Faroe Islands farmers charge a fee to access beauty spots as visitor numbers soar

A tourism boom to the North Atlantic islands, fuelled by social media, has resulted in some landowners taking measures to get a share of the revenues

The first snows have fallen on the sharp ridge below the 700-metre summit of Víkartindur. Walking the village path towards Saksun, we looked across to the ridge of peaks that run along the spine of the neighbouring island of Eysturoy. The jagged landscape was bathed in golden winter light and in the distance the Atlantic was a giant silvered mirror.

We saw no one else on the eight-mile walk, just a few white mountain hares darting among the rocks. As it is hunting season, my local guide, Høgni Reistrup, had checked with local farmers that no one would be shooting where we were walking. Hiring a guide makes sense on these steep slopes where the weather is notoriously changeable, and mists can descend quickly.