Faroe Islands

[steeplejack]

Thanks for all that. Flights appear to go from Aberdeen, which opens up the possibility of a split Highlands/Faroes break.

Yeh. That's with, 'Atlantic Airways' or 'Maersk Air' if memory serves.

You can get a boat from Aberdeen, too- it takes about 12 hours and isn;t constrained by fog. The airport can be closed for days on end through fog/bad weather.

 

[marty21]

OMFG!

Never thought I'd see Nettlebed mentioned on Urban.
Urrrrrm there's an old kiln right in the middle of the village to see.

i'll check that out, mrs21 has booked us into an very old timber -framed pub, can't remember what it's called, for 2 nights which will take me to my 40th...

 

[tim]

Obviously whalling brings in the big bucks....

I think most of them are eaten locally, there's not really a huge market from them, since the cetecean lovers have convinced vast swathes of people that they are basically human under all that bluber.

There was a recent set of films about some toff sailing the Atlatic coast of the British Isles who somehow ended up there, even though clearly they are not part of our great archepeligo. It looked quite interesting in a bleak sort of way. As well as the whales they seemed quite keen on mouldering hunks of mutton.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Midges. That's what I want to know. Are there going to be midges?

 

[Elpenor]

a place called nettlebed...

I was in Nettlebed yesterday. Walked from the bus stop to Christmas Common where I met my mate.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

I cycled up there once. And down the other side.

 

[marty21]

I was in Nettlebed yesterday. Walked from the bus stop to Christmas Common where I met my mate.

hopefully it will be a nice place to turn 40 in

 

[souljacker]

hopefully it will be a nice place to turn 40 in

I'm pretty sure there is only one place to stay in Nettlebed and it's got a nice, if overpriced, restaurant. Nice area for walking though. Have a wander round the grounds of the Sue Ryder home and wonder at the excellence of the grounds (I was groundsman there in the late 80's early 90's) There are some fantastic restaurants in the area too. I'm going to the Crooked Billet in stoke Row on Saturday night as it happens.

And theres always Henley, just down the road, which is nice, sometimes!

 

[Elpenor]

The pub in Christmas Common, which is about 4 miles away, 3 up from Nettlebed towards Watlington, and then a mile along a road on the right is a great little pub actually. Forget the name though

 

[Donna Ferentes]

The Fox and Hounds?

 

[Elpenor]

That'll be the one! Loads of little nooks and crannies, and the signs on the toilets are Richard and Judy!

My mate has just got a new job so I doubt he'll be pulling pints there for much longer.

 

[Calva dosser]

Faroes: watch out for the Plymouth Brethren. A lot of them pitched up there. I think the pop is a surprising 50,000+, booze is more easily available now.. I think there's a milk-run type ferry called the Noruna? that goes between Denmark/Shetland/Thorshaven, East Iceland and back in various combinations. Bit of a sureal piss-up by all accounts. Runs May/September. DFDS I think.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Yeah, thanks. That might be weird enough to look out for on its own.

 

[phildwyer]

If I do, for my fortieth (my birthday is listed in my personal details).

Wow, you're almost exactly a year younger than me. I went to Cuernavaca, Mexico for my 40th. Perhaps you might do the same?

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Perhaps, if I get an extremely substantial and unexpected pay rise....

 

[Donna Ferentes]

...which apparently I'll need anyway.

From the airline:

Dear Justin

At the moment there is availability for the flights departing on the 12th of June and staying 4 nights in the Faroe Islands.

If you were to stay at Hotel Thorshavn the price would be £717 for single traveller and If you were to stay in Guesthouse accommodation with shared facilities the price for the Guesthouse Undir Fjalli would be £544 for single traveller.

The prices above include:

• Return flights between Stanstead and the Faroe Islands
• Airport taxes
• Accommodation for 4 nights.

Five hundred and fifty quid for four nights? If I've read their website properly the flights aren't much more than two hundred nicker, including taxes. So where's the rest going?

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Looks like I've managed to negotiate them down to a little over four hundred quid for four nights, so this is probably actually going to happen. Hurrah!

 

[JenkinsEars]

I misread that as a hundred quid, which got me quite excited, until I realised you've probably left an "f" out.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

I have, alas. I shall reinstate it.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Well, they've now told me the guest house they'd arranged is unavailable, so it's all up in the air again. Gaaahhhh!

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Well, this has fallen through. I am deeply, deeply pissed off about it. I suppose I shall have to switch to plan B, which involves spending a few days in Tromso.

 

[moose]

That's not all bad, then, although I don't know what Tromso is like in the summer, having only been in the middle of winter. You won't have to bother going to bed.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Apparently not.

 

[Calva dosser]

Adverts for Thorshaven 3/4 nights spotted on Northern Line platforms around Balham/Tooting on Sunday. Prices started £424.00 couldn't glean any more info.

You can still pick up cheap (20-30 quid a night) guesthouses in Reykjavik if you don't mind sharing. And if you stock up on Brennivin at the inbound duty free at Keflavik you can still afford to get pissed using the time-honoured pre-boozer 'amuse guelle' technique beloved of the Nordics. Combined with the fact that with 24hr daylight in July you really get 2 days for one that far north.

I'm sure you said you've been to Iceland before, but if it wasn't in July, the place is still fairly buzzy and the public transport falls over itself to take you into the interior. (Well Landmannalaugur really, but it's quite cheap). And you don't need a tent, if it rains you just climb into the hot springs.

Just getting there really. Someone told me Manston airport near Ramsgate had flights. Ah for the 'go' £120.00 return. I know only rich people are supposed to use airliners for their holidays, because the poor produce too much soot, or something, but that was a sorely missed service imo.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Reykjavik? Iceland?

 

[guinnessdrinker]

Iceland and Greenland I thought of, but the former's quite popular these days (I'm trying to get away from people) and the latter probably too expensive to get to. I imagine the same is true of Spitzbergen.

try siberia

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Good point. Well, above the Arctic Circle ought to do...

 

[Donna Ferentes]

.

 

[oisleep]

i don't often recommend this place as i like to keep it to myself but on the west coast of lithuania, there is a stretch of land called the curonian spit, it is sand that has formed a thin strip of land over hundreds of years, it's about 60km length and a 1km wide, the west side of it is on the baltic coast and you get to it by walking though magnificant pine forests. the east side has lots of small fishing villages and stuff, and will probably be tourist hotspot in another 5 years, but at the moment it's tranquil as feck

you have to get a boat from klaipeda on the coast of lithuania (memel in german) to get out to the strip of land, it's a peaceful place

It also shares it's southern border with the russian enclave of kaliningrad (not the main land bit, but it also has a bit of the curonian spit), which is also worth a visit for differing reasons

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Fuuny place, Kaliningrad. I know two people who've been. Neither liked it much. A bit of a brutalist-architecture theme park. Mind you, you could say the same of Croydon, and at least Kaliningrad's got an old town.