Greetings from a very wet & windy Faroe Islands..

I picked up a hitch hiker who was sheltering from the wind & rain & after telling me where he was going and asking if i was going there, too (a single-track road only going to Saksun) went on to say there was a storm coming...

Hmmm - and the difference being?

The flight from Copenhagen takes 2 hours - that's the same as the flight from Stansted - mind you, it's quicker to drive to Heathrow & fly to Copenhagen than it is to drive to Stansted - anyway - i left behind an England basking in bright sunshine to come here. On approaching Vagar - the airport & the island - the pilot said it was 12 degrees; a light south-westerly breeze & broken cloud.

I can assure the pilot the cloud was perfectly intact...

Very rocky coming into land - blown from side to side the BAE-146 was really buffeted - a bit unnerving but it was a good landing once we touched-down........

I had hired a car from Avis but the Avis office was closed - well it was 2.30pm on a Sunday afternoon & a flight had just come in... - however the Tourist Information office also doubles as the hire car office - so i picked up the keys to a Suzuki Grand Vitara - nothing grand about it, i can assure you - and headed off to Torshavn - 49km away on the island of Streymoy.

I've been to the Shetlands and to Iceland, so was keen to come here & explore. Certainly the scenery - once the clouds have lifted - is dramatic with a bleak, haunting beauty. But the Faroes in October are cold, wet, windy, grey & miserable - it is eye-wateringly expensive, too - for Brits whose currency is worth very little these days. A pint of beer is 60k - that's just over £7 - eek.

Driving around is easy as the roads really are in remarkable condition - unlike roads in Britain - so i really did not need a 4x4 - a Suzuki Swift would have been far more practical. There are a few things to remember: the 60kmh speed limit signs preceding a built-up area do not signal that the speed limit through the built-up zone is 60kmh - they are there to slow you down. The yellow signs with black patterns designed to indicate buildings inform you that you are entering a built-up area and hence the speed limit is 50kmh - but without recourse to actually indicating the number 50 - sweet. The other thing to remember is that there aren't many direction-signs - that's because everyone here knows where they are going. There aren't many roads so it would be difficult to get lost but very easy to miss the turning you want. My favourite sign being the one on highway 10 indicating that Saksun is straight-on and 11km - except that it isn't - it is the next turning on the left some 100m beyond the sign - sweet.

Perhaps that's why the hitch-hiker asked where i was going.....

I stayed in the Hotel Hafnia, very centrally located near the harbour. The hotel has wi-fi throughout & a pc for guest use in a seating area off the lobby. It has a bar (Kaspar) just off the lobby & a restaurant on the first floor. Allegedly it has a "panorama" bar on the 6th floor - that is probably only open in summer (sensibly) but the receptionist seemed unaware of it - so maybe they've simply given up the struggle against the elements. There is limited parking on site - another reason to get a sensibly-sized car! The hotel staff were very friendly - as you'd expect - a great place to stay.

Across the road, to the left, is the exotic Etica serving Sushi, amongst other things; across the road to the right is Cafe Natur - a friendly bar serving Foroya Bjor - my favourite being Gull (Gold) - i didn't think much of the Black Sheep & the Stout wasn't available. Note: order a small beer as this comes in a 33cl (measured) glass that is usually filled a little over and that cost 40k - a big glass cost 60k and i assume is 50cl - but these glasses don't have a measure & the fill varies from bar to bar- anyway, as the Gull is 5.8%abv it is best to take it steady (well, less steady the more you have, clearly)..

There is an Irish Pub - well located by the harbour; also in the harbour is my favourite bar - Sirkus - it isn't really intended for old people (like me) though it is very friendly, the staff are really sweet and you can sit at the cosy tables gawping at the boats in the harbour and listen to the music-box like chiming on the hour of the old church bells. One evening i was in there and the huge ferry (make that vast) M/S Norrona had docked that afternoon - it sails between Copenhagen, Iceland & Torshavn - and the bar maid asked if i had just come off the boat....

which made me laugh.....

