Day 24

Vuku to Stiklestad 
Distance: 6.7 miles / 10.8 km
Cumulative: 265.6 miles / 427.4 km 

“With this we may encourage ourselves, that we have a more just cause than the bondes…” Olav Haraldson, 29 July 1030, Spoken as he was about to lead his 3,500 men against Danish King Canute’s 13,000 at Stiklestad.

A lot to cover today so buckle up. 

First the history lesson. After King Canute fomented an uprising against him, Olav fled to Kiev (хай живе україна) and hung out with his cousin for a bit. While there he developed a reputation as a great healer. This was based largely on an incident where he gave a boy some bread and it cured a boil on his neck.

As he contemplated his next career move, Olav considered becoming a monk. In the end he decided he would rather be king again—fair enough. He journeyed home across the Baltic Sea landing in Selånger, Sweden, which is where we picked up his tracks. He marched across Sweden and Norway, ignoring the mosquitoes, and camped at Vuku, coincidentally where we stayed last night. On July 29, 1030, he marched to Stiklestad, gave his men a rousing pep talk (not as good as the one from Independence Day, but inspiring nonetheless), and promptly died in battle. 

But the miracles kept coming. When he fell in battle he landed on a stone, leaving an indentation. If you are keeping track this is the second time he has dented a stone. There is a 12th century church with the altar built on the exact spot where he fell. Behind the altar they have that dented stone. 

The church built where Olav died. 

The altar with Christ carrying a sword?

Olav’s death. The eyes and feet are creepy. 

The stone Olav dented when he fell in battle. 

The veneration of St. Olav is not without its commercial aspects. Here in Stiklestad they have a large hotel adjacent to the church. That’s where we are staying. Next door is an outdoor museum with some cool old buildings and re-creations. There’s an amphitheater and a labyrinth. I’m pretty sure the gift shop has an Olav snow globe. 

Olav’s chapel on the museum grounds. Until 2002 it was a storehouse. 

A replica of a Middle Ages guest house. You can stay here and sleep in those beds but we opted for indoor plumbing. 

Norse gods. Thor is second from left and Odin to his right. The two on the outside are Freyr and Freyja, brother and sister gods of fertility. I will not comment further. 

The exit sign. 

Gotta admit, we couldn’t figure this one out. 

Our second topic is woodworking. I’ll bet you didn’t see that one coming. The Kreative Senter where we stayed last night is run by Mona and Kai. They teach classes in various arts. She paints, but their main thing is woodworking. Turns out, they are world class woodworkers. They have been commissioned by the National Trust of Norway to carve a replica of the 11th century Urnes portal (a church door), an iconic work of Norwegian art. They have been working on it for four years.

This is the door. See the split down the left side? They couldn’t figure out how the original was cut so the seam almost disappeared. They finally found a 1000 year old tool in Hungary that will allow them to do it. 

This is a small selection of their tools. 

The tricky part is they are carving the door using the same tools and techniques used in the 11th century. Kai has made all the tools. And when I say he made them, he dug peat bog from the mountains to fire a furnace to allow him to forge the iron to make the tools as they would have been a thousand years ago. I asked if he had ever heard of Home Depot but he didn’t laugh. These guys are serious next level. 

Our hike today was short and uneventful, although fairly hilly. It was almost all on small paved roads and the views were bucolic. 

Our first view of the fjord connecting to the Atlantic. 

After three days in Norway we have decided the Norwegians have a much higher regard for the sanctity of the bathtub. We have not seen any abandoned. 

Day 23

Vuku
Rest Day 
Cumulative: 258.9 miles / 416.6 km

“We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!” President Thomas Whitmore, Independence Day, 1996

We have this tradition of watching Independence Day every 4th of July. Yes, it’s a guilty pleasure. But it’s so darn inspiring. Yesterday was long and we had entertaining company in the evening leaving us without enough time. So what better to do on our rest day. We squeezed together on my single bunk and streamed it on Kristine’s phone. Technology is amazing. 

We also said goodbye to Ivonne and Merel. We probably won’t see Ivonne again but hope to reconnect with Merel in a couple of days. 

We had another terrific meal from our hosts here at the creative center and played several games of cribbage, plus some rummy. We split on cribbage but Kristine slaughtered me in rummy, as usual. 

Thunderstorms rolled through late in the afternoon making for some spectacular cloud formations. 

Not unlike the special effects from Independence Day.

Tomorrow we head to Stiklestad, where St. Olav met his demise. 

Day 22

Adalsvollen to Vuku
Distance: 17.0 miles / 27.4 km
Cumulative: 258.9 miles / 416.6 km

“Raise your arms Maurice! It’s more fun when you raise your arms like this!” King Julien, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, 2008

I had fully expected to use a different quote, from the first Madagascar movie. The one when the penguins disembark into a blizzard on Antarctica and one of them proclaims “Well this sucks.” But our day didn’t turn out that way.

For the last three days, I have been dreading today. It was going to be a really long day (I think the longest of the trek), and the forecast was for lots of rain. I imagined walking for seven hours cold and completely soaked.

This morning it looked like my fears would be mostly realized. It was raining when we woke up. The forecast for the afternoon, however, looked a little better and it was warmer than the last couple of days. We slowly got ready. Around 9:00 am there was a break in the rain so we headed out. The rain was never more than a light drizzle and by 11:30 am it stopped all together. 

Then it turned into a beautiful afternoon. We had to peel off all our rain gear. Plus we found a shortcut that took a mile and half off the distance. All things considered, I’d call it a win. Wave your arms!

Before we get into today’s adventure, has anyone else ever encountered an incinerating toilet? I don’t want to get into TMI territory, but it took me a while to figure out. There were filters, and a cup of water, and buttons. On the plus side, the seat was warm.

Back to our story. As we started, the trail quickly became a narrow, steep, single-track through the woods up a long climb then back down, just as steep, the other side. The rain made it a little treacherous. Fortunately this lasted less than a mile. Then we hit a gravel road that turned into a nice wide path through the forest. 

First we encountered these guys:

Every time we got within about 25 yards, they turned and ran down the road ahead of us. This went on for at least a half a mile. Highly entertaining. 

And then it turned gorgeous. We followed this mountain stream for a mile or more and it is possibly the most beautiful stretch I have ever hiked. 

When we finally came out of the forest onto to the paved road, we paralleled a classic mountain river for several miles.

As the day wore on the scenery became less interesting but the weather got better. Even so, the last four miles was tough. 

We reached our accommodations, a creative arts center with several rooms for pilgrims, around 4:30 pm. Our hostess, Mona, made a terrific spicy vegetarian stew with falafel balls. AND she gave me gin! Also here are Ivonne (I discovered the correct spelling of her name) and Merel, both from the Netherlands. Our hostess joined the four of us and we had a terrific evening of conversation. 

Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day and I am looking forward to sleeping late. 

Day 21

Skalstugan, Sweden to Adalsvollen, Norway 
Distance: 11.2 miles / 18.0 km
Cumulative: 241.9 miles / 389.2 km

“This wasn’t a strange place. It was a new one.” Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

We arrived in Sweden June 8. Today we crossed into Norway. 

She’s on the Norwegian side. 

I hate to speak for Kristine, but I think it’s safe to say we have loved both the place and the people. In fact, we loved it enough that we will be going back after we finish our adventure in Trondheim. 

For those paying attention to your ‘stugens, let me explain how we ended last night in Medstugen and started today in Skalstugen. We cheated. Well, not exactly. I mentioned that we had entered the wilderness portion of the trail. Accommodations are few and far between. It’s the far between part that’s important. The walk from Medstugen would have been 20 plus miles with the first long section on the same busy road as yesterday. Our main man Ruben, who made all our reservations, had previously arranged for a pickup and drop off to avoid that asphalt section. We love Ruben. 

The hike today was almost totally along the old King’s road. That king being Charles XIV John, know as Karl XIV Johan in Sweden or Charles III John in Norway. He was actually a French dude and how he became king of the personal union of Sweden and Norway is too long. Just remember the Convention of Moss from yesterday’s lesson. Anyway, he is the guy who, in the early 1800s, had all those bridges built along this road connecting the two countries. We saw more of the bridges today. 

The road had several of these 19th century mile markers. 

The dirt road travels through mountain forests, not as dense as we have been seeing, along rivers and lakes, and up over the mountains.

We topped out around 2200 feet, which is above tree line. That’s not high but remember, we are close to 64 degrees north so the trees like to stay in the valley. 

After a few miles we made it to the border.

The slab in the middle is the border. 

Shortly after we crossed into Norway, we crested the climb and the scenery changed almost immediately. It was more open with large rock outcroppings and streams cutting deeper into land. 

We noted other changes as well. Maybe because St. Olav is the patron saint of Norway, but they have a lot better signage for the trail and many more places to rest and eat, which we took advantage of. 

We also met three more pilgrims, two women from Norway and a younger woman, Merel, from The Netherlands. Seems like the Dutch really like to walk. 

Today was cool and overcast but no rain and little wind. The scenery was spectacular and the road/trail was in excellent condition. Kristine and I agree this was our best day of hiking. 

I was a little concerned when we arrive at our destination. It has a large room with three sets of bunk beds, barracks style. It turns out, however, we are the only ones here tonight so I think I’ll survive. Plus, it’s really well done and they have beer to buy in the refrigerator. (Carlsberg but what are you going to do?)

Tomorrow will be long and the forecast is not good but tonight we are happy. 

Day 20

Tännforsen to Medstugan
Distance: 14.3 miles / 23.0 km
Cumulative: 230.7 miles / 371.2 km

“What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal.” Friedrich Nietzsche (Apparently Nietzsche didn’t understand gender neutral.)

During the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century, there was quite a bit of toing and froing between European nations. I’m pretty sure this period is the basis for the game Risk. At some point, Norway and Denmark were supporting France while Sweden was allied with the UK on the other side. In January 1814 the treaty of Kiel was signed bringing hostilities between those entities to an end. Though Norway and Sweden seemed still to have an issue, I think it was Subsection 2, clause (b), and continued their own minor war for a few more months. When they finally stopped fighting they were so happy the two nations entered into a union at the Convention of Moss. (By this point you’re wondering where this is going. Stay with me.) In order to foster trade and promote travel between the two parts of the union, they built bridges. Today’s hike took us past several of these 19th century symbols of good vibes. 

As described yesterday, we arranged for a car to take us to the point we should have reached the night before. So glad we started there. Tännforsen is the largest waterfall in Sweden and it is beautiful. 

The days hike was straightforward, almost all along a fairly busy asphalt road, along the river, and past mountain meadows. 

We are in what is described as the wilderness section of the trail so we encountered few amenities, and none of those well place picnic tables. 

Our accommodations for the night are simple, but comfortable enough. It’s a hostel type place with three rooms, a kitchen, shower, and toilet. We carried all our food for dinner tonight, and breakfast and lunch tomorrow. The only other person here is our pilgrim friend, Yvonne. There is no staff. We were given a code to enter the building. 

The new Hokas worked well today. 

Alas, no bathtubs.