The Faroe islands
North of Scotland and surrounded by sea, the Faroe Islands is one of the most remote locations in Europe. Volcanic vistas dominate the 18-island archipelago, and its 1400 square kilometres are populated by just over 50,000 residents. The gravel and tarmac that ribbon between each barely-seen sight are literally the road less travelled, which is exactly what German adventurers Jonathan Steinhoff and Alena Reinecke wanted for their 2020 adventure.
The path to their self-reliant odyssey started years before, when the pair asked each other two simple questions: ‘where should they go when they graduated university?’ ‘and how would they get there?’ Boats, planes and intercontinental itineraries were all appealing, but Jonathan and Alena wanted something more personal. A European road trip gave them liberty to explore at their own pace. ‘With a camper van, we’d be completely free. So, we could go where we wanted and never need to plan anything. There are so many breathtaking places in Europe we haven’t seen.’
Car, kitchen and campsite all rolled into one,
the van chosen had to be habitable, while giving photographer Jonathan something to work with behind the lens. The pair started out looking at the Volkswagen T3 and T4 as affordable options, yet neither had the aesthetic appeal of the earlier T2.
‘Our van had to be something beautiful and the T2 shape is timeless. The design has flare and everyone you meet is happy to see you.' Starting with a dismantled American example, Jonathan and Alena spent the next year tailoring the Volkswagen to their tastes. Jonathan said: ‘Everything was taken apart inside. So, we built the entire interior ourselves.
We used the Westfalia as our reference and then redesigned everything to use different wood, different drawers and our own dimensions. My father is a hobby woodworker and he made it all fit.’ Natural materials feature prominently. The couple crafted the copper water-piping themselves and full-length wooden planking adds texture to the roof lining. A matching roof rack completes the restoration, preparing the customised T2 for life on the road. All ‘Sepp’ needed now was somewhere to go. Jonathan and Alena didn’t start small. They turned south and plotted a 1600km route to Corsica, a Mediterranean island off the west
Navigating with a compass, Google Maps and educated guesswork, they found these spectacular seaside cliffs.
coast of Italy. Jonathan said: ‘It wasn’t meant to be a practice run, but that’s what it became. We’d been on the road for five days when we heard about the coronavirus and decided to turn back.’ Their wanderlust kept calling. So, they started looking for safer options. ‘We searched for somewhere – anywhere – that wasn’t crowded and wouldn’t be affected by the disease. We stumbled on the Faroe Islands by accident, but the photos were spellbinding. We had to see the place for ourselves.’ Treeless landscapes that buck and weave to the horizon. Basalt cliffs that drop straight into the sea. Villages that cluster in gentler corners. Immediately, the Faroe Islands enchanted Jonathan and Alena. ‘One of the first places we visited was the Múlafossur waterfall, and it has to be the most impressive sight we saw. It was just such a pure and raw expression of nature’s energy.’
Clinging to the guardrail in gale force winds, the couple watched in awe as the weather blew the 40m phenomenon up onto the fields above. Powerful scenery fast became a feature of their Faroe experience. Nearby, Streymoy confronted the couple with the steps and starts of the Fossá waterfall, which clings to the rock face as it plummets 140m under a minor road and into the ocean. One walk forced the couple to cross an ocean ravine that stretches 289m deep. And a narrow and slippery wooden bridge is the only way across.
‘Terrifying. The bridge had nothing more than a handrail and it was terrifying.
We turned around the first time we saw it and had to come back another day.’
He captured the moment they finally crossed with a drone video, documenting the unimaginable depth of the Ritsukor cleft. He said: ‘It’s the only sequence I planned before we travelled to the islands. As soon as I saw the bridge online, I knew I’d have to go under it with a first-person view drone.’ Imagery is a huge part of travel for Jonathan, who channels his creativity into documenting their experiences in new and arresting ways.
‘The Faroes were a dream destination for photography and filming. It’s one of the few
'WE STUMBLED ON THE FAROE ISLANDS BY ACCIDENT — THE PHOTOS WERE SPELLBINDING. WE HAD TO SEE THE PLACE FOR OURSELVES.’
places I could go and take photos that have never been taken before.’
Their most adventurous hikes took them to places far away from footpaths and mapped routes, to locations few travellers ever see. Jonathan said: ‘Sometimes we’d walk for hours and everything would just fit together. One place we’d seen in two or three pictures wasn’t on any of our maps. So, we imagined and calculated where it might be.’
Navigating with a compass, Google Maps and educated guesswork, they found the spectacular seaside cliffs four and a half hours later. They’d met just one local during their hike.
‘We got there and ... whoa. This might just be the most untouched nature we see in our entire lives.’
The journey lives on in their memories, too, as one of the most challenging parts of their expedition. Night fell hours before they returned to the roads, leaving Jonathan and Alena to navigate the countryside with nothing more than the LEDS on their phones.
‘We had to cross a freezing river in the dark, with no knowledge of where it might be deep or shallow. That was scary.’
Even in the best conditions, the Faroes can catch out unwary walkers – the absence of trees and rarity of villages making it almost impossible to judge scale.
‘We didn’t have any reference points. So, Alena and I couldn’t tell how tall or how far away things were. It’s unreal. We were there for weeks and I still can’t quite believe it.’ Signposted routes weren’t always easier, the couple relying on their experience and mapreading skills to stay safe.
‘It’s not touristy. Everything is more untouched than the trails in continental Europe. Sometimes we’d come to spots where the path split off in several directions and not one of them was marked. So, we had to plan everything out.’
The only certainty were the route tolls – a quirk of an archipelago, where every footstep you take off the public roads is onto private property. A hike to the iconic lake above the sea – alternately known as Sørvágsvatn or Leitisvatn – cost Jonathan and Alena 27 Euros ($42.09) each.
The absence of public land makes camping
‘A CLASSIC VAN IS A VERY PERSONAL THING. WE HAVE TO CARE FOR SEPP CONSTANTLY, BUT IT’S SUCH A REAL WAY TO TRAVEL.
Jonathan captured the unimaginable depth of the Ritsukor cleft from many different perspectives with his drone.
tricky, with visitors relying on official sites to pitch their canopies. That’s where Sepp's retro styling came into its own, starting conversations that modern vans couldn’t. Jonathan said: ‘Some people saw Sepp and let us camp on their property.
‘Those connections are such an important part of our experience, and the VW T2 gets a positive reaction wherever we go. We’ll pull into gas stations and someone will come over to share their story every time. I’ve heard tales that go all the way back to the 1970s.’
Their Volkswagen turned even the shortest drive into a vivid experience, too.
‘A classic van is a very personal thing. We have to care for Sepp constantly, but it’s such a real way to travel. In a modern car you’re swaddled. Get into our van and you see more, you hear the engine, the wind whips around you and you feel the weather affect the performance. It’s a more hands-on experience. The time we spent on the Faroes feels like a real achievement – thanks to Sepp.’ Enchanted by the Islands and their T2 alike, Jonathan and Alena delayed their return ferry time and again.
Jonathan said: ‘Going home wasn’t an option. There was so much we hadn’t discovered in our first three weeks there.’
In the end, Sepp spent six weeks touring the scenic ‘buttercup’ routes of the archipelago, carrying Jonathan and Alena all the way to the island of Suðuroy.
‘There’s a village there called Sumba that really encapsulated the Faroes for us. It’s a small place on the coast with huge waves, rugged scenery and a sense that everything you can see is wet.’
Sumba is the southernmost settlement in the Faroes, but Jonathan and Alena kept driving until the tarmac ran out – in search of the most southerly location they could reach with the Volkswagen. Gravel and boulders risked their tyres as they inched over the final kilometre, before the road twisted into a hairpin clung tight to the edge of panoramic cliffs.
‘I’d imagined this photo and we had to go there. It was an unbelievable place to be with a car.’ The image encapsulates their journey. The world was off limits. But ingenuity and a classic camper still took Jonathan and Alena to the ends of the earth.
TREELESS LANDSCAPES THAT BUCK AND WEAVE TO THE HORIZON. BASALT CLIFFS THAT DROP STRAIGHT INTO THE SEA. VILLAGES THAT CLUSTER IN GENTLER CORNERS.