Iceland and the Faroes

 The speaker at the meeting on Thursday 12 September was our own member Anthony Chick. Anthony has worked on a number of islands in the UK and always wanted to visit Iceland. He spoke in detail about the tour to Iceland and the Faroes he made on a cruise in June this year. Starting from Liverpool after 2 days at sea they arrived at Reykjavik. Using many photos he told us about the history, geology and the scenery of the locations he visited. An interesting fact was the makeup of the Icelandic flag - red cross for volcanic fires, white cross for snow on a blue background for the sea. The photos of the waterfalls - Gullfoss and Godafoss, showed the size and vast flows of the water. There were few flowers but in some areas, lupins grew in profusion due to their nitrogen fixing properties which improved the poor soil.The ship went in a clockwise direction around the coast from Reykjavik and then sailed to Torshaven the capital of the Faroes, a group of 18 islands. Sheep farming is a major industry on the Faroes, together with fish exports. There are 21 tunnels constructed as part of the road network. Four tunnels are under the sea enabling access to other islands.