The Pilgrim's Progress

158 kilometers down, 485 to go!

Yesterday evening I strolled (more like staggered) into Hamar, my first major milestone on the road to Trondheim. If you look at it strictly from a numbers perspective, I'm already a quarter of the way there! Of course, the terrain gets much rougher north of Lillehammer, so I'm not expecting to put in 40-km days then like I have been so far.

Overall, things have been very good so far. I've seen plenty of beautiful countryside, met some nice people, and enjoyed the exercise. The only downside has been my feet. To put it mildly, they have taken a serious beating. I guess they're just not used to logging big miles each day, because now I have silver dollar-sized blisters on each of my heels, abrasions around my Achilles' tendons, and, at the end of the day the balls of my feet ache like a sonofabitch. So all that (along with the fact that I've basically been hauling ass thus far) led to my decision to take a rest day here in Hamar. I'm sure my feet will thank me for it. And, to top it off, the youth hostel here has free internet, enabling me to write this post, complete with PICTURES!

Here's where I started out: the ruins of the Mariakirke in Oslo's Gamle By (old city):

The first stone marker indicating the way to Trondheim/Nidaros. 643 km to go:

Unfortunately, the historic path out of Oslo goes straight through what is now a largely industrial area, so there wasn't much to photograph along that stretch. But as I ascended into the hills surrounding the city, things got much quieter, and much prettier:

After walking about 40 km, I made it to the first place I would spend the night, a farm called Arteid:

The Eriksen family, which owns the farm, were so friendly to me while I was there. I initially the daughters and their Russian au pair, and although their command of the English language was not great, they did their best to make me feel at home. When their father, Dagfinn came home, he set me up in a 200-year old farmhouse and gave me some food and beer. It was just what I needed after an exhausting day.

Relaxing with Lady, the family dog:

Of course, I continued walking the next morning. One thing you have to understand about Olav's Way is that it's not a wilderness trail, and sometimes not even a "trail" at all. In the past four days I've found myself walking through front and back yards, next to local roadways, across abandoned racecar tracks and shooting ranges (yikes!), along railroad tracks, and sometimes even straight through farm fields:

On the third night I stayed in a traditional "stabbur" at Hestnes Gård. A stabbur is basically a barn/farmhouse building elevated off the ground by stones or concrete pylons:

The next day, after a few hours of walking I was within striking distance of Hamar. I stopped to rest and have lunch at Stange Kirke, where I took these pictures:

The church itself:

503 km to go:

View of Lake Mjøsa from Stange Kirke:

So that's where I've been so far. Hopefully by tomorrow my feet will have recuperated enough to take on the next section of the trail, which traces the eastern shore of Lake Mjøsa to Lillehammer. Wish me luck!

Oh, one more thing before I go. I took this picture while I was still in Oslo. One of my new goals, after I get to Trondheim, is to go to a bar, order a can of this stuff, do a spit take, and exclaim, "Hey, this beer tastes like AASS!!!"