July 14. Day 17 Walking.

Summary: Kvam to Otta. 21.3 km, 720 m gain (3 major ups and down). Overcast all day, with rain for about an hour between 3-4 pm.

4:20-4:55 am: flies. There were two flies in our room last night. At 4:20 am, one fly woke me up, buzzing around my head. I got up to swat it, but learned I had only killed the tired, still one. The second fly was a persistent and fast little fella and won the battle.

Persistence? Was it telling me to have persistence? It continued its own persistance until the end, and I finally just pulled the duvet over my head.

My legs and feet were aching then, and I Googled to see if it can be harmful to walk so much. That’s when my legs and feet hurt the most…in the early morning hours. And also at the end of the day, especially while walking on asphalt, my feet hurt.

So perhaps the fly was reminding me to persist?

7:30 wake-up

Breakfast at Kiwi, the grocery store across the street. A German woman, also walking the pilgrim trail, probably in her 30s, came marching through the parking lot and headed into the store. We both assumed from her speed and exuberance that she was inexperienced. You can’t, after all, walk like that when you need to walk so much up and down. She came out with 2l of cola and candies, dried fruit and yogurt and sat down with us. It turns out, she had already walked 7 km and had slept in a gapahuk the night before. She proceeded to tell us this is the second year in a row she has done this same trail (last year, she did the east route and this year, the west, like us) and the most she’d walked in a day was 49 km. 49 km!!

My worries about my legs and feet suddenly dissipated. You’re fine, Kim.

Before we left the motel, my fly friend came to say good bye and to remind me to be persistent.

The fly wishing me good luck and reminding me to be persistant.

9:25 am: start walking

10.05 am: like The Princess and the Pea, I felt a sharp pain in my toe. What the heck! I stopped to investigate and found a sharp grass seed poking through my sock into my toe. I removed the seed and all was well again.

Looks like some signs get chewed on by the sheep?

Later, I missed a sign as I was multitasking trying to write on my phone about the exciting morning. How many times do I miss the signs at work because of the multitasking the job asks of teachers. At what expense are all the tasks we are asked to fulfill? We are meant to have relationships with students so we can teach them, yet we judge and evaluate their work? Wouldn’t it make more sense if a third party did the assessments, informed teachers and students of what needs to be addressed next? Then teachers could work on relationships and other aspects of teaching.

A threