Mýlingur

When I first saw Mýlingur last summer with A, I so wanted to climb it, but the circumstances weren't right then, so it was "unfinished business". The forecast for today was excellent, so I got the 07:45 coach out of Klaksvík. At Oyrarbakki, I changed onto the minibus that goes to Tjørnuvík, a very cute village (see extra) that was the finish of the mountain half marathon that first brought me to the Faroe Islands. I took the familiar trail up to a 500m col, walked around the head of a shallow valley, and up onto a ridge at 600m, where Mýlingur came into view. It wasn't as pretty today, as it was last July, as the grass hasn't greened-up yet.

Most of what's in the photo is actually Snubburnar (623m). Mýlingur itself (564m) is beyond the dark gash in the summit ridge. I was a bit anxious when I contemplated the ascent to come, since the grass is very steep, and there are sheer sea cliffs all the way. However, once it became a case of focusing on the immediate area where I was walking, it was fine. although the reascent after the drop down from the ridge was 250m on steep grass, so it was hard work. The summit of Snubburnar is where steep ground stops at the cliff (see extra) so I didn't linger. Then there was a 150m drop before the 100m climb back to the summit of Mýlingur. This is relatively flat - tens of metres wide! - so I could relax and enjoy the views as I walked to the 524m promontory at the far end. It's the view of this promontory that's seen most from other places, and I guess this is why Mýlingur is the name used for the hill. The extra shows the two sea stacks opposite Tjørnuvík and a sequence of promontories. The furthest of these is Cape Enniberg which, at 754m, is one of the world's highest. That's on my list.

Going down (and across) steep ground is scarier than climbing up, and I used up a lot of mental and physical effort in the descending traverse, before the climb back up to the first ridge. After that, I ran back down to the col, and was back in Tjørnuvík just before the minibus back to Oyrarbakki. There I had an hour to kill before the bus to Klaksvík, so I picked up some groceries. 

In Klaksvík, I went to the Tourist Information where the (Indonesian) woman running it guided me through the process of buying a concert ticket on the Faroese-only website.

Strava got very excited on the steep ground, and credited me with more than 4000m climb over 19km in 5 hours: I wish! It was more like 1200m.