Faroe Islands – northern islands: Borðoy, Kunoy and Viðoy

We hit a truly Faroese day. Clouds, rain, wind – not the best conditions for exploring the northern part of the archipelago. However, in the Faroe Islands the weather is no excuse ;-)

It is said that it rains 400 days a year in the Faroe Islands. This is (almost) true! We did not spend a year on the islands, but looking at how changeable the weather is here, how different the aura is on different islands, we are able to believe that somewhere in the archipelago it is raining. Even more so if we consider a rainy day a day in which we have a light drizzle that lasted 15 minutes.

And in all seriousness, the Faroese weather gave us a hard time only once – it was the day we decided to go north. I do not hide the fact that on other days it also happened to rain, there were fogs, but it was not as troublesome as on that fateful day. When going to the Faroe Islands you simply have to take this into account and prepare accordingly. A rain jacket is a must.

Tunnels in the Faroe Islands

Our route took us from Thorshavn to Klaksvík and then through Borðoy to Viðareiði, a village located on the northern part of Viðoy Island. On the way back we bounced to Kunoy Island. There would be nothing unusual about this road if it were not for the fact that all of the aforementioned islands or villages there can be reached by car, but it is important to keep in mind that there are tunnels leading there, including a tunnel.

The one to Klaksvík is one of two, underwater, toll tunnels in the Faroe Islands. There are also traditional tunnels (free), which are narrow enough to accommodate only one vehicle.

How to navigate such narrow tunnels? There are only two basic rules to remember:

1. Priority is given to those who do not have a passing place on their right (marked with the letter M, they are located every 100 meters or so). That is, if you have such passing places on your right, you must give way to priority.
2. The only exception to this rule is when a larger vehicle (truck, bus) is coming from the opposite direction. Then we always give way :)

Borðoy Island

Compared to the island of Eysturoy, which we recently described, the island of Borðoy has half as many inhabitants, i.e. about 5,000 people. And you can see it at every turn. Aside from the largest village (Klaksvík), there are fewer settlements here, and there are even 3 that are completely abandoned (about one of them a little further on).

The landscapes on Borðoy are similar to those we saw on Eysturoy, i.e. basalt hills, as if cut, separated layers stacked on top of each other, fjords, and the ubiquitous waterfalls. Unfortunately, we couldn’t fully enjoy the surrounding views, as the tops of the mountains were covered by clouds.

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Klaksvík

We stopped in Klaksvík a total of two times: once to look at the local tourist information, and the second time (on the way back) to eat. Almost half of the island’s population lives here, although the overwhelming majority of people we passed on the streets were transients. It is a port city, and fishing and the village’s convenient location have played a large role in its development. In the harbor you can see many moored fishing boats as well as ferries.

The most distinctive building in Klaksvík is a church built of basalt – Christianskirkjan.

In Klaksvík we had the opportunity to taste local delicacies, we ordered a plate of appetizers(Faroese Tapas) to try for a bagatelle of approx. PLN 100. See what we got:

Preventing questions: no, the taste did not knock it down. It was the only opportunity for us to eat something out of the ordinary, because as a rule the menu was loaded with burgers, pizzas and salads.

Múli

While in Borðoy, we decided to go to one of the abandoned settlements – Múli.

It is located in the northern part of the island, and the road to this village leaves much to be desired. In short: we were glad to have a bigger car ;) On the other hand, what to expect on the way to the ghost town?

To be honest, looking at the other towns we have visited so far, they were no different from this one. We didn’t see a living person in those seemingly inhabited ones either, and neither did we here (although one car came from somewhere).

In Múla, only you can see that the grass is unmowed and overgrows part of the road. Although abandoned, from what we’ve learned, some people come here for vacation, and treat the houses as vacation homes.

And it’s a pity, because the views here are really one of the nicest (despite the lousy weather) :) It’s worth taking a walk around the area.

Viðoy Island

There are only two settlements on the island of Viðoy: Viðareiði and Hvannasund. The first is in the north, and the second is in the south just off the bridge connecting the islands of Viðoy and Borðoy. The weather did not spoil us, it rained harder and harder, and the clouds covered more and more. Nevertheless, we decided to go to Viðareiði with the hope that it would clear up after all.

Getting to the village is very easy – the only road leading north is the one that, compared to the gravel road to Múla, was a rest for the shock absorbers. In fact, the road forks to make a circle, and part of the road runs in a tunnel. As many as 352 people live here

^[source].

, and the village itself is surprisingly large for a settlement in the northern part of the archipelago.

What makes a town almost at the edge of the archipelago popular with travelers? Probably beautiful views, of the other islands, but also the 750-meter high Enniberg cliff. Once again, we were not able to see everything. And while the rain was no obstacle for us, climbing to the summit in the clouds seemed pointless.

So we ended up stopping at a viewpoint in Viðareiði from where we could see the northern edges and cliffs of the islands of Borðoy and Kunoy.

Yes, there on the other side is the gravel road to Múla, which we wrote about above :)

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Kunoy Island

If we had to describe Kunoy in one word, the best word to describe it would be: mountains. Here there are peaks above 800 meters, some of the highest in the Faroe Islands.

Kunoy can be reached by a bridge connecting it to the island of Borðoy.

As in Viðoy, there are only two inhabited settlements here, and one abandoned one with a tragic history. Just before Christmas in 1913, all the men went on a fishing trip from which they never returned. Women, a boy and an old man left the village by 1919
^[source]
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On the left bank of the island is the village of Kunoy, which you have to go through a tunnel to get to. And this is one of the coolest tunnels :) It is a narrow tunnel, in which every now and then you have to give way to other cars (and why there are so many of them there, we still have no idea ;)). In addition, it is one of the longest tunnels in the Islands, at slightly more than 3 km long.

Arriving at the village, a white church with a red roof and a modest picnic site just off the road catch the eye from a distance. Other than that, there is nothing interesting here. Literally. So why so many cars in the tunnel? At least it was a fun attraction, especially for Paul ;)

Summary

As they say – you can’t have it all, and yet we already had plenty ;-) Once we had to finally hit the worse weather.

We managed to see several villages, more hills with waterfalls and cliffs. Arguably, you can discover many more places in the northern part by walking, as there are few car roads here. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to come here for a longer period of time, stay in Klaksvík and take a tour in better weather? Maybe we will be able to come back here again someday, and so far it was not so bad ;

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