Northern Isles

Road trip:

Klaksvik (impromptu but necessary morning coffee break). Amusing part about this part was that somewhere just near the edge of town Google Maps, our navigation Flossie, totally wigged out, and had us going around the block, looking for the way out. Three times. Eventually we ignored her, stayed on what seemed to be the right road, and eventually she righted herself, once there was no alternative.

Vidareidi. Picnic lunch on the table near the church, with view of the water and village. The church graveyard had a couple of plaques marking graves from 1772 and 1775, and one notice that seemed to suggest that something happened there in the sixteenth century. That’s pretty old, although modern archeology suggests that there are viking graves that go back much further. After the walk around we went to find a coffee at a local cafe that had been recommended by our host at the Atlantic Swan. Very strange little place and a stranger man, who explained that he was a chaplain in the prison and hospital in Torshaven, and this was a rebuild project so that he would have somewhere to live when the church retires him, when he turns 67. Brewed coffee, well made crepes and delicious rubarb jam and cordial. Collected artifacts in the house included an ancient whaling harpoon and fishing bouys made from both a whale stomach and a sheep.

Muli. Right out on the opposite bank of the fjiord from Vidareidi, nominally abandonned, but at least one of the houses seemed to be undergoing active rennovation, and there were people working the hay in the surrounding fields. The nominal abandonment would explain the condition of the road to get there. Bitumen only half way, and not in great condition at that. Pretty cool walk along the cliff-top to the big chasm at the end.

Kunoy. Another lovely little hamlet, this one nestled in a valley by a stream, so there was enough weather protection to support a couple of actual trees (that the guide-book glowingly referred to as a “plantation”).

Home for dinner as the weather seemed to be closing in, but now, after dinner, the sun is out again and the skies are clear. So who knows what the future will bring.