Finding Faroese Paths

A Cicerone walking guide may be in the works. It's hard to find specific details, but travel writer and photographer Rudolf Abraham has a Faroe guidebook in the works. The guide will published by Cicerone and (we hope) can be expected sometime in 2016.

Rudolf travelled to the Faroe Islands in April of last year and is planning another trip sometime this year. He has photos of his travels posted on his website, so be sure to take a look at them too. And I'll be looking forward to this publication especially, as Cicerone is an indispensable source of information for hiking and trekking all over the world. A guide like this will be well worth the investment and anyone who has hiked on a Faroese path (gøta) will be looking for one singular piece of information from them...where does the path begin?

These paths originated from travel between the villages, often to visit church or for supplies in a neighbouring settlement (bygd). Since the development of the road and tunnel system, and the changing needs of the Faroese people, many of the paths have lost their significance and use. A lot of the paths have faded, and while the cairns remain, the beginning of some of these paths are unmarked. Finding the paths often requires a bit of help from the local Faroese, and with that help often comes some (often vital) information to what the path entails and if the weather is suitable.

On a side note, I think this may be the most important feature for travellers to Faroe to understand: sometimes: you need to ask. A lot of us are used to seeing a large sign for groceries, or a rest stop, a café, but in many of the villages in Faroe and for some lucky travellers, that rest stop and café often becomes a villagers home, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Jane and I were lucky enough to find just this as we became temporarily stranded on Fugloy during a storm.