Field Journal

Facilitating Adventure
Written by Daniel Neilson // Photos: Mike Guest & Anders Brogaard

They are forbiddingly wild, the Faroe Islands. An archipelago, cast away in the northern Atlantic, where nature’s battles still play out in almost fantastical style. Great swirling storms rip through the Atlantic, barely registering the land below. Billowing clouds rise and fall over the peaks. Wind raps the cliff sides with such ferocity that on occasions waterfalls appear to be flowing against gravity. There are few trees on the Faroe Islands; they don’t survive. And then, in an instant, the wind drops, the sky clears and lakes and inlets fall mirror flat. The world sighs. Cars move again, and in the few settlements, people wander out on the streets. Boats chug out of their shelters into open seas. Life continues.

Unlike much of mainland Europe, where humans have carved and shaped the land for their use, on the Faroe Islands man seems to have hardly touched land. Even the old houses, with their grass roofs, appear to have been reclaimed by nature. At Saksun, on the north-west coast of the Faroese island of Streymoy, the houses blend into the mountainside. For hundreds of years, the grass roofs have supplied insulation and protection from the rain. Early inhabitants could only adapt. Water springs from all directions: out of the ground, out of the mountain, from the sky. And the great natural harbour, protected by sharp sentinel mountains, flows and ebbs, revealing a long white beach. Since the 17th century, inhabitants have farmed what they could from the land, catching seabirds and keeping sheep, but have survived from life under the sea.

A group of us had come to spend some time learning and living off this land. From our tiny wooden cabin, we explored the length of these sprawling islands, walking where the roads ran out. We wanted to experience these islands, still gripped by the elements.

Planning had started months before. A photographer and filmmaker with underwater gear and a drone pilot are never going to travel light, especially with the chance to visit a place like this. Our luggage dominated the carousel at the tiny Vágar Airport, and we were thankful for the large van we’d hired. And as we unpacked our luggage in our tiny lodging we spied what each other had brought. A photographer, a drone pilot, a writer. Several objects united us: a notebook and pencils, a camera, a recording device and a Leatherman. The tools for travel.

For years now, I’ve always travelled with a little Leatherman (in fact most of the Sidetracked team have). Trips to Ghana and Argentina, Snowdonia and Stockholm, on expeditions and family camping holidays, weekend getaways and overnight escapes in the wilds of Sussex. For a decade I’ve used and abused a little Juice C4 (which, genuinely, I’ve just discovered I can return and get the blade fixed under its 25-year warranty). With it I’ve skinned rabbits and opened bottles of wine, I’ve taken splinters out of toddlers’ hands, and fixed anything from a loft ladder to a stove on the top of a mountain in Scotland. In the Faroe Islands, I had the opportunity to test a Leatherman Wave, its best-selling multi-tool. It’s bigger than I’m used to, measuring 10cm long and weighing 239g, but loaded with more features (minus the corkscrew!). The instructions list 17 tools from a saw to a wire stripper, a diamond-coated file to a ruler.

The first thing to note is the solid feel of the tool. This is a confident piece of engineering. Each tool locks into place and can be used with one hand. The core of the piece, like most Leatherman models, is the needle-nose pliers which are long enough to attack most needs. And that’s where Leatherman really excels: in providing tools for a life unknown. If I’d written a list of all the things I’ve used my Leatherman for over the years it would be wildly diverse (and insightful), and I’m sure many of them wouldn’t have been for the intended purpose. On the Faroe Islands alone I used it for tightening a tripod, gutting and deboning a beautiful fillet of cod, mending a backpack strap, slicing some cheese and chorizo, and whittling a stick (you have to whittle a stick whenever you’re near a log fire – it’s the unspoken Leatherman law).

When Tim Leatherman was creating the first multi-purpose tool in his workshop in Portland, Oregon, in the 1980s, he would have known that the range of uses for the Leatherman would stretch beyond even what he could imagine. And that is the real genius of the Leatherman: it’s a tool for everything and everyone at anytime. And for us at Sidetracked, put pure and simply, it’s a tool that facilitates adventure.

As we tuck in to our super-fresh cod ceviche, night begins to pull its veil over the Faroe Islands. The winds whip the windows, but inside we are cosy and warm, our cabin steadfastly solid against the weather. The Faroe Islands will never be tamed, and for that we are grateful.