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St Olav's Way
  • Doug Fitzgerald

St Olav's Way

I am travelling to Norway to walk the western route of the Gudbrandsdalsleden from Oslo to Trondheim. On the way I will be visiting family and friends in Perth WA, and on the way home will do the same in England Read more
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  • Trip start
    June 12, 2024
  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler

    Visiting Perth Day 2

    Jun 14–19, 2024 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    I started the day doing a trial pack of most of my pack. It was neither quick nor tidy, and it is still too heavy.

    After that it was a short walk down to the river, through one of the wine estates and back along a short stretch just off to the edge of a highway. These were parts of my early teenage years when this place was one way to get to school on my bike.

    The area has a far older history, with the first Europen settlers arriving here shortly after the Swan River Colony was founded, displacing an indigenous population that had been here far longer than that.

    This afternoon I went with my daughter and granddaughter into Perth to vist the WA Art Gallery and catch up with my sister for dinner.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler
    Pam on the Heritage Trail near Boya
    Railway cuttingWhat??

    A gentle walk from Boya to Darlington

    June 17, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    An old friend had suggested we take a walk in the Perth hills this morning. It was an offer too good to miss. While I can't say I leapt at the idea of doing one last walk with a loaded pack, it seemed I should do something to be even a little better prepared to walk the St Olavs Way.

    We followed a path in a reserve created along a now long departed railway line up to Darlington, where we had a break for tea and scones, returning to Boya a couple of hours and 10 or so km later.

    There is something different about the Perth hills that always makes walks there very pleasant. Part of that was my friend's company, but there was the different trees and bushes, the gravel path with its covering of treacherous roller skate round pebbles, and the late morning birdsong. It was a wonderful way to spend the last morning of my stay here in Perth.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler

    A long couple of days

    June 19, 2024 in England ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    I arrived in Oslo after midnight, just two hours short of two full days travelling.

    QANTAS had not been able to check my baggage through to Oslo, only to Heathrow. There were explanations, but none of them seemed very compelling given the original booking had been made months ago, and has been fiddled with a few times since. That meant clearing immigration and customs, then going to the departures hall to check in again. I was told checking in wouldn't be possible until four hours before the light, in some nine hours time.

    Faced with the prospect of sitting around at Heathrow and doing something much more interesting, I arranged to meet my son for lunch in Rochester. In one of those moments of travel serendipity, when I got to Rochester station, across the tracks on the other platform was my daughter-in-law waving madly at me to attract my attention. We had a little chat, and I managed to get to her platform just before she needed to get on to her train heading into London.

    I had a little time to kill and thought that it would be an opportunity to explore Rochester Cathedral. This wasn't to the. For some reason, the cathedral was closed until later in the afternoon. So I wandered around the cathedral and then along the High Street to entertain myself while waiting for my son.

    We had a nice lunch at a cafe called the cheese room, after which we went back up to Daniel's place and then I headed back to the station and then went to the airport.

    That was so much better than just waiting around all day at the airport.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler

    Visiting the Oslo Pilgrim Office

    June 20, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    It probably wasn't a surprise to wake up tired after only having a couple of hours of sleep. I wasn't able to settle until after 4:00 a.m. this morning and work around 7:30 a.m. After a very nice breakfast at the hotel next door my first priority was to visit the Oslo Pilgrim office.

    After a bit of help from the hostel staff and the woman selling me the bus pass, I was on my way across to where the pilgrim office is now located. There was a nice Canadian woman there who was helping several prospective pilgrims from Oslo and northern Germany. One couple is cycling all the way through to the Llofeten Islands, but the others are intending to walk to Trondheim.

    Some I might see along the way, but one is planning substantially longer days than I am going to walk, and the other is likely to take the Eastern route out of Oslo. So I'm not expecting to see either of them before Lillehamer at the earliest.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler

    St. Olav's Way - to Abbediegen

    June 21, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    I've started out from the pilgrim office just before 9 o'clock in the morning. There was another Pilgrim at the mile marker man from Germany who plans to walk the Eastern route.

