As with most routes in the Faroe Islands, this one connects the villages of Tjornuvik and Saksun. I wasn’t sure yet if I was going to hike all the way to Saksun and back or just go half way and then drive to Saksun to explore. So off I went to Tjornuvik which took a bit over an hour to find a beautiful little village hidden in a small valley looking out to sea. There are several old farm houses and little coffee shop and a place to stay. I walked and wandered around a bit before heading to the other end of the village where I found my way to the trail.
At first, it starts going up following old rock walls around farm land with splendid views of the village. Contrary to what I had seen so far, there were a ton of yellow and some bright purple wild flowers all over and the ubiquitous grassing sheep. The trail does kind of a semicircle and get to the point that seems to be the official start of the hike where an iron gate marks the route to Saksun. The way the gate is marked is quite interesting. From one side you read Tjornuvik in reverse and then “til Saksun” (to Saksun). When you read it from the other side Tjornuvik is the right way…. Clever
From there, the path follows a small creek as it climbs towards a saddle. As I gained elevation I got closer and closer to the clouds. I lost the view of the village behind me as a huge valley appeared in front of me. The bottom of the valley was marked by a snaking creek. Far in the distance I could see the sea under the cloud cover.
From that point on, the trail traverses the slope of the valley gently loosing elevation until you get to the edge where it drops more steeply to Saksun. From the point you get the best views of the village and Pollurin, a shallow lake that opens to the sea. From above you can clearly see how far the tide can change the shape of the lake and the path that seems to go out to sea on the opposite side of the lake.
After taking some pictures and enjoying the view, I decided to retrace back to Tjornuvik, so I could drive to Saksun and explore a bit and maybe walk out to sea if the tide was not too high. On my way back though, I opted to go off-trail to get closer to a couple of waterfalls I could see in the distance. Getting there didn’t seem to be much of an issue and it wasn’t, so I was able to get some pictures of the waterfalls while I had a bite to eat.
On my way back to the trail things changed quickly. Seems; like the route I decided to take went thru nesting areas, so I got attacked by birds that chased me out of there. I had to run back and mostly retrace my steps to get back on the trail. Faroese birds are nasty. The rest of the hike back was really nice as I got to walk back down towards Tjornuvik enjoying the view at every step of the way.
Once I got back to Tjornuvik, I dropped my pack in the car and went down to the coast line to walk a bit and found a path heading around the bay to the left. I followed the path for a bit just to check it out until it disappeared in front of me. Leisurely a made my way back to the car and on to Saksun
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