On Tuesday 4th December, Margaret, Bill, Elma and I were invited by the ferry company Smyril Line for a tour of their ship “Norrona” berthed at Leith’s Ocean terminal – home to the Royal Yacht Britannia – while around 1,000 passengers from the Faroe Islands descended on Edinburgh for a one day Christmas shopping spree. 
When boarding “Norrona” we passed groups of young Faroese who quite clearly had begun celebrating Christmas early and were full of Christmas spirit…here in Scotland we prefer to call it alcohol! Nonetheless, they were obviously intent on having a good time and apparently had wiped out the ship’s supply of local currency – cheers!
For those of you not familiar with the Faroe Islands – pay attention here comes the knowledge. The Faroes lie in a triangle of the Atlantic between Scotland, Norway and Iceland. There are 17 inhabited islands in the archipelago 70 miles long and 47 miles wide. There are 687 miles of coastline and you are never more than 3 miles from the sea. The Faroes are the mountaintops of a volcanic ridge – they are made of basalt and volcanic ash and clearly demonstrate the effects of glaciation.
The climate is very changeable (sound familiar) – wild sea storms in winter although due to the Gulf Stream, the temperature averages 3oc and the harbours never freeze. In summer the average temperature is 11oc, but can reach 20oc – hot or what!
The population of the Faroe Islands is around 48,000 with 18,000 living in the capital of Torshavn where “Norrona” docks. Faroese is the national language preserved by ancient ballads although most islanders are fluent in Danish and understand or speak English fairly well.
Activities to enjoy include hiking, cycling, bird watching, fishing, pony trekking, boat trips, scuba diving and general exploration. 300 bird species can be found including oyster catchers (national bird), cormorants, kittiwakes, gannets, puffins, guillemots and razorbills…to name but a few. For those interested in travelling to the Faroes in 2008 – call us at myguideScotland
One thing we are very proud of here in Scotland is our track record against the Faroese football (soccer) team – we may not have beaten the world champions to qualify for Euro 2008 – but I guess you can’t win them all.
Back to our tour of “Norrona” – both a cargo and passenger ship – a huge floating hotel capable of carrying 1,483 passengers and 650 vehicles. Great emphasis is put on passenger comfort to promote a feeling of well being and relaxation. There are many things to pass the time on board – swimming pool, fitness centre, children’s play area, restaurant, bars, nightclub, casino, cinema, piano lounge and compulsory duty free shopping. Cabins on board are extremely well fitted out with shower and WC, wardrobe, TV and for those in search of luxury – cabins with writing desk, trouser press, fridge and panoramic sea views.
After our tour of “Norrona” we were wined and dined courtesy of Smyril Line along with Executives from Leith Port Authority and representatives of Scan Tours of London who arrange only outbound tours to Scandinavian destinations.
We seized the opportunity to promote our myguideScotland car touring programme being featured in 2008 by Smyril Line geared towards the Faroese and Norwegian markets – these tours are all of 7 nights duration (in order to connect with arrivals and departures in/out of Scrabster ferry port in northern Scotland) and include a Highlands and Isle of Skye tour / Highlands Concentrated / Scotland Magnificent and Scotland Explorer Light…I know what you’re thinking who came up with these names – wisny me honest – well maybe I was having a bad day!
Lunch consisted of fresh produce from the world’s cleanest ocean – various white fish, salmon, sweet herring and a Faroese speciality – whale blubber. If you like the taste of lard – you’ll love this! Elma was in shock but revived by dessert – a typical Faroese rice pudding with sliced almonds and fresh berries with sauce – just grand.
During lunch one rather observant chappie asked our little Elma in the grand scheme of things what her role was in myguideScotland – I think he clocked the “Aw it’s grand like to be sure” – typically Scottish dialect – Elma was only too keen to promote myguideIreland – I mean how good is that in a scale of 1 – 10 plugging Scotland and Ireland to our Nordic friends! Thinking here of the quarterly prize for the best Blog???
After saying farewell, we disembarked from “Norrona” passing a Faroese man on the gangway heavily laden with 2 huge holdalls – most likely a year’s supply of good old Scotch whisky, haggis and the mandatory shortbread we thought. Apparently not – 25 boxes of Quality Street chocolates – well, whatever rocks your boat I guess?
