Broken sleep last night. Should have slept with ear plugs as we left the window open and with this many people around and the happy birds and critters, it got a bit noisy.
Walk today: Støvika to Tingelstad. 15 km, 690 m elevation gain. Sunny weather with some clouds and moderate heat.
We met Mica, a young German woman who is doing the same trail, Oslo to Trondheim. She was studying in Norway and will walk the trail to Trondheim before heading home. An environmental educator. She is walking with the full meal deal of tent and all. No schedule but her own. I was reminded of my three week solo backpacking along the south-west coast of England in my 20s.
At 12.3 km today, we saw the 533km stone at the Søsterkirkene ([Sister Churches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Churches,_Norway)), built in 1100. In the same space was Granavolden Gjæstgiveri. We had a late lunch there at the kafé. I had Sommersalat (summer salad) with mango, couscous, sugarpeas, marinated mozza, tomato, pesto and beautiful fresh bread with aioli. We also had a local Gregers Granavøl (beer). The food was EXCELLENT and fresh! Best food I’ve eaten while out in Norway. The hotel is super cute and looks worth a revisit. It is a historic site.
Gregers Granavolden started the guest house and was granted permission to run it forever by the king for his contribution to a fight against Sweden. It is also along Den Bergenske Kongevei (the king’s road), which we walked along on Day 3.
The area is fertile because of ancient volcanos around. There is a lot of farmland. The area is called Hadeland, and it is beautiful. Take the train to Jarn.
Our lodging for the night is amazing! Majors-Alm Gård (gård=farm). If you ever get a chance to stay at this place, do it! A small self-contained apartment off the main house. Beautiful fireplace and slate flooring. Full kitchen, washing machine, shower…heaven! The Alm family is well known in the area. An uncle of the current owner used to own the farm and made a lot of money from racing Svart Alm, a race horse. I hope the horse had a good life in retirement.
Pernille og Bård Alm now own the farm. They are their first days off in eight years, so Synne, their daughter in law, hosted us. She showed us one of the horses and her foal, drove us to get groceries and gave us a short tour of the area. She was an excellent ambassador for the region.
We came back to the house for pizza and beer!
My blister is healing up but I need thinner socks. Mine are winter ski socks, and too warm for such long walks…perhaps what led to the blister.
The Pilgrim life sure was hard today.
Stories from the Walk Home 