In theory there's a pub called Torsholl but that appears to be closed as do the restaurant Merlot and, disconcertingly, a bar called Plan B. However, Marco Polo is still open & very friendly with good food; Restaurant 11 just down from Marco Polo is good - there's a bar on the ground floor with the restaurant upstairs; the Hotel Torshavn has a big bar and an upstairs restaurant - my favourite, though, is Aarstova across from Cafe Natur - lovely food - as you'll see there is a surprising amount of choice in such a small town, especially as there are others i've not mentioned....

On Monday - my first full day in the Faroes - i decided i'd better try & find my way back to the airport - there being no signs to the airport until you get onto the island of Vagar itself - fortunately i remembered the route back out of Torshavn & once on highway 50 it's plain sailing - well, with the strong cross-winds and sheet rain not that plain - but certainly straightforward - and i worked out i needed an hour to do the journey comfortably (for my return on Friday, you see)..

On the way back from the airport i went to Vestmanna - easy, signposted (are you sure?) then, once back in Torshavn, decided i could find my way to Kirkjubour to see the ruins of the cathedral. There aren't any signs, obviously, but worked out roughly which road to take & then promptly missed the one sign for the turning for highway 54 that someone had thoughtfully tacked onto the lampost adjacent to the turning - so, if you're planning a trip to see the cathedral turn right just before the BMW dealership - you'll see that clearly enough....

Unfortunately, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday were very wet & windy - it's quite fun in some ways getting drenched & blown about - but it does mean you miss out on the splendour of the islands; the coast line with its impressive cliffs & sounds and, of course, the sea - but i went exploring anyway. I drove to Eidl and then across to Gjogv and down to Funningur - just stunning even with the low cloud. I did this drive again on Thursday when the sun came out - even more beautiful. I went to Klaksvik - where the very friendly lady in the Tourist Information place gave me some tips on what to see - and where to have lunch. Klaksvik is the second biggest town in the Faroes and eschews signposts just as Torshavn does - so driving around is a bit confusing as you drive through residential areas trying to find the way to the centre & harbour - the best bet being just to follow the car in front - anyway, i went on to Kunoy on the island of - er, Kunoy - then came back & had lunch at the recommended place.........

Off the main roads - which are two-lane - you go onto single-track roads with passing places. These single-track road are quite narrow but with excellent surfaces and with bright-white markings at the edges. Some seem quite precarious - not ideal for nervous folk - so concentration is required, even though all you want to do is gawp at the scenery. Inevitably you need to keep an eye out for sheep unfamiliar with the Green Cross code and give way to oncoming vehicles.

Fellow tourists wave; locals scowl....

There is an excellent bus service throughout the islands - with minibuses acting as feeders for more remote locations. The bus to Gjogv is full-sized, though. And because these remote communities are linked to fishing they are serviced by big refrigerated trucks - which can seem a bit alarming. My guide book indicated that the inter-island helicopter service was a good way to see the islands. Not so, according to the tourist information office in Torshavn. The service is heavily subsidised & intended for locals & not for tourists wanting to go sightseeing. So you can't buy return tickets. Hmm...

You see a lot of houses with a roof of turf - a forerunner of our thatch, perhaps - but eminently practical, i'd have thought........

Something you wouldn't expect to see is that Smokie played Torshavn on October 1st - i didn't know they were still going but a quick look at their website shows them being in the middle of a tour taking them to many interesting towns & cities across Europe. They had several hits in the 1970's, in case you're wondering.......

The main island is Streymoy, where around 23,000 people live (around 46% of the population); next is Eysturoy with around 11,000 inhabitants - the grand total being just under 50,000. The language is Faroese - a derivative of the Viking language - but most people will also speak Danish & English. The Faroes are a self - governing, autonomous region of Denmark - the aim (for some) being total independence (one day) (when rain-drops start being used as a currency)....

It's now Thursday - the sun has come out today and as is so often the case it transforms the islands - they really are beautiful. And so are the women - regardless of whether it is sunny or not - they are stunning - yet another reason to come here....

(apologies for lack of accents on the vowels)