    I hadn't realised quite how close the turn-off to the Western route was to the pilgrim office and almost missed the turn. There are a few times today where I clearly missed the signposting. In the city, this isn't too bad as there's normally a reasonable alternative to get back on track. It won't be so easy later in the week I expect if one misses a way marker.

    Along the way, I stopped at Gamle Aker kirke, the oldest building in Oslo. Technically, the church wasn't open, but some workers were there doing some repairs to the basement, and they let me look in through the open front doors for a few minutes.

    My next stop was for coffee, after about two hours of walking. Then it was on to Vigeland Park and the marvellous statues there.

    Very short walk to the metro stop at pronounceable name and the trip back to my hotel here in Central Oslo.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler

    To Markastua Garlaus

    June 22, 2024 in Norway ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    I got the tram to where I had stopped walking the previous day. That took until about 10 am. It wasn't long before I arrived at a large shopping centre that had all the appearances of having a coffee shop as well as a McDonald's. Consistent with my advice to others, I decided that it wasn't a good idea to pass up the opportunity for a coffee and piece of cake.

    Along the way I had been stopped briefly by a local in his Tesla, wanting to have a chat about what I was doing. He was mildly surprised that anyone would come from Australia to walk to Trondheim.

    It started raining almost immediately after I set off from coffee. I made the mistake of not getting my rain pants on as well as my rain jacket, and for the rest of the morning and then the afternoon, my trousers got gradually wetter and wetter. It was well into the afternoon when I found a place for the bench seat that I could use to get my brain pants on, and at that stage, the rain started to let up anyhow. So now I had rain pants and the rain jacket keeping the sweat in and not having to do too much work keeping the rain out. It's always a risk.

    The next important thing to do was to stop at a supermarket and get some provisions for dinner and tomorrow's breakfast and lunch. This meant shopping at the last available supermarket along the route, ensuring that I didn't have to carry a large grocery bag too far.

    I had forgotten how steep hillsides can be here in Norway. And today was the first of what I expect to be many such climbs out of valleys. It was relatively slow going over the last couple of kilometers to get up to this really very pleasant herbage.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler
    On my way here, I was told the hotel had a magnificent view. It does.The sandwich they made me was pretty good too.

    Crossing to Kleivstua

    June 23, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    All you get for the moment is a screenshot of the walking track details and a couple of photos. The view from the hotel dining room is across the fjord at Sundvollen to the farmland I will be walking through tomorrow.

    Getting away from my overnight stay was relatively simple. There was a short section of road that I'd walked up yesterday before turning, I think roughly to the Northwest. At this point the road stopped and I was on a steep uphill trail covered in rocks, roots and mud. It's so reminded me a previous walks I have done here in Norway and in Sweden. Most of the morning was walking on these trails and the occasional gravel road.

    The walk in the morning was full of bird song and the occasional sight of small birds along the path near houses. The only other wildlife sighting was a small snake, about 40 centimetres long, that saw me before I saw it, thankfully, and was wriggling off the path before I even got a glimpse of it.

    There might have been some other wildlife around towards the end of the day because there was a small amount of gunfire off to one side. Although I did contemplate that they might have been target shooting rather than hunting.

    This hotel has the most magnificent views over the valley and the area over which I will be walking tomorrow.i    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler
    My morning tea spot
    A cycling pilgrim's rigNever a flat spot in the road for longThe pilgrim's hut at Stall Lisetta

    Stall Lisletta

    June 24, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    What might look relatively flat when looked at from the ridge line over the looking the Valley quickly turns into a hilly mess when one gets closer.

    The day began with what I think was one of the most treacherous descents I've ever undertaken. The Descent was on a rocky roadway that dropped some 300 meters in just over 1.5 kilometres. Along the side of the track down, there are artworks and signboards attesting to the people who've lost their lives over the years descending this ravine.

    After doing a little shopping at the bottom of the hill, it was time to cross the fjord and make my way up the other side. I stopped halfway across where there was a seat down by the Waters Edge where I had a snack before heading off again.

    There was a nice combination of forest paths shortly after leaving Vik, then a bunch of gravel and asphalt roads for much of the rest of the day.

