The tops of the mountains are visible. The wind has died and the rain stopped. I am surprised to check the forecast, it is worse than yesterday. The gale warning is still dated yesterday but the forecast has changed.
Faeroes
Gale warning - Issued: 1552 UTC on Friday 15 July 2016
Westerly severe gale force 9 expected soon
- Wind
- Cyclonic 6 to gale 8, increasing severe gale 9 at times, becoming northwest 5 or 6 later.
- Sea state
- Rough or very rough.
- Weather
- Rain or showers.
- Visibility
- Moderate or good.
I slept little last night.
I close windows at midnight but locked doors rattle and annoy so at 1.30 I get up and jam them with cardboard. I finally sleep, but fitfully, without fresh air. I toss and wake many times, finally giving up at 4.30am and get coffee.
It's a lonely old business this, for two days I've barely spoken to a soul other than the obligatory hei hei. Rain has not encouraged dallying or conversation with strangers. Other travellers I had hoped i might meet have not materialised.
I decide to walk early hoping to avoid the worst of the weather. A low level river walk, 2 miles each way there and back with 2.5 miles round trip. I put some nuts in my bag. I am tired, my knee has been aching all night and despite resting yesterday it does not want to walk. I treat it gently but walk steadily.
Spitting rain starts to hit my face and I wonder what my tactic will be. Walking in light rain is not a problem but if yesterday's rain starts before predicted at eleven I may abandon my walk despite having waterproof leggings with me. I study the map carefully and laugh at my anxiety on my last walk, hardly a remote mountain walk but challenging enough for me. Today's will be much easier, there's little point in trying any of my other plans, there is little visibility.
A path cuts across marshes, I find cows I've not noticed at the head of the fjord. The way is very puddly in places and my shoes, that have not yet dried out from yesterday, soon let dribbles seep in. Although it was not marked on the map, I'm pleased to find that this marsh path joins my route which takes me out on a minor road and on to a river path to return.
Ive been collecting bits of fleece whilst out walking and during my 'nothing' day yesterday, but after my visit to the art gallery, I intended to make a felted image, to stitch into later at home. Instead, I found myself procrastinating, anxious about causing mess. Looking at the flowers as I walk and thinking of incorporating plant material into paper making, it occurs that I might experiment with petals in felt. I suspect shiny buttercup may not take hold but think ragged robin might and cotton grass. Now on a mission I feel noticeably less tired and my knee is less bothersome. My pockets begin to fill, cotton grass on the right, blossoms in the left. I don't have net or bubble wrap and wonder how I might create the rough surface I need to felt efficiently. Angelica is plentiful and I think maybe if I lay it's leaves below and on top, protected by plastic, it might have the desired effect.
The streams that my path cross are excitable, now swollen with bright clear water, they make good company. My route climbs more than I expect to but I guess there's no such thing as a flat walk here and I'm pleased to be climbing on road not rocks. The rain is now spitting steadily but i am committed, not turning back. My route is straightforward, which is fortunate as my map is disintegrating.
I see a path that takes me across the river, sooner than I expected for I am barely yet beyond the trees on the other side of the valley. It has a sign, I pull out my soggy map and the words are the same so I take the grit path, pleased to be heading home as rain falls more heavily. I walk into the woods and enjoy the change of landscape, small and shrivelled but nevertheless trees. Picnic benches and seats overlooking the stream suggest that on finer days this may be busy. No sitting for me today.
Children laugh and I see them playing in a den when bright colours catch my eye. I find trees that have been adorned and I go towards them to share the presumed celebration of trees. Surprise is an inadequate word to describe my thoughts as I look at the decorations more closely.
Amused, I sit, unsure whether they give me pleasure or not. I move on and find a woman with the children who explains their significance.. She tells me this is a very special place to bring children when they are old enough to discard their dummy. She says they know they are grown up, when at last they leave their dummy on the tree!
