Entered the last week of the Float. We are now heading South and seeing more 'normal' things. Like house-sparrows (which I have always seen everywhere there were houses - except Greenland and Iceland). And trees that were not imported (there is an Icelandic joke - what do you do if you got lost in an Icelandic forest? Stand up [their only native trees are maybe 5 feet tall and scrubby/scrawny]).
Day 24 - nothing of note. Except there that a zoo was constructed on the ship.
Day 25 - Faroe Islands. A very nice bus tour. The last of the stops with no native trees. 270 days of rain a year. About 1000 hours of sunshine a year. We are in the middle of the 'dry' season, where people hang up laundry outside to dry, even though it was raining on/off.
Very rugged landscape. Until recently, the Islands were nearly cut-off from each other (heavy seas limited traffic between islands) - so much so that each island has its own dialect. Now, bridges, undersea tunnels and through-mountain tunnels connect the major islands. But even within an island, there can be extreme isolation.
Our guide was very enthusiastic about the Faroe Islands. Born in England, but married into the Islands. Says he was brought in for gene-pool diversity. Salaries are good. Social services are very good. Prices are extraordinarily steep (eg: >8 Euro for a can of beer at the store). All imports are heavily levied, so things that don't grow on the island (anything other than potatoes, onions, rhubarb, sheep and fish) are expensive. Fish and sheep are cured by hanging outside to "dry" (and ferment) with the salt in the air, and were described as having a Rich Aroma.
Day 26 - Shetland Islands (Lerwick, Scotland). The day was a self-guided tour. Walked with Jana and a small group through a section of the town. After a bit, I split off from the group with one other person, and we walked to the end of a long finger into the bay, where there were some old WW2 bunkers and turret-nests. Also a lot of sheep. And cows. And some wildlife along the shores.
Oh - and the Shetland Islands have trees. So the diversity of habitats and wildlife is higher.
English is the primary language (at least for commercial business), which was more comfortable - I think this is the first time we have experienced this since early May. But we did receive the warning that this is the first country on our trip where driving is in the left-hand lane.
Pictures:
Day 24 - Sea Day:
The Zoo, lining every surface of te Lido deck:
Day 25 - Faroe Islands:
Arriving - the tops of the hills/mountains hidden in mist:
The bus tour took us through the only undersea tunnel in the world with a below-sea-level roundabout. Awful picture across the bus aisle and through the window while we went through the roundabout. The silhouettes are art for the roundabout (not people from the bus).
First stop - a typical Faroe Island town. Complete with grass-roof houses. How does one keep the roof-lawn trimmed? You put one of your sheep up there (we did not see this). The local sheep breed has been isolated so long on these very steep hillsides/cliffs that the slope is no problem for them.
Those rings out there are salmon farms. Each ring can hold some large number of fish (I think 150K), worth about $6M. There are a lot of these rings.
Next stop. A waterfall. We travelled through a tunnel to this isolated valley. No good way in or out during most of the year (until the tunnel was build 20 years ago). The mailman had to take this zigzag path once per week (left of center in the picture), and received hazard pay.
The cliffside to the water had a very nice water feature:
After lunch in an abattoir (the purpose of the room cycles with the season), the bus tour continued with a couple stops on the coast, and a couple in the mountains. As everywhere in the Faroe Islands, sheep. This one was using road-posts to scratch. On multiple occasions, I saw this. I guess that's what happens if there are no trees.
One of the mountain stops was at the Faroe Islands Correctional Institute. That is currently housing 6 inmates. It has a mini-golf course (which looked to be in serious disrepair). Unfortunately, it looks like I failed to get a picture of the golf-course. The prison is the building on the right. And has an amazing view, at least on the very few days when it is not foggy or dark.
Back in the city (Tórshavn):
And has parking available for 2-timars:
The harbor was very calm, and allowed for a couple of decent reflection shots
Day 26 - Shetland Islands (Lerwick):
A lot of chimneys. On every building. Many were occupied.
A lot of wildflowers today. Here, out of a wall within the downtown area, Seep Monkeyflower.
A preview of the bay I walked around (and to the left end of the spit).
Oystercatchers:
We were well-protected from the feral cattle by a robust stone wall:
Plume Thistles
The site had a number of WW2 bunkers protecting the inlet to the harbor. Of course, many now contain some artwork. And a few had remnants of WW2 turrets:
I believe this one is Sea Thrift - and one with a Golden Dung Fly:
A lot of the path was along cliffsides:
A view of the bay:
A seal or sea-lion. At least its head:
Bird's-Foot Trefoil:
Some Common-Ringed Plovers:
And, lastly, an artifact that still seemed to be functional. It was not larger on the inside.
The remaining itinerary: a Sea Day, Dover/Rye, and back to Rotterdam.
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