Faroe Islands, day 1
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location | GPX |
| Slættaratindur | 882m | 882m | Eysturoy, Faroe Islands | GPX |
This trip to the Faroe Islands was a birthday gift to my girlfriend Anne. It was well received. The departure date (from Flesland Airport, Bergen) was May 17 – the Norwegian National Day, and the flight back home was on the 22nd. We enjoyed a beautiful lunch with good friends in Sogndal before we drove to Bergen.
The flight left 8:15pm and we landed on Vágar 1 hour and 20 minutes later – in thick fog.
After picking up our rental car, we checked into Hotel Vágar (next to the airport). The rent for the night was DKK 1290,-. This is almost NOK 1700,- and when comparing the standard to Norwegian airport hotels, it’s a rip-off.
Later, we drove down to Sandavágur to shop groceries. This was a cosy village, where we learned that they don’t sell beer in grocery stores…
Slættaratindur (882m)
The next morning, the fog was lifting and we decided to go for the Eysturoy and Faroe Islands high point.
We drove to Streymoy (subsea toll tunnel) and continued to Eysturoy through another subsea toll tunnel. We turned north and followed the road to Eiði.
From Eiði, we drove west up to the pass (approx. 390m elev.) between Eiði and Funningur. There is a parking area and you can’t really miss this trailhead.
The guidebook said we should head straight up the mountain until we reached a path above 600m (!). I guess that guidebook is a few years old, as there was a visible path from the trailhead.
It was an easy ascent up to the ridge, where we had a great view to the east. There are some pretty impressive rock features, along the Faroe Islands coastline…
We could see that there was a person on top, and it turned out to be a German with a camera on a tripod, waiting for the fog to lift. He asked if we believed the fog would lift, and we said “maybe“. After all, the Faroe Islands is the “land of maybe“. Because of the unstable weather. It’s hard to plan anything here, far, far out in the Atlantic ocean…
The hike up took us 50 minutes. Close to 500 vertical meters in a moderate pace. It felt GREAT to have reached the high point on our very first hike. From her on, everything would just be bonuses…
We said goodbye to the German, wishing him good luck with the fog and headed back down. Several hikers were on their way up, including a group of young people from all over Europe.
Back at the car, we drove to Gjógv – a very charming village on the northeast side of Eysturoy. We enjoyed a very nice lunch at the hotel and took a stroll up to the local viewpoint.
Afterwards, we drove to Klaksvik and checked into the Klaksvik Hotel. The price was DKK 995, and I enjoyed our room MUCH more than the room at the airport hotel. Moreover, Klaksvik is a town (the second largest, if I am not mistaken), and although there might not be so much for a tourist to do, there are streets to walk, and shops to visit.
And while Anne went out to explore Klaksvik, I drove to Kunoy to visit Kúvingafjall. Trip report to follow…
Pictures from May 17:
Pictures from May 18:
