Howard
says that yesterday’s walk ranks right up there with the most memorable of his
career, right up there with our Matterhorn walk. I don’t disagree but measure by a different
yardstick. It was one of those walks that
while exhilarating, dangerous in places, arduous and awesome once it was over,
a walk never needed to be repeated. Yet
unlike the Matterhorn walk which I would want to do again any day, like some of
those other “once offs” I could be talked into this one again, probably fairly easily.
Let’s
then start at the beginning. The morning
mist settled. We had a good and filling
breakfast, short on fruit, heavy on cheese and those wonderful bread choices
(even had a white bread roll because I can never resist the smell). I am going to do damage to my cholesterol on
this trip. Made a fundamental misjudgement
in not wearing our wet pants as you never get time to change later (plus left
our walking sticks in the boot of the car) and headed off to the ferry which
was tied up down at the fishing wharf.
The boat was packed with people and goods including a group heading over
for a music festival, their instruments crowded in with their children.
There
were a few decent waves as we left the cover of our island and headed for
Mykines, a bird watching destination. On
the way we passed that magnificent jagged outcrop called Tindholmur and the
arched rock already featured in yesterday’s photos. Our arrival set the tone for the day. Up steep steps and winding path to the top of
the cliffs to meet up with our guide Harold.
A crusty old fellow with old a walking stick – a warning to me of what
was to come. Harold retrieved our
prepacked lunches from behind a rock at the base of our first climb and handed
them out. Our walk notes said that the
prepacked lunches were not substantial and we should arm ourselves with
additional snacks however, we two never seem to eat heartily on our bushwalks
and our stash of chocolates was forgotten back at the hotel. While Harold slowly ambled up the steep slope
in his old rain boots our group of eight including two Dutch and one Danish
couple followed at various rates of slowness.
One of the Dutch ladies seemed to have the utmost difficulty in
remaining upright and needed the almost continual support of her husband to manage
the either tricky grass or rocky paths.
It occurred to us that she might be a vertigo sufferer (we’ll have time
to enquire later as they are also on the same tour), but she smiled all day. Four in our group carried the types of
cameras you’d expect of professional photographers with the longest and fattest
of tele-lenses. I am most happy to slip
my little weightless, point and press camera out of its bag or a pocket and
keep both hands free for balance and grabbing.
There
were slippery steps to conquer, sometimes with the aid of wire ropes. Many sheep watched our progress and looked amused. Some of the sheep with their mottled and
stringy wool looked like pieces of modern art. Before long my woollen gloves were soaked but still
kept the fingers warm. Our sheep track
path took us along cliff edges and here it might have been just as well that we
couldn’t see much or fright would have overtaken. Had I seen the steep slopes we were climbing
up to the sheer cliff drops, my heart, already a lump in my throat would surely
have stopped. By the halfway mark which
I took to be the 30m bridge across the Atlantic Ocean and over to the smaller
island on which the lighthouse was built – and the flattest terrain all day, I
was wet from perspiration and wet on the outside from mist and rain. Gortex will do so much, but water will drop
off onto trousers etc. Here I pay thanks
to Howard for allowing me bring his almost new cords because they are a perfect
and very warm fit.
We’d
only been on the track for 15 minutes or so when we came to the first Puffin
colony. These are now officially Howard’s
favourite birds beside our own Gang Gangs and they are such delightful little
birds. At the bridge we saw kittiwake
nests and lots of baby birds huddled as close to the rock walls as
possible. By the time we were sat down
to eat our lunches (which were four little open sandwiches of mixed brown and
white breads – no “fresh” fillings but quite enough for both of us. We didn’t even drink all of our water or
juices. Mind you, it would be near
enough six hours since our last toilet trip by the time we returned to the
village) the mist appeared to be lifting and we had better views over the
gannet rookeries perched on top the of the rock outcrops just off the
island.
Today
we saw puffins, Arctic turns, kittiwakes, gannets and a few varieties of gulls,
fulmar, oystercatchers (the Faroe’s official bird) and one strange bird with a
string of food hanging from its beak – sitting on the roof of one of the
harbour buildings!
On
our return walk we enjoyed some puffing fledglings taking test flights over
grassy dips. They would take off above us
and flap wildly, their orange duck feet dangling beneath them to land on grassy
slopes. Very funny and enjoyable to
watch. I doubt that any could have taken
evasive action if a human had got in their path.
Sadly,
puffins and gannets are part of the traditional diet of the Faroese and they
cling tightly to their traditions.
Currently puffin catching is enjoying a moratorium while numbers recover
and only 100 gannets are taken per year.
When
we returned to the village our two hour scheduled walk had expanded to just
over four. Clearly some clarification
needs to be entered into the walk description.
We thanked Harold for his guidance then all piled into the brightly
painted, blue Kristianshus café & hostel for coffee and then to the church
where the very enjoyable music was happening.
This reminded me of a Scottish ceilidh (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Céilidh),
pronounced Kayley, for only a few minutes before heading back to the harbour
for our return trip. It seemed most of
the village’s current inhabitants also came down to the dock. Tons of goods including building supplies
were off loaded and then we were off as well.
We
returned to the car to find it had been well parked in but with Howard’s expert
guidance I manoeuvred out without any trouble at all and soon we were sitting
once more at the dinner table and facing a huge plate of food. This time we saved a doggy bag of vegetables together
with a tasty corn type relish, which we will have as a salad with bread rolls
today.
When
we leave the hotel today, we will be heading to the southern most island Suduroy
which is reached by a two hour ferry (car carrying ferry).
More
later, cheers
P.S.
– I make no apologies for the number of puffin pics
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