    Stall Lisette seems to be an old horse agistment property, although it isn't being used for that any longer. It is very clearly a bloke's place. There is one cabin for Pilgrims, and campervan parking for the rest of the visitors.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler

    A nice couple

    June 25, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Jan Bang and Ruth Wilson were just really nice people, and all that one could hope for as pilgrimage hosts. Their house, Gamleveien 60, has a little building that is Jan's office, workshop, garage, and a little room with three beds for pilgrims.

    It was nice chatting with them, Ruth prepared a simple dinner for me and a nice breakfast the next morning. I ate in their really pleasant little permaculture garden.

    It is great knowing that people like Jan and Wendy are willing to share their homes and host pilgrims.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler
    Slavika

    Sister churches - Granavollen

    June 27, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Left Slavika early this morning and I've been plodding all morning getting up the side of the valley. Last hour or so has been more pleasant getting here.

    I'm taking a break now at the Pilgrimssenter. One of the staff popped in and started the coffee, and then went off to find milk but it's now gone over to the churches to run a guided tour. So I am by myself for the moment and shortly I will wander down to the cafe that's open just down the road and get something for lunch.Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler

    To Majors-Alm Farm

    June 27, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    The second part of today's walk was relatively short, only about an hour. Right now, I'm sitting outside the little hergerbe waiting to find out if I am sleeping there tonight or somewhere else. Not much can happen until that question has been settled.

    As it transpired, I was not staying in the herberge, but the woman running the place had found me a room in the barn that was being prepared to offer as another room for pilgrims, etc. It was far from complete, but we were able to move a mattress into the room, and I was then able to set up for the evening. It quickly became apparent that I would need to deal with an enormous number of flies if I didn't find a way of stopping them from getting into the room. As soon as I got one lot out the window, it seemed that another lot was there ready to take its place. After a little exploring, I found a large open tube leading outside where it appeared the replacement hordes were coming in. Once this had been blocked off with some paper, the problem quickly abated.

    We spent a little time chatting, and I was offered a meal and a beer, which I felt would have been indelicate to refuse. This was followed by coffee and cake. I felt that I was about the best fed I had ever been for the price that I was being charged for this place.

    She was then off to milk her cows in the summer farm up in the highlands, although I never did really find out how far away that was. I'm expecting that in reality it wasn't too far distant just up in the hills close to their winter property.

    If there was any drawback, it was that I had to make a long trek from the barn to the house to use any of the facilities. In the middle of the night, while it is still light enough to do that without great difficulty, it was still not something that I was going looking forward to.

    I later learned that the Dutch woman who had booked into the herberge arrived quite late in the evening. It was certainly after I had gone to bed, although I probably wouldn't have heard her arrival from the barn in any case. I met her when we stayed together at another place and when we reconstructed our individual journeys we realized we had been at the same place that night.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler

    At Høgkorsplassen

    June 28, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    It rained overnight and showed every sign that it was going to continue to do so during the morning. I repacked my bag so that my wet weather gear was readily accessible. Within a kilometre, I have both my jacket and rain pants on, and they stayed on for the rest of the morning.

    Getting here was a pretty challenging climb. After morning tea and a bit of shopping, the first seven kilometres was a continuous uphill slog. The slope might have varied, but only between steep and steeper. Along the way, I was passed by a couple of Dutch cyclists, and I was joined at the end by a dutch woman walking for about 10 days

    The wildlife sighting for today was a red squirrel climbing up the side of a barn right next to the road. There was normally plenty of birdsong, but I noticed today that it was more prevalent once past Farmland and into the forest areas.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler
    The three crosses just after Skysstasjonen Høgkorsplassen
    That was a big grim!Local generosity at the end of a hard climbDyste - rebuilt church alter

    Staying in a Parish House

    June 29, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    I think I have been carrying around my breakfast saviour for a few days without realising it. I bought a couple of packets of 'make in the bag, single serve' porridge a few days ago. I have been reserving them since. Tomorrow and Monday, I will need them because I decided not to shop on the way here, forgetting that nothing much opens on a Sunday.

