Stress and. Boatification (Day 5)

When we were planning out today I told Dawn that some memories are more fun to have than make. I think today qualified as worth doing, but exacted a certain toll. 

No lazy morning today. We need to get moving an catch a ferry from Streymoy to Suduroy. There is a ferry that makes the round trip a couple of times a day. We book passage for our car and ourselves leaving at 7:00 in the morning. Which means we have need to have our car in the loading queue by 6:30 AM. The crossing takes about 2 hours. The inside of the ship seems very nice, there is a cafeteria a variety of sitting accommodations, a store that sells everything from souvenirs to snacks. Unfortunately it is also a boat. 

My optimism that "hey, maybe this won't be so bad" lasts until we approximately clear the Torshavn harbor and hit the open seas. The next two hours lasts approximately 10 hours according to my personal perception of time. I got sea sick. Very sea sick. Oh so very. 

When we arrive in Suduroy we have to promptly return to our car so we can drive out in an orderly line. I stagger to the car and somehow get us off the boat. This portion of the day is a bit of a blur for me at this point. Eventually, I pull over in a small grocery store parking and have a bit of a come apart. I'm still super nauseous, physically I'm panting, my arms and my legs are shaking, and eventually I just sit in the car and have a bit of a cry. I don't know why I'm crying, but my body is just pulling all the levers to express its displeasure at this point. 

Dawn checks out the grocery store while I try and pull myself together. One of the things I wasn't prepared for is how stressful driving on Suduroy could be. The main roads are fine and not dissimilar to driving around Streymoy. Since the island is less populated and the villages are smaller it's not surprising that single track roads are more common here. What is surprising is a certain wanton disregard for road shoulders and guardrails, what is considered an acceptable incline pitch, and the very loose definition of what paved means. 

For our initial foray of sightseeing in Suduroy we decide to head north to north-most village Sandvik. The weather is low and brooding so we are just catching glimpses of what might be very scenic shoreline. One of the exciting parts of driving to Sandvik is using the tunnel that connects the valley the village is in to the rest of the island. In doing research about the Faroe Islands I had read about such tunnels, but this is the first time encountering one in person. The tunnel is a small single-tracked tunnel through the mountain. Every 50 meters are so there is a small pull over to help you and any on coming traffic, should you encounter it, work out a passing. The tunnel is not illuminated, so it's headlights only and the dark mountain surrounding you. Fortunately, we did not encounter any on coming traffic while using the tunnel in either direction. 

After visiting the north-most village it's time to head south. Along the way we stop in Vagur to visit the Visit Suduroy information kiosk and learn more about what to do with our day. One of the things we knew before we came to the island is that this island is less populated, and there is less to do here - especially when you factor in that we our off tourist season so at lot of the typical touristy things won't be open for another month or so. There are no coffee shops to hang out in, and very few restaurants. If a village has a restaurant it typically won't be open until 4:30 or later. The person working at the Visit Suduroy kiosk reiterates most of this information and adds that if we need something to eat we can stop by a grocery store and get a sandwich. We get advice on what to see. 

The weather is not being particularly cooperative with our visit to Suduroy. It's ever changing but seems to be cycling between low fog and light rain. Every now and again we get glimpses of the sky. The tourist information person tells us that she can't recommend hiking on a day like today. It will be too slick and dangerous. That's fine by me. I'm not super into multi-hour hiking trips in general... a trait that puts me at odds with a lot of the Faroes primary tourist attractions. We are told there is a scenic point near by that is very pretty if the fog lifts. Also, and she confirmed this point, you can drive all-the-way-there. Perfect. 

Or so I thought. While it might be technically possible to drive all the way there, it involves more courage than I was able to muster. The steep single lane track is a crumbling road that laughs in the face of practical concerns like erosion. The drive was roughly 2 km, about half way up we found a spot where I could actually turn the car around and we called it. No more driving on the death hill. We'd walked the rest of the way. 

To underscore how bad the driving was, a pedestrian managed to walk up the hill about the same speed that we drove + walked. While the view was indeed very pretty and the fog did cooperate while we were at the top, I was greatly relieved to get our car safely back to solid and level ground. The pedestrian was also able to walk down the path faster than we could walk + drive. Although, I'm not sure he wasn't part mountain goat and didn't experience inclines and grades like a normal human. 

 As we were driving around Suduroy we began looking for a gas station because our car was getting to a 1/4 of a tank and gas stations are not a guarantee in every village. I had asked the nice lady at the tourist information if there was anything I should know about pumping gas on the island and she said, no, it was a completely normal experience. However, when I got to a gas pump it was raining, and I couldn't figure out how to operate the pump. I went inside the gas station and asked for help, but they told me the machine should just work. I attempted to make the machine work again and failed. Then I noticed other people were waiting for the pump so I decided to try again later when I wasn't so frustrated and keeping people from going about their business. Later in the day it was still raining but we returned to the gas station and Dawn and I both attempted to solve the puzzle box. Between the two of us we were able to get gas. Dawn discovered where the credit card was supposed to be inserted and I managed to find a button to switch the UI to English. 

There was an art gallery and cafe at Vagur we had spied on Google maps that might be open during our visit. When we arrived we realized it was an art gallery run by an old man who lived on the floor over the gallery. When we arrived he opened the gallery for us. He turned on the lights, started music playing, and even made a pot of coffee for us. He told us that he had been running the gallery for something like 30 years. He had moved to the island 50 years earlier. He taught at the local school and is an artist producing work for his gallery. We was very proud that the King of Denmark has visited his gallery in 2005. Later in our visit he even produced the guest book to show us the king's signature. It was an odd experience but a delightful one. We were on this small island in the middle of the ocean. This man was essentially opening his house to us, showing us incredible hospitality, letting us see his art, and making conversation with us while we drank his coffee. He told us a bit about his life and was interested to learn a bit about us. In the end we bought some souvenirs although we did consider asking for details about one of his paintings that we both liked. We know ourselves well enough that would have been a dangerous conversation to have. 

After the art gallery we made out way to the further south drivable tip of Suduroy to see the lighthouse at Akraberg. The single track road to and from the lighthouse was only mildly terrifying compared to some of the early roads. By then it was 4:00 which means the Suduroy Pizza Kebab Grill house was open and we could get something to eat. Dawn and both opted for shawarma options. I had tried to order something in a pita but messed up and got my shawarma served over French fries, but we were so hungry I was more than happy to eat the meal that arrived. I eyed one of the pizzas that came out of the kitchen and briefly regretted not taking a chance on that. 

I was honestly concerned about eating anything. I had been so sick on the ferry crossing to Suduroy that I was confident that there was a 0% chance that I was going to be keep down anything I ate beforehand. Dawn pointed out that the was value to have some nutrients since I basically hadn't eaten anything all day. Fortunately my concerns were unfounded. The ferry crossing back to Streymoy went considerably better. This was probably due a combination of factors including more favorable weather, we sat further down and towards the center of the ship. While I was certainly nausous on the ride home, I managed to keep my dinner down and didn't suffer any of the extreme symptoms I had earlier in the day. 

Once we were back in Torshavn I had one more mission for the day. Earlier in the week I had noticed a Thai take out stand in town. One of the chefs at Raest had told it was was great. I also noticed that they keep late hours and are actually open from 5pm to 5am on Saturdays. After my day of stress and sea sickness a bowl of salty noodles seemed irresistible. I was also curious to learn how "spicy" would be interpreted on an island with no capsaicin based foodways. As reported, the food was great and I was very pleased with the level of spice. It was the perfect way to unwind after a long day.