Faroe Islands

A handful of 18 islands halfway between Shetland and Iceland, with a population of just 47,000 and magnificent, towering cliffs, dramatic landscapes and stormy seas. The capital, Torshavn, has just 15,000 inhabitants and is a mixture of modern and old where narrow pathways run between the medieval houses and down to the busy harbour. There is plenty to explore on the other islands, from Fugloy in the North to Suduroy in the South, with colourful villages clustered in sheltered bays and small folk museums to give you an idea of the country's history. Binoculars and sunglasses should be part of the outfit of any visitor to the Faroe Islands. Sunglasses are needed when the brilliant sun bursts forth from the clouds; binoculars to enjoy the brilliant spectacle of birds soaring along the sea cliffs.

During the long days of summer, the many cliffs on the northern and western coasts of the islands teem with huge flocks of birds. Cold arctic currents merge with the warm Gulf Stream in the waters off the Faroes, resulting in a particularly rich food environment for the nesting birds.

Ornithologists have identified approximately 300 species of birds in the Faroes. Of these, 40 species are common breeding birds and about 40 are rare or irregular visitors.

All have travelled vast distances to raise their families in these remote islands. The guillemot is one of the first breeding birds to return to the islands, and from the end of May until the end of July, you can see guillemots up on the cliffs. On the wider ledges, you can spot the adults standing with their backs to the sea, protecting the single egg at their feet.

Any tiny projection or bit of rocky outcrop is adequate for the kittiwake to cement its nest firmly on the cliff. Nesting pairs raise three young ones before leaving the islands in August. Colonies of puffins inhabit the ledges and grasslands above the cliffs. You can spot their breeding areas by the distinctive blue-green colour - the result of natural fertilizing. To distinguish the puffin from the other birds in the swirling flocks along the cliffs, look for the small bird flying low above the crests of the waves, flapping its tiny wings like an overgrown hummingbird.

A bird that nests only on Mykines and Mykinesholm is the gannet. It can be seen in small flocks diving for food. The island of Nólsoy hosts the largest colony of storm petrels in the world. A night excursion to witness these nocturnal birds is an extraordinary experience.

Boat trips to view the various seabird colonies and the soaring sea cliffs around the Faroes are available. Consult the tourist offices for details.

Take a deep breath! Fill your lungs! Let them open all their folds and leaves and cavities, and from all directions the clean air of the sea comes flowing towards you, into you and through you. Suddenly the dusty continents of the earth are far away; right now it’s only the winds and the seas and you.

The loneliness of the ocean, the silence everywhere, interrupted only by the voices of birds in motion, weaving changing patterns that recreate the forms of the landscape - its heights, its depths. The sound of water running over rocks, and the distant murmur of the sea deep down at the foot of the cliffs. All those millions of tons of water of an ocean which now lazily and comfortably rubs against these rocks in the middle of nowhere as if it wanted to scratch its back or shoulders after the long journey between the poles of the globe. Peaceful and pleasant on a good summer´s day, but you know that the ocean has an unpredictable power and that it may at any moment change its mind and rise in a frantic rage. What are these rocks anyway? Aren´t they just a speck of dust in its eye which ought not to be there at all?

I have gone fishing in Alaska for king salmon, on the Kamchatka peninsula in eastern Russia for silver salmon. I have fished Atlantic salmon in Iceland and black marlin in Australia. But this is different. For I have been to the Faroe Islands before. Several times - as a boy. So I know what those 18 islands can offer - it is no exaggeration to say that they offer everything an angler could wish for. Wonderful walks in the mountains to distant lakes where trout hide behind almost every stone, foaming waterfalls with newly arrived gleaming sea trout and, in some of the waterholes under the falls, even salmon. River mouths where you can see scores of sea salmon jump around in the sea just outside. Calm fiords, and in the sounds swift currents with shoals of coalfish and cod. And in the ocean you can meet one of the giants - the halibut - which up here may weigh up to 90 - 100 kg.

In these islands people have a different attitude to fishing. The villages stand on the coast. And on a walk down to the quay the curious visitor may often meet a couple of boys who plan to spend a quick half hour fishing. They seldom need more. Their fishing gear looks like the things I used myself as a boy. An old heavy 7 to 8 foot fibre glass rod with half the eyes roughly repaired with tape. An old fixed-spool reel with a 0.35 mm line with lots of resistance. A heavy spoon bait or a plummet with bait. And then they seldom cast more than a few metres. But that is enough when the current is right. In the sea!