Our yearly vacation was later in the year than usual. We had 3 weeks off starting August 3rd. Smyril line has a ferry connecting Hanstholm in Denmark with Torshavn, the capital of the Faeroe Islands, and Seydisfjordur in Iceland. The ferry makes the return trip once a week, leaving Denmark every Saturday evening.

We left at 4 in the morning on Saturday August 4th. We had about 1100 Km (just under 700 Miles) in front of us. Traffic was very light at that time and despite of the heavy rain we made good progress. After about 400 Km it seemed everyone else was awake too and the roads got busier. In northern Germany we even had some back traffic because of accidents. Fortunately our average speed did not slip below 100 Km/hour so we arrived in Hanstholm with time to spare.

The M/S Norrona was still being unloaded when we got in line to board. It took a while to get the fully booked ferry all loaded up with only a few centimeters to spare on the car deck so we left Hanstholm harbor 30 minutes later than planned.

After checking in and unloading our stuff in our cabin went to dinner in the ship’s restaurant. The fixed price ‘all you can eat’ buffet was excellent and plentiful.

Sunday morning we got up at 9 but since time on board is the same as on the Faeroe Islands we gained one hour. 8 o’clock was early enough to enjoy the breakfast buffet in the ship’s main restaurant.

Among the many activities on board is a guided tour of the bridge. We got to see the ‘nerve center’ of the Norrona with all the navigation equipment and monitoring system for the fire alarms. We also saw that the ship was really steered by .. the autopilot. A computerized GPS system made sure we were heading to the Faeroes and not Australia :-)

The rest of the day we just relaxed on deck in the 20°C (68°F) sunshine and in the cafeteria. By evening we went to the restaurant for another excellent Scandinavian buffet.

Monday morning at 4 in the morning everyone had to get up and get ready to leave the cabins before arriving in Torshavn. The cabins had to be cleaned to the next trip (to Bergen, Norway). We docked at exactly 6. a.m. as planned.

There was no problem in crossing the border (what border ???) and minutes later we were at our hotel only a few hundred meters from the harbor. Torshavn seemed like a deserted town. There was nothing to be heard on the radio, after the cars got away from the ferry there was no traffic at all and there were no people on the streets. Even the hotel door was still locked. There was someone at reception though, so he let us in and half an hour later we could have breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant.

The rooms were not ready yet so after leaving the luggage at the hotel we set out to make a tour to Kirkjubøur, a small village on the southern tip of the island Stremøy. We returned to the hotel 2 hours later to get settled in our room and soon were on the way again to make our first ‘real’ trip. We drove to the island Eysturøy that is connected to Stremøy with a bridge.

While driving the Faeroes roads I was active on 20 meter, checking in the ‘Belgians on holiday-net’ on 14.306, with ON4ACM, Kamiel, as net-control.

Once we got back on solid ground we drove back to Torshavn. Just outside the city we stopped at the open air museum. The buildings are typical for the Nordic countries.

There was some extra time during early evening so I decided that this was the perfect time to put the Torshavn lighthouse (ARLHS FAR-029) on the air. I parked the car in front of the hill on which the lighthouse was build and started to call CQ on 20m. Within a few minutes I was spotted in the DX-cluster and hell broke loose. I had constant 9+20dB signals coming in. I just wonder what it would have sounded like if I would have used a ‘real’ antenna instead of the mobile setup I was running.

Waiting to board the Norrona in TorshavnWednesday was departure day. Torshavn looked very somber that morning. It was only 14°C (57°F). We spend some time in the shops nearby, looking for a typical Faeroes souvenir and a map with all the lighthouses. We also went to the new natural history museum where we could see stuffed bird and skeletons of different whales. We learned that some small whale species are still being driven to shore in large groups and slaughtered. The last ‘hunt’ was just a few days earlier. Around 16.00 we drove the short distance to the ferry terminal. While we were waiting to board I started to run a pileup again from FAR-029, the Torshavn lighthouse.

After driving through a pool of disinfectant and even getting out of the car to wipe our feet we officially entered Iceland. Customs and immigration was only a formality.

We had 200 Km to drive to our first destination, Lake Myvatn. Finding the right road was easy, there’s only one main road on Iceland, the N1. This road circles the island and a large part of it is asphalt.

After checking in to our hotel late afternoon we began the tour of Lake Myvatn. We stopped at Hverfjall a 2500 year old crater that’s 1 km wide. There is a path to walk up to the edge of the (no longer active) volcano.

A few kilometer further is Dimmuborgir a collection of sharp edged rock formations that were created by hot lava.

The next morning we left Myvatn for Husavik. This only a 150 Km drive through a National park. Somewhere on the way into the park we must have missed a sign, or it might just not have been there, and took a 21 Km road that, as we later found out, was for 4x4’s only. It took us 90 minutes to travel this short distance without even seeing another car. I hate to think what would have happened in case we had a breakdown...

We continued to Husavik. We had no more things to see so we stopped a few kilometers short of the city at the Tjornes lighthouse (ICE-092) where I found out that Iceland is very popular on the HF bands. Further down the road there was Manareyjar Lighthouse (ICE-014). Very soon I had a small pile up running that I broke of when it was time to go back to the hotel. While driving we already saw the Lundy and Husavik lighthouses too.

Sunday was another overcast day with drizzle. We had the whole day to drive just 100 Km. About halfway to Akureyri is Godafoss (waterfall of the gods).

A short distance from the city, there’s a Christmas shop. The house of Santa is made of candy... at least that’s what it looked like....