Thursday in the Faroe Islands

Don & Judi in the Faroes, Fish drying on the cloths line, Home with sod roof from

1860, Small harbor with boats and rail to bring load to top.
While we were at breakfast this morning we sailed into Torshavn, Denmark (Faroe Islands). The Faroe Islands are under the control of Denmark. It was not raining when we got there, which is a change for us.
We met other people down in the Galleria to go on a tour of the island. We had to tender to the dock today. Everything went fairly smoothly and the water was also smooth. We gathered on the dock and located our bus and boarded to start our day. We had a late start due to having to get around some nasty weather. We were about 3 hours late. Our guide was a nice lady that spoke fairly good English. At least better than my Dutch. We left Torshavn and headed out into the country. At the very beginning let me say that the island was a big surprise. It is a fascinating island, green, steep mountains and lots of water. Water not only surrounding the island, but waterfalls almost everywhere you look. There are lots of sheep, some cattle and a few horses. They still use sheep dogs to round up the sheep. We saw one running like the wind to reach his master. The main source of income is probably still fishing. Back in the old days it was solely the source of income. Today there are a lot of sheep farms with 5 different types of sheep. We found out there are 3 different wools on one sheep. Soft undercoat, stiffer midcoat and very stiff outer coat used for carpet and such. The wool from the Faroes’ is full of lanolin, which makes it waterproof. After about 4 years the sheep are slaughtered and the meat sold or used by the farmer. Farming is limited, as few crops will ripen in the cool summer temperatures. Potatoes, introduced in the 1800s, are the most prevalent crop. Carrots and turnips are also grown. They can also grow some hay. They dry the hay in open sacks on the fences and then bail it and wrap the bales in plastic. They make use of the sod to use as a roofing material. I do not know how the mow it.
The Faroe Islands are characterized by mild winters and cool summers. The islands are cloudy, wet and windy throughout the year. Daily sunshine in the summer months averages 4 hours. The average temperature ranges from37 degrees F. in the winter to 52 degrees F. in the summer.
We visited a Lutheran church in a small village. They have a ship model in every one of their churches. The picture in the front of the church was of Christ walking on water. The boat in the background is like one they used on the islands to fish from. The hills in the background looks like the mountains around the island. While we were there we passed a house where they were drying fish on clothes line.
The Faroe Islands are made up of 18 separate islands, 17 of them are inhabited. One island has 2 families and another one has only one family on it. Many of them are connected by bridges or tunnels. The Faroes cover about 540 square miles, about 8 times the size of Washington DC. The population is around .48,500 people. The languages spoken here are Faroese (derived from Old Norse and Danish).
One of the interesting things we saw were stones piled in a vertical formation. In the past these stone piles were used to guide a person from one settlement to another. They were spaced so that you could see the next pile from the one you were at. If you could not see it, you were supposed to stay at that pile until the weather cleared. If it was cold you unstacked and restacked the stones to stay warm.
There are few trees on the island and those have been transplanted. The common saying is that the dirt on the island is only a spade blade deep.
The bus drove many miles on very narrow one lane mountains roads, with lots of switchbacks, to show us the beautiful scenery of mountains, waterfalls, small hamlets and the ocean.
We have a sea day tomorrow on our way to Iceland. The Captain reports that it will probably be rough and to take care moving about the ship.