A Beautiful Day In Faroe

This morning the runners stretched their legs and I wrote the first blog of this trip. Two locations were considered and with our hosts driving we went to the villages of Saksun and then onto Tjœrnuvik. The Faroes are so closely linked with the sea - I know that stating it may be so obvious as to be absurd - but the closeness of houses to water highlights this. The fjords and the open sea provides what has sustained these people over centuries.

We passed salmon farms too which I suppose is one way of being more sustainable than taking from the wild. However, in the Scottish Sunday Times the headline reads 'Seals shot to save Waitrose Salmon' followed by a quote 'if seals keep attacking the fish, then, like a farmer kills foxes, we shoot them'. It appears there are killers everywhere who justify to themselves that it is justified! The Wild is dangerous and then disease threatens the seal population and there is every need to be concerned.

I don't think that words would be enough to describe what we saw today.

Saksun is at the end of a finger of water that stretches out to sea. The hanging waterfalls and high ridges on either side are majestic. The vividness of the greens of the pastures are emphasized by the dark lines of ditches and boulders. Sheep dotted the hillsides. It was a pleasure to be there.

I was concentrating on the birds and their national bird, the Oyster Catcher, is everywhere and their calls are constant. Fulmars were on the crags and there was the occasional Herring Gull with a good number of Lesser-black Backed Gulls. An Arctic Tern fished nearby. We eventually identified a female Common Eider with three young. On the edge of a fjord were numerous male Eiders and in one group there were at least thirty. One Hare was spotted and that is the only land mammal apart from a House Mouse - and neither are indigenous.

At Tjœrnvnik we indulged in waffles, cream and strawberry jam where we sat outside and drank coffee. On the edge of the bay were two large stones. One was said to be a witch and the other a giant who agreed to tow the Faroes to link up with Iceland. Daylight came too soon and now they are fixed in stone for ever. That's one way of getting stoned and being enshrined in folk law.

On the way back to a fish and chip supper we saw gigg racing and later watched a re-run on TV. Good luck to them for a superb effort is required to get those boats moving through the water. The weather was kind and the sun shone and at 9am it was twelve degrees. We had some rain and the breeze was light. What a day and again Vodafone failed to solve the issues of no outward going calls or even inward ones. Money for nothing and it wasn't free. We have no consumer or consideration given to us from VODAFONE. IT APPEARS THAT THEY DON'T CARE. Tomorrow is another day.

Summer visit to the Faroes

"We are going to the Faroe Islands" we say and apart from the fact that it gets translated into Fiji, Falkland Islands and, more logically, Faro in Portugal and then we can get "they kill whales. Don't they?

Well, they do and it has been happening this week. I don't like and I don't agree with it and if I say that it is their culture and that it is traditional I know somebody that would shout and swear at me.
All the content in the above three lines are true. I said that I would blog this trip 'warts and all' and that I will include everything that is good and beautiful and that is what I will do. I will attempt to give a balanced view of the people here and what I can see as I look out of the window. That backdrop of fields, rocky outcrops, coloured houses and the sun shining on the sea is a sight worth remembering. It is an experience and there are, and will be, many of them that will linger in the memory.

I have taken several days in getting to the point of writing anything, but I have been reflecting on matters and events that have been there in my life and formed my early thinking and more latterly on what my views have developed into.

Now to reminisce, just a little. I can remember the otter hounds meeting in my village before trotting away to our local river. Although the fox hounds were never allowed to hunt on the farm there were several occasions when stray hounds trotted past the house. Okay, the propaganda being said that foxes were wanton killers and would kill more that they could possibly eat. Also there was the 'a shilling' bounty which was redeemable when the tail of the Grey Squirrel was presented. Add into that pheasant shoots and for fifteen shillings a day I could encourage them to fly toward the guns. Rabbits, before Myxomatosis, grazed the edge of fields and meadows up to about five metres or so. Yes they consumed what we needed to eat, but they were the poor man's chicken! Add into that mix Grey Partridge, Wood Pigeons, Hares, Woodcock and other beautiful birds that were targets for the 'landed gentry', gamekeepers and for anyone who owned a gun. On the good side that was when there were good habitats for song birds, wide field margins and hedgerows. 'PROGRESS' has changed all that and so for every one that says 'thou shall not kill whales' and I will agree with them, but I have looked hard at myself and would encourage everyone to look at what is happening at home - First.

I follow RaptorPersecution and I am appalled at what killing goes on. I am not speaking about killing for food, but they say that the killing of raptors is necessary to protect pheasant and grouse chicks that are bred in pens, fed with manufactured food with added chemicals. All being bred and cared for, and only for the sole purpose of being made to fly into a hail of lead shot. And this is called sport by some.

On the various blog entries that I read for England I hear of shot Peregrine Falcons, Red Kites, Buzzards, Sparrow Hawks and only a few days ago a Short-Eared Owl. Why kill such beautiful things? Maybe it is because they can! It seems to be even worse in Scotland where the driven grouse moors seem to encourage wanton slaughter of everything that appears to them to be in competition with their bloody grouse including the mass slaughter of Mountain Hares. I have written about this before.

I could say much more.

Now briefly to here and now. We are having a cracking time in Tóshavn. It is beautiful and so are the people that we staying with. The view from the windows both landward and seaward are terrific. We have erected a marquee, sat, drank and chatted in it. We have been entertained by a choir singing in harmony. All this was for the end of school term and graduation. Then we took the marquee down so efficiently that we could go into business!

We managed a short trip down to the town and the harbour. Sat in the sun with a cake and beer and took it easy. Yes, we saw a small quantity of meat for sale on the quay side which is what we did not want to see, but they do eat it.

The fun for me is VODAFONE. I spent £27.50 in their shop in Edinburgh so that we can keep in touch with Europe. It doesn't work and for two days two people are in constant chat with Vodafone staff somewhere. But only by text and with no ability to phone out. It is annoying, but I don't care. My phone is still switched off. I am having such fun.