Life on Mykines

Ten people live here. Only one tiny pier protect the boat landing from the open Atlantic, all other sides of the island are steep bird cliffs. It is simply an extremely extreme place, but ever so beautiful. Eight months of the year, plus stormy days in summer, they rely on helicopter to reach the bigger islands to the east. To the west, there's only the sea.

The houses in the village are mainly abandoned in wintertime. 

Katrina

Tourists coming here are mainly those who can afford to be "grounded" a day or two in bad weather. It is of course a dream come true for ornithologists or the average adventurer, but even most faroese people have not made the effort to see this awesome place, where you can get a bed and some grub in Kristianshus. They only have 35 beds, so booking is a good idea in high season. Katrina will take well care of you.

The making of an art gallery and a studio, along with a small hotel are in the process, but I do not know how far the work has come. Anyone know, please add info in the comments, and I will fill in fresh facts here.

Esbern

I visited the island at three occasions back in 2009, for the puffin hunting (see episode 1),  Kristians Blaks concert (episode 4) and as part of the circumnavigation. Kayaking out here was unreal, as conditions were very favourable. Even so, I had two of the most dramatic experiences I ever had in a kayak out here, you will see one of them in this episode, and the other in the next. I never intended to be a "first timer", but as you will see in the program, I went were no man has been before. Kind of by accident. I really did not intend to do it, believe me - but I was sucked into it, literally ...

An old breed of sheep thrive on the green hills.

This weeks scrap-video:

True to new habit, I'll give you a bonus video. This one comes with no subtitles, but it is hardly needed, as the hoisting of fuel barrels and peculiar stairway-elevator speaks for themselves.

As you can see, Esbern and Katrina are totally dedicated to life on their island - as long as the kids also like it - but they sure have a bucketful of challenges in their daily life. How they cope through long hard winters, with a new storm thundering in with each low pressure, is more than I understand. But they have personalities built to endure.

Thanks so much for your hospitality and help and good luck with building a Mykines for the future!


... and here's the short bonus feature:

Paul i Vesterled!

Finally! What else can I say. Years have passed without this series, that I am so proud of, could be shared here on my blog. It has been a long struggle with broadcasters and newspapers. To put it short, they seem not to find it "commercially interesting", so I hope you will judge for yourself and any opinion will be most welcome below. As I write, the programs are shown every week on TV8, thanks to the enthusiastic support of "Japan Photo", a great photoshop chain which is most inspiring to cooperate with. Do check them out, if you live in Scandinavia.

"Paul i Vesterled" translates "Paul goes west" or "Paul takes the western trails", which to a Norwegian would mean crossing the ocean towards the islands in the North Atlantic. These are closely related to us, both in the original language, which they have kept more of, and many other customs. This is one of the reasons why I want to shed a light on this cultural treasure.

And then there's nature. Nature like you would not imagine. Awesome is the perfect word for it, as I have time and time paused, in awe, just sucking in the splendour surrounding me on the trip.

Action has been a great part of the adventure. To be very honest, I am lucky to be here today. And somewhat skilful, as a couple of the challenges I met on this trip belongs to my top five list of experiences that could have been my last one.

Much more to come!

What more can I say. Here you have the promo for the series. I do have to admit that my later projects (you will find them on the bar to the right) have improved my skills in editing, sound and colour adjustment, but my guess is that you will not be disappointed and the stories are nonetheless powerful  enough to make the episodes more than worth viewing. Please do share your favourite with your pals on the web and help me reach out, as I think both the programs themselves and the exceptional characters in them deserve it!

IMPORTANT: Everything is high resolution, so choose HD! And I have taken the pain to subtitle everything, so choose English or Norwegian text as you like, on the right side of the bar just below the image.

This post offers the promo for the series. Tomorrow I'll give you the first episode, and every Thursday after that, for 13 more weeks, I will open up the world of the Faroe Islands and Iceland to you, with background stories and the odd cut away scene. You have something to look forward to!

... and a belated Happy New Year to all. Make it one to remember for something good.