Faroese sheep on display.

Another amazing day - topped off with an incredibly good Faroese buffet and music evening.