Tour de Faroe Islands

Fun fact: Faroe Islands is a tautological place name, as the “oe” means islands, “oyar” in Faroese and “øerne” in Danish. In Faroese the place is known as Føroyar and in Danish as Færøerne, which are not tautological.

Another interesting fact is that no one goes on bicycling holidays there, at least as far as I’ve been able to find. It’s possible to rent mountain bikes for some epic trails up there, but no bicycle touring. This means that I’m either going to find a gem in the rough, or there’s an excellent reason for why no one does it. I mean the excellent public transport,the short short distances (The Faroe Islands measure all of 1,399 km2 (540 sq mi)), and the fact that it rains more than half the year, and the summer is characterised by heavy fogs are good reasons too, but I’m determined to go.

This is my first bicycle touring trip, and so I’ve wavered ever since I decided to go. Is this a good idea? Won’t I just get sick of the rain and the wind? What’s the point of bicycling when the distances are so short, and everyone is keen to pick up hitch-hikers (or so I’ve been told)? Well, I’m determined to visit the Faroe Islands, it’s an old dream, I love bicycling, and if it’s an awful experience in whatever way, I’ll learn and grow from that. If it’s as awful as my nightmares fear, I’ll buy a cheap backpack, hitch-hike and take buses.

If anyone else decides to go bicycle touring on Faroe Islands, I figured I’d write about my trip, so it isn’t just a vacuum of information out there. At the end of the trip, I’ll update how it went, what was unnecessary and what I wish I had brought. So here’s the first post, with a description of what I’m bringing (by category):

All the goods I’m packing into my panniers, drybag and daypack.

All the goods packed into my panniers, drybag and daypack.

Packed onto my bicycke, though you’ll have to imagine the High 5 bottle

Camping gear

• Terra Nova Superlite Voyager
• Sigma Ultra (sleeping mattress)
• Lifeventure Silk Sleeper (rectangular)
• The North Face Blue Kazoo (sleeping bag)

Cooking gear

• Trangia pots and pans (but no windshields)
• Assorted cutlery, including a Light My Fire Titanium Spork
• MSR Whisperlite International (multifuel stove)
• Foldable plate with lid

Bicycle gear

• Noname bicycle multitool
• Leatherman Skeletool
• Park Tool patch kit and tire levers (really don’t want to cheap out on this)
• Leg reflector
• Extra inner tube
• Cube mini pump

Camera gear

• Fujifilm X-T20
• Fujifilm 23mm F2
• Fujifilm 50 mm F2
• Fujifilm 55–200 F3.5–4.8
• Peak Design Leash (camera strap)
• Gorillapod
• Extra camera battery
• SD to Lightning adapter
• 3x 32 GB SD cards (One SanDisk, two Lexar)
• Not pictured: Polarising filter and 10-stop ND filter (NiSi)

Electronics

• Kindle Paperwhite
• SanDisk Clip Sports Plus Player (mp3-player, loaded with podcasts)
• iPhone 6
• Anker 13,000 mAh powerbank
• Anker 4-port wallcharger
• 1 Lightning cable (iPhone)
• 1 USB-C cable (powerbank)
• 3 microUSB cables (camera, kindle, mp3-player)
• Sony MDR-EX150 (earphones)

Personal hygiene

• Noname silicone bottles (with shampoo and dish-washing soap)
• Chapstick
• Deoderant
• Toothbrush
• Zendium toothpaste (doesn’t foam, can’t do without it)
• Soap
• Toilet papir
• Athletic tape

Clothes

• Fjällräven Bergtagen waterproof jacket
• Marmot PreCip Full Zip waterproof trousers
• Grip Grab Hurricane gloves
• Fjällräven Keb trousers
• Fjällräven Karl trousers
• Scarpa Mistral GRX boots
• Houdini Toasty Top Heat Hat
• Quicksilver swimming trunks (it gets up to like 14°C)
• Lightweight towel
• Devold long underwear, shirt and trousers both
• Happy Socks and Icebreaker underwear
• Assorted socks from Happy Socks, Solo Socks, Katie Abey, Bola, and Bridgedale
• Blue checkered warm shirt
• Assorted tshirts, including from Icebreaker
• Quechua woolen long-sleeved shirt

Miscellaneous gear

• Vintage compass
• Turen Går Til Færøerne (Danish guidebook)
• Solberg map of Faroe Islands 1:100,000
• Emergency whistle
• Home-rolled roll of duct tape (takes up less space)
• First Aid kit (waterproof)
• Zip ties
• Bart Simpson moleskine notebook
• Kaweco Sports Brass fountain pen
• Extra AAA batteries
• Cree Q5 flashlight
• Black Diamond Spot headlamp
• Two Sea to Summit drybags
• Two padlocks
• Deuter daypack raincover

Not pictured

• Water bottles (one Klean Kanteen and one High 5)
• Food
• Face mask (long tunnels)

Things I’m not bringing, and never intended to

• Nintendo Switch
• iPad
• Laptop

Late changes:

• Got rid of the folding plate, going to eat from the pot or the cutting board (space)
• Added a tea towel for cleaning
• Added a kitchen brush after cutting off the handle
• Removed the pair of heavy socks, and added a more lightweight pair (after all, summer in the Faroe Islands is 10–14°C)
• Added an extra shirt, as my woolen layers, though warm, are not particularly windproof
• Removed the compass, it was large and cumbersome, and it really becomes necessary (I’ll be bicycling along roads and hiking along paths), I’ll turn my phone on