Vestmanna - a trip to the bird cliffs

 We were told that on our way to our next port of call Vestmanna, we'd pass some spectacular cliffs at approx. 5 am. I am not an early bird but Thursday morning saw me looking out my cabin (sorry Stateroom) window.

Vestmanna is small, but busy - not too far from Torshavn - half an hour by car (so why did it take us a whole night?). It has a tourist centre, restaurant, a lovely church, and a rowing team. Rowing is big in the Faroes. We were shown round by a lovely local man who would stop in mid-sentence and search for the correct English word and having found it would say it to himself and then continue with his talk. It was very fetching, and he had a lovely accent. There wasn't much to the place, but I found being guided by that man very enjoyable and relaxing.

The afternoon was given over to bird spotting on the cliffs. We climbed on board a small tour boat and headed out of the harbour, round the headland to be confronted by high fissured cliffs which were the home to masses of seabirds, and sheep which appeared to be stuck to the vertical grass covered cliff face. Not only that the farmers in September would come by boat and take them off the cliff, returning them to the same near vertical pastures the following spring. It was mind blowing. Our skipper took us into caves and gullies and on shelves in the cliffs birds congregated. I saw what I took to be a charming family of puffins huddled together. Amazingly no one was shat on.

That excursion energised everybody. In the lounge the place was buzzing with conversation and laughter. It was as if we all been waiting for something like that to cast off our shyness and inhibitions. The next place we'd visit would be Eidi, this time even smaller than Vestmanna.