Drangarnir

Possibly the most unique area of geology in the Faroe Islands are the sea stacks of Dranganir and the tall spiked sided island of Tindholmur situated just behind. It’s a beautifully impressive sight to behold and luckily if you're a hiker you will have exclusive viewing bragging rights as it’s a place you can’t get too by car. A good 6 mile walk is required there and back from the nearest tourists, most likely unwilling to walk too far considering there’s so many other great views you can drive too. (luckily)

One downside to the trail is that it is over private land so you must pay for a guide (in my case, the landowners son) to meet and accompany you across the rolling coastline grass path. (Well it’s barely a path) People do venture on their own but risk paying a fine so it is important you do respect the land owner’s property and pay for the privilege. It’s not just a case of trespassing but also the walk is quite dangerous in parts especially around Dranganir where there are large ominous sheer cliff edges, certainly not a place I would ever want to fall into the sea that’s for sure! 

When i arrived in the Faroe Islands I wasn’t actually aware of this particular sight or trail until i saw a post on Instagram from an Australian guy Jordan who I had met in Midvagur on my first night’s stay. The photo was pretty awesome; I knew I had to go there so made changes to my already stacked plans! This is the beauty of the Faroe Islands, It works if you have made prior plans but as the islands are relatively small it’s easy to chop and change your itinerary. There is generally always something cooler to see than what you may have planned once you hear other people’s adventures! 

Anyways back to the journey to Dranganir. The tours run on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1st April to 1st October and costs 550dkk. (£66 in English pounds) The guide will meet you around midday in Sorvagur. (Town west of the airport) You have to go right to the end of town near the harbour and the Effo petrol station. You can easily park your hire car there and grab some snacks at the shop by the station.  I had already changed my plans to stay in Sorvagur the previous night so it was just a walk down the road for me, however that morning was extremely overcast and grey and not the best conditions for hiking, especially a paid hike to see something across the water! At the petrol station I met a really friendly couple from Florida Marcus and Gwen, recently having been married in Iceland and driving the most bling hire car in the Faroe Islands haha! They had also signed up for the walk so it was the 3 of us. It was a bit unclear on whom we were meeting but after a few minutes a man approached us with very limited English basically telling us the conditions were too poor to walk. However he took our phone numbers and said come back around 3pm as the weather was due to improve. It was all a bit confusing and unclear but the weather did get better and we returned for 3pm. After a bit of uncertain waiting the man arrived and we jumped into his van and headed to the harbour?!

So this is where my "Hiking Trail" description kind of ends, (sorry I am a fraud) as the land owners son decided that we would go to Dranganir via boat rather than the long walk round! For me personally it was a bit disappointing not to hike but on the other hand it was bloody awesome going by boat! I could see the trail as we travelled around as it followed the rugged coast. It’s not the easiest path as some parts and have steep sections as you go round the various hills, some which get very steep the further inland they rise, so technically I would say a good level of fitness is required to walk.

We got on a small little fishing boat and blasted around the wide expanse of open water, with the moody green mountains either side us until we passed a small lighthouse and glimpsed the impressive sight in of Dranganir and Tindholmur. I absolutely love the small island of Tindholmur, it just looks bizarre with its steep sloped point and sheer cliff back, just totally unique! 

The true bonus of being on the boat was how up close and personal we got to Dranganir. Not only up close but right through its arch and around, it was really fantastic. We were then taken around the southern side of Vagur with its massive sheer sided cliffs. This landscape was genuinely intimidating. The massive walls of rock and foreboding clouds above made me feel pretty vulnerable to the power of nature. Luckily the waters were calm, had it been rough it would have been a pretty scary landscape! 

After a quick visit to the biggest water cave in the Faroe Islands, which was pretty sweet and added to the already great value of the trip, we were taken back to Dranganir to finally get off the boat. There was no pontoon so just a jump off onto the rocks to pick up the hiking trail up the edge of the cliff face to stand opposite the sea stack. The guide left us for around an hour to take photos, walk around and just enjoy the awesome location and scenery, oh and run away from attacking birds! You have to be careful walking across the empty green spaces of the Faroe Islands as many birds lay their nests on the scrub land. This can result in sudden violent attacks by birds, (protecting their nests) especially the Skua which attacked me a few times during my hiking adventures. One word of warning to drone flyers also, the guide will not allow you to fly them around Dranganir due the high bird activity as they nest all around. It was a bit disappointing as I had mine but of course I respected the natural wildlife.

Once we had our fill of photos and wandering it was time to head back to Sorvagur. The boat had been patiently waiting for us to return and it didn’t take long to moor back in town and say thanks for an absolutely fantastic few hours, plus get a group selfie with my new friends! It certainly was great value for money, of course we got the boat which was a bonus but I can’t recommend enough that it’s worth paying for the hiking guide as it is such a stunning, unique location. Do it, you won’t regret it!

To book and more information, use the following link:  

https://hiking.fo/products/254?_ProductFilterIds=7%3A176%2C1%3A21&_ProductId=254&_l=en

If you have any questions about this hike then please feel free to message. GPX route available.