    I misread the signposting coming here, although it didn't take more than a few hundred metres and a short, sharp climb I didn't need to do to find it. Not great at the end of the day.

    Animal count - a red deer darting across the road ahead of me.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler
    Kolbu Kirke
    Behind Kolbu KirkeHoff KirkeAnother St Olavs Way markerAfter HoffLake Mjøsa from just before KappKapp Kirke

    Reaching the shores of Lake Mjøsa

    June 30, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    This time in 2012, I was walking on the other side of Lake Mjøsa. I was reminded of this as I came across the ridge where I caught my first glimpse of the lake today and wondered where on the other side I would have been back then.

    The day started with a climb, but overall, the trail was descending to the lake. And unlike the other descent days so far, much of it was through farms and along quiet roads. This resulted in a slightly higher overall speed for the day.

    I visited three churches today along the track, and passed one more St Olavs Way marker.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler
    Houses at the water's edge - Lake Mjøsa
    The first distance to go sign I have seenGjøvik church

    Getting to Gjovik

    July 1, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    It was not until nearly nine o'clock that I was able to leave the campground I stayed at last night. Part of this was my own fault because I wasn't really well prepared this morning to make a quick getaway.

    Very early on in the day, I faced the dilemma where the signposting indicated something different to the route shown on the pilgrim office website. I made the wrong choice and added a little bit to the day as I got back on track to the changed route. While the new route followed a major road for a fair amount of time, it eventually got back down closer to the shores of the Lake.

    While generally I was happy walking along the lakeshore, there were a couple of places where the tree roots that I didn't see caused me to take a tumble. Not pleasant.

    The final leg into Gjøvik was all on asphalt. While it passed some interesting places, it was getting pretty hard on the feet at the end of 20 kilometres.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler

    Staying in Biri

    July 2, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    I think this one photo says it all about today's walk. It's taken halfway up one of the shorter climbs in the day. The views across the lake are just stunning the higher one gets, provided there is some farmland or a cleared patch of forest.

    Today had it all. Asphalt to muddy tracks. Farmland, forests and small towns. Bright sunshine to threatening rain. It was along walk, but a good one.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler

    Staying a day in Lillehamer

    July 3, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    I'm going to have a rest day here in Lillehammer tomorrow. While I don't expect to do very much, I do want to go and see the Maihaughen Museum. I briefly visited it the last time I was here without realizing just how much there was to see there and how much time I really needed to do that.

    So for the rest of this afternoon I'm doing domestic things like getting my washing done and dried, sorting out few bits and pieces for my food bag, and seeing if I can find a part that I have lost from my water bladder.

    When I arranged the booking for the hotel I am staying at, I had expected to arrive much later in the evening. So I had booked my meal tonight in the hotel dining room rather than going look for somewhere to eat later in the evening. The dining room looks pretty much like a reasonable railway station cafeteria. It has some interesting selections, like moose stew, along with staples like pasta and pizza. It will be interesting.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler

    Catching the bus

    July 3, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    The trouble with putting off telling about these difficult moments is that it's not really easy, even with some time elapsed, to know how to admit to being an absolute goose.

    At Biri, I decided to follow the stages outlined in my guidebook and to attempt the walk to Lillehammer in one day. There was a suggestion that this day would involve much less climb and descent than the previous few days had involved. That wasn't true.

    I should have known this because I had plotted out the root on a mapping tool that I am using, and it can quite quickly show the ascents and descents that the track will take along the way. And when I looked at it later, it was clear that there wasn't any less climbing to do than the previous days.

    So attempting to walk 29 kilometres was a really foolish thing to do. By the time I was approaching Vingrom, I must have looked pretty terrible. Terrible enough for a German cyclist coming from Trondheim to stop and check whether I was still okay. While I might have wanted to appear positive, that certainly wasn't the case. In light of his concern and my own view that I would be arriving in Lillehammer sometime after midnight at the rate that I was going, it was time to catch a bus.

