July 1. Day 4 Walking.

20.8km and about 864m (288 floors) gained. 8:30-5:30.

The sun was shining again. So beautiful!! It was cool in the morning but warmed up in the afternoon. Not too hot though, but I was tired by day’s end. My feet get hot and tired!

My blister required a few stops to readjust the coverings. Pain came and left several times. We also crossed a lot of construction today. I’m pondering both of these stories as literal and metaphoricial.

Today, we travelled country roads (both dirt and asphalted), asphalted trail, forested trail, urban trail, construction zone, Jasper-like forest trails (including the sights, sounds, smell-that was so lovely), dirt forestry road, asphalted trail along busy road.

10:10 at 3.5 km, the grocery store on our route was closed for construction and the next one, several km along the trail, was off the trail about 1km. Luckily we had nuts and dried fruit and Wasa as backup for lunch.

9.0km and 9.2km: we saw two Pilgrim homes (people open a space in their home to pilgrims and charge a small fee). We stopped at the second one to use the toilet. He also gave us some water. 😊 Jan, the host, is a permaculture instructor.

The land we’ve walked through contains many beautiful farms. We gone through five of 428 municipalities in Norway so far.

13.5km, we found the grocery store off the trail in Jevnaker. I sat at the beach on Randsfjorden (actually a lake now but has salty water) with the bags while Chin-Yu walked to get groceries. She offered. 😃

We met a guy taking care of Jevnaker Kirke. He said the energy inside is heavy and he can’t stay there long before needing to go out. We didn’t go in. Apparently the Norwegians fought the Germans in the area during the war and used the church as a lookout. We found a stamp in the metal box at the church to stamp our pilgrim passport and I saw that someone had left the same guide book that I sent home yesterday. It’s too heavy for what it offers.

The end of the day dragged on a bit under the heat and across farmer’s fields. The end of the walking days have all been fairly challenging. We finally arrived though, and had a dip in the lake, which temporarily rejuvenated me. Chin-Yu prepared a delicious salad for dinner and we had some of the yummy chocolate that the Muthanas (a family at school) gave me for the walk.

We have a cute little hut with two beds, a table and a simple kitchen with a hot plate (no running water but the water system is right out our door). The cabin is amongst a summer camping and trailer park…lots of kids playing. I sense freedom and joy.

I’m tired. I trust this will pass and my body will eventually accept the challenge. The blister is drying up on its own. No Advil today and I believe it won’t take long to fall asleep!