Slættaratindur (flat summit) Mountain, the highest point in the Faroe Islands, is located in the northern part of the island of Eysturoy, between the villages of Eiði, Gjógv, and Funningur. It tends to be on the bucket list of most travellers to the island and is a popular hike in the summer months. Indeed, the Faroese like to climb their highest mountain on the summer solstice to watch the sun set and then rise again a few hours later, and much merriment is enjoyed in those twilight hours, with singing, dancing and feasting on Faroese delicacies such skerpikjøt (wind-dried mutton) and dried fish, accompanied by copious toasts of Lívsins Vatn (aquavit).

The views from the summit are extensive, but given the Faroe Islands’ location in the North Atlantic it’s often shrouded in cloud, especially when the wind is coming from the north. The summit can be reached from two designated starting points: the first, from the fishing village of Gjógv, takes about four hours; the second, from Eiðisskarð, the pass between Eiði and Funningur, takes under an hour and is the route that we chose. It’s forbidden to wander into meadows or outfields which are all in private ownership and wild camping is not permitted, so you must stick to officially designated and waymarked trails at all times.

From the small dirt car park alongside the road at the highest point of the Eiðisskarð Pass, cross the stile over a fence and follow a faint track up a very steep grassy slope in a straight line, keeping a fence on your right-hand side. At an altitude of about 670 metres, some 30-40 minutes’ walk, the ground begins to get stonier and you meet a well-defined inclined pathway leading uphill to your left. Great views of Eiðisvatn Lake, Nordskali Fjord, the village of Haldórsvík with its octagonal church, and a string of mountains to the north can now be enjoyed.
Follow this path for about a kilometre uphill. Be careful as the drop off is very steep and it’s quite eroded in places, crossing exposed shelves of rock which could be slippery when wet, and occasional loose, friable ground. About 30 vertical metres from the top, several trails begin to emerge but the actual path swings to the right to ascend to the summit around the back of the mountain. Great views down towards the fishing village of Eiði on Nordskali Fjord, and the sea stacks, Risin og Kellingin (the Giant and the Witch), just off the enormous sea cliffs of northern Eysturoy can be enjoyed before the final climb to the summit. Great care must be taken as the ground is very rocky and gravelly, and involves some scrambling over ledges of naked rock with steep drop-offs to the left-hand side.

After climbing for around an hour you emerge onto a flat summit marked by a large cairn amid shattered rock virtually devoid of vegetation, a stark contrast to the neon-green vegetation of the surrounding landscape. The stupendous summit view covers practically all of the Faroes eighteen islands, piled up in conical basalt humps and wreathed in pillow-soft cloud, and in exceptionally clear weather it’s even been claimed that Vatnajøkull in Iceland can be seen, a distance of about 550 kilometres, which seems somewhat doubtful! As the cloud descended quite rapidly after our arrival on the summit making the air chilly and clammy, we didn't tarry long and returned along the ascent route back down to the car park.