Kalsoy

Where it sits. Kalsoy is a long splinter of basalt in the Norðoyar, the northern group of the Faroe Islands, lying between Eysturoy to the west and Kunoy to the east. It is roughly eighteen kilometres from end to end and rarely more than two wide, with thirteen peaks along its spine — Nestindar at 787 metres and Botnstindur at 743 are the highest — and a western coast that is one unbroken line of cliffs. The four settlements are all on the sheltered eastern side: Syðradalur, Húsar, Mikladalur and Trøllanes, with fewer than eighty inhabitants between them. A single road links them through four unlit tunnels bored straight through the ridges, which is why Faroese call the island blokkfloytan, the recorder. The northernmost tunnel, over two kilometres of narrow, dripping rock on the way to Trøllanes, is the one visitors remember. Unlike most of the archipelago, Kalsoy has no bridge, tunnel or causeway to its neighbours.

On screen. The northern tip of Kalsoy plays the villain's island in No Time to Die (2021), and it is where the series ends its Daniel Craig era. Filming took place in late September 2019. In the story the island lies in disputed waters between Japan and Russia, in the Kuril chain; the production added a harbour and missile silos digitally to the real headland, so what you see on the ground is the shape of the cliffs and the green shelf above them, without any of the industrial architecture. It is here that Bond, having opened the silo doors for the incoming missiles, stands on the cliff and is killed in the strike, and here that M reads the passage from Jack London — the proper function of man is to live, not to exist — over the closing scene.

The gravestone. In March 2022 the islanders did something no other Bond location has done: they gave 007 a grave. A memorial stone of Faroese basalt, cut by a stonemason in Skopun and shaped like the headstone of Bond's parents seen in Skyfall, was set on the hillside above Trøllanes on the path towards Kallur, at the spot associated with the character's death. It reads "In memory of James Bond, 1962–2021", the dates of Dr. No and No Time to Die, and carries the London quotation. The then prime minister of the Faroe Islands attended the unveiling. It has become the destination of a short pilgrimage walk, and it works better than most film-tourism monuments because the setting does all the work: no viewing platform, no signage, just wet grass, a stone and 400 metres of air.

What you actually see today. The walk out to the Kallur lighthouse from Trøllanes is the reason most people come. It is about 45 minutes each way over pasture and a rising ridge, ending at a small white lighthouse built on a narrow neck of land with the sea on both sides and the islands of Kunoy, Borðoy and Viðoy stacked along the horizon. The final ridge is exposed and should not be attempted in strong wind or low cloud, and the ground is boggy for most of the year. As at several Faroese sites, the path crosses private land and the landowners levy a fee, so carry a card or cash and expect a gate keeper in season. Mikladalur, halfway up the island, holds the bronze statue of Kópakonan, the Seal Woman, unveiled in 2014 and standing in the harbour where the sea breaks over her at high water: the legend has a farmer stealing a selkie's skin to keep her as his wife, and her curse falling on the men of the island afterwards. The cliffs are an Important Bird Area, with roughly 40,000 pairs of Atlantic puffins, 5,000 pairs of European storm petrels and 200 pairs of black guillemots.

Getting there. The ferry runs from Klaksvík, the Faroes' second town, to Syðradalur, taking about twenty minutes; the mail boat Sam has served this route for years. Sailings are limited and cars queue, so arriving early matters, and in high season foot passengers have a far easier time than drivers. A bus links Húsar and Trøllanes and connects with the boat. Klaksvík itself is reached by road and sub-sea tunnel from Tórshavn in about an hour. Carry a torch: the road tunnels are unlit, single-lane and used by traffic in both directions, with passing bays cut into the rock.

Timing and conditions. Weather is the governing factor. Summer brings puffins ashore from late April to early August and the longest daylight, but also fog rolling over the ridge in minutes. Autumn gives dramatic light and heavier seas that can cancel sailings. Winter days are short, the tunnels ice at their mouths and the Kallur ridge becomes genuinely dangerous. There is minimal accommodation on the island itself, so most visitors base themselves in Klaksvík and treat Kalsoy as a full day out.