Streymoy, Faroe Islands 🇫🇴 2022

Date: 7th July 2022

Travelled: 110 kms around Streymoy, Faroes 

Visited: Kirkjubøur, Fossá Falls, Haldarsvik and Tjørnuvík  

Stayed: Camping Haldarsvík, DKK150, N62.27770, W07.09050 

Budget: 43 days @ €96 per day

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We wake this morning to a complete change in the weather. The sun has gone, replaced by a light mist, but the wind has picked up and we get a short burst of drizzle every 10 minutes or so it seems. As the Faroes have 210 days of rain or snow each year, you don’t come here for the weather.

So a little background on the Faroe Islands or the Faroes as they are referred to here. There are 18 major islands and many more smaller uninhabited ones. First thought to have been settled by peoples from Scotland or Ireland around 6-700 AD, the Vikings arrived some 300 years later and did what Vikings do. The Faroes whilst part of the Kingdom of Denmark, are self autonomous, they voted not to join the EU in 1973. You can read more by following the link above. I should add wild camping on the Faroes is prohibited.

Having had breakfast we pack up the Hymer and make ready for the road once again. Our first stop is a phone shop to buy a local sim card. The sim we purchased at Tescos in the UK doesn’t work here, but surprisingly our Optus sim from Australia does, but its data is limited. DKK100 and we have a new sim and 5GB of data.

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The weathers not improving as we depart Tórshavn to explore the island of Streymoy. Our first stop is Kirkjubøur on the south-west coast of Streymoy.

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There are two buses in the parking lot and we wait for a couple of minutes whilst one is loading before we park. A young fellow walks over and says g’day, we have a quick chat, telling us he’s from the Gold Coast in Queensland and works as a tour guide in the Faroes every summer.

We wish him well as his bus heads off somewhere, so we park the Hymer and go exploring.

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From St Ólav’s we accidentally find a small museum.

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Kirkjubøur done, we drive back toward Torshavn for 10 kms, before turning north, taking the tourist drive rather than the main road. Apart from dodging the odd truck it’s a very scenic drive.

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Continuing up the west coast of Streymoy arriving at Vestmanna. We stop for lunch before going for a wander. There are two small hydroelectric facilities on the edge of town. One is pictured below.

The campsite in Vestmanna has little appeal so we back track 10 kms before crossing over to the east coast of Streymoy and continuing north once again.

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We have set the GPS for Haldarsvik a small village on the east coast. It’s been a long day and the DKK150 campsite fee seems half reasonable. I cannot help but notice the long lengths of heavy chain running along the pitches. The caretaker tells me it gets very windy during the winter gales and it’s best to chain the caravans down.

Thank goodness it’s not winter, we set the Hymer up for the night and go for a walk around the village.

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Cannot say it was the best night’s sleep. The wind howled and the Hymer rocked. Life is like a box of chocolates after all. We wake to drizzle and roll over for an extra hour in bed this morning.

We have some breakfast and service the Hymer once again. It’s only another 5 kms on to Tjørnuvík, our last stop in Streymoy so I’ll include our visit to Tjørnuvík in this blog.

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Tjørnuvík is amongst the oldest villages in the Faroes, the Viking graves here date back a thousand years. The blurb claims its black sand beach, is one of the best surf brakes in the Faroes. It doesn’t have a pub or even a supermarket but it does boast a surf shop.

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So Streymoy Island is done, we cross the bridge to Eysturoy to continue our adventures on the Faroes.

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Michael + Pam