Olav's Way Page 4.
Highlights of the next few days included a plague of froglets.
The land around Hamar is the best farmland in Norway and Hamar is the only old city not on the sea, presumably sited here because of the fertility. Norway is very bumpy, so any scrap of land flat enough to plough is highly prized.
It was difficult to find places to camp in the open landscape, so one evening, running out of daylight, we raced to Stange Kirke to camp. Kate was tired, so I carried some of her kit, and promptly gave myself a bad blister on the ball of my left foot.
Anyway we eventually got to Hamar, starving (we ran out of food the previous day), ate a burger each on the way into town, at a greasy spoon, which cost about 20 pounds each. This was the least of our worries. We had decided to have a night at the youth hostel, so we could wash our clothes etc. We had been walking for 8 days and needed a break. The youth hostel cost 30 pounds each for the night, and that was without breakfast!
However it was a nice room, and it was good to rest. We were less than a third of the way through the journey, looking on a map of the whole of Norway a little progress was discernible, but we were worried that we would run out of time to finish the journey before our ferry home, and talked about getting a bus or train to a point further on. We decided to see how it went. We took a leisurely walk out of Hamar stopping off at the glass cathedral (the old cathedral protected in a greenhouse). Its odd as its open and sunny but still has the acoustics of a cathedral due to the glass. There was also an open air museum of old buildings, seems odd they need one as the whole of Norway is also basically an open air museum of old buildings.
It is an absolutely stunning building.
A building in the open air museum.
Delphiniums
A Lavvu, the Saami tent that a lot of Norwegians use for camping. This one is very high tech and looks more like an Apollo rocket has landed here.
The countryside was full of delphiniums. We camped on the verge of the E6, tucked away in a little wood. It was secluded enough to light a fire, which was really nice. We got ukulele and a tin whistle out and had a jam.
The next day we walked past old quarry workings and saw bear tracks, although the photo didn't come out so you'll just have to take my word for it! We also saw this old truck. Shame its on the scrap heap.
The weather was gaining on us, a really extreme storm was coming up the valley behind us. It was black and we could see lightning inside it! We rushed onwards for Ringsaker Kirke, a church which according to the guide book is very welcoming to pilgrims, the priest letting them stay in the village hall. When we got there, the church was open and we went in and introduced ourselves to the priest. He didn't seem very keen to see us and said this was a private service and threw us out into the rain!
We sheltered in a bus shelter before finding somewhere to camp nearby as the rain eased off. I hope Saint James gives that priest piles!
At least we had covered a little ground. 190 down, 455 to go.
It brightened up as we pitched the tent.
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