    The Norwegian ENTUR app came into its own. I quickly found when the next bus was coming past, where I needed to be to catch it, how much it cost, pay the fare, and have the ticket barcode ready to activate as the bus approached. Perhaps 20 minutes later I was at the Lillehammer train station, and even though it was still early, the hotel had a room ready.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler
    Part of the rural area of the Maihaugen museum
    Looking across to the summer farm houses1An owl standing guard over a road tunnel

    Maihaugen

    July 4, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    I spent most of the afternoon up at this delightful collection of Norwegian houses. They seem to come from all over the country not just from the local region and represent many centuries of the way Norwegians have lived their lives. The modern collection represents housing from the 1930s onwards and includes housing from a broad spectrum of social classes.

    There are nice touches throughout this open area museum. This included the pathway up to the summer farm houses being a rough and rocky track covered in tree roots. This is much as I expect it might have been to get to those farm houses in the hills wherever they were originally.

    On my return to the hotel, I took a slightly different route than I thought I was taking and wandered past an interesting decoration to the tunnel that led to the bus station. It was one of those interesting things one might otherwise never have seen if I had actually followed the route I had planned.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler
    2The Olympic Flame carrier

    Leaving Lillehammer

    July 5, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    Leaving Lillehammer is not all that complicated, although I did manage to mess up some of the first part of the route. After I was on the main road out of the city, things got much simpler. Closer to the city centre, houses were close together and fronted the street. Further out larger blocks appeared with houses set back from the street and lawns or gardens starting to emerge.

    At Fåberg, there is a detour in place that takes the route along a long section of asphalt road. Quite by accident, I happened to get a little lost and followed the traditional route for several kilometres. Eventually, there are directions back to the detour, and one joins the asphalt once more. The best that could be said about this long, boring stretch is that there is an interesting view of a construction site of a major piece of highway. Of course, if that is of no interest, it is just painful.

    After that the root goes uphill and follows rural roads and Forest tracks for a fair distance. Only at the end does it emerge back onto the asphalt for the final stretches into Nermo, and the road down to Hafjell, near where I am staying tonight.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler
    The black sheep of the family
    3

    A night in a simple hut

    July 6, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    I am staying in Stalsbergsvea, where there are a couple of simple huts close to the owner's house. The huts are nice, with one major disadvantage. The toilet is a couple of hundred metres away up the hill that one came down to get here.

    The day started well enough, although having to climb 130 m over a kilometre and a half to rejoin the formal trail took half an hour. That made it a pretty slow start to the day.

    The walk itself seemed to spend a fair amount of time on asphalt road, interspersed with short stretches of Farm Road or Forest track. There were some short climbs, normally quite steep, to get high up on the valley wall. The final stretch of this was crossing a saddle that looked like it might have been a shortcut down the Valley. As a walker, some of the shortcuts lose their attraction because they are so steep and difficult to negotiate.

    Along the way, we passed Skåden Gard, the place where I stayed on my first night out of Lillehammer when I walked this route in 2012. This year, it has taken me a day and a half to get to the same spot my younger self took a day to walk.    Read more

  • Doug FitzgeraldSt Olav's WayTraveler
    Ringebu Prestgarden
    4

    A noisy campground

    July 8, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    I had a slow start this morning because I needed to go to the shops and replenish my food bag at least enough to get through lunchtime. I also wanted to pick up a USB cable, which proved somewhat more difficult. The first shop I visited had none at all, the second had USB cables, but only with Apple lightning connectors. It wasn't until I went down to the service station right by the highway that I found a suitable cable. By that time, I had been on the road for an hour and gone really only a couple of kilometres.
    After that, the walk was a nice mix of rural roadways, farm paths, and forest tracks. There was a bit of ashphalt on the way to Ringebu Kirk, and after it leading into the town itself.
    The final leg of the day was into the campground I'm staying in tonight. There is a truly spectacular little gorge on the way in that the river is just roaring through. Shortly afterwards, there's a final climb and descent through a wooded area. The campground itself is pretty close to the E6 and relatively noisy. Otherwise, it's quite a pleasant little campground, and the hosts have been quite welcoming.    Read more

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