Day 25

Stiklestad to Munkeby
Distance: 13.2 miles / 21.2 km
Cumulative: 278.8 miles / 448.7 km

“The things we do for love, the things we do for love,
Like walking in the rain…” 
10cc, The Things We Do for Love, 1977

The morning was beautiful. Then about 11:30 am the rain started and is still going as I write this at 7:30 pm. At one point on the trail I asked Kristine if she ever contemplated all the choices she had made throughout her life that led to the two of us walking across a field of rye in rural Norway in the pouring rain. She simply said no. Since she was uninterested in my rather detailed analysis of that question, I went back to wondering how much whiskey they could make with all that rye. But I know we would not have been there if we didn’t love each other. And neither one of us complained (much). 

We knew rain was in the forecast so we left a little earlier than usual. The morning was quite nice. The hiking varied from agricultural fields, to short wooded sections, to suburban streets (we were skirting the edge of Verdal). 

We had 7.5 miles behind us when it started raining. St. Olav was looking out for us and an extremely nice covered sheltered appeared up ahead just as we felt the first drops. We took cover, ate our lunch, and donned our rain gear. 

The view from our lunch shelter. 

Speaking of Olav, since he died at Stiklestad, I’m guessing he didn’t walk to Trondheim. We could have taken a train to Trondheim, but noooo, we have to walk five more days. I’m not bitter though.

In addition to the rain, today had lots of hills. If you are wearing all GoreTex, slogging up hills will get you nearly as wet from sweat as from the rain. 

The final couple of miles had some trails through the woods that would have been gorgeous hiking had they not been turned into muddy toboggan runs by the rain. Fortunately, neither of us fell. 

We finally passed the ruins of the 12th century Munkeby Kloster (church) and knew we were close. 

Kristine exploring the ruins. 

The place we are staying tonight is a sort of pilgrims’ inn with a variety of accommodations. It’s run by a young couple with two kids. The woman, Andrea is delightful. She made us beef stew, which was perfect for today, and told us a bit about the history of the buildings. 

Plus our Dutch friend Merel is here and she was able to stream the end of today’s Tour stage on her phone for all of us to watch. So we had a nice ending to a mostly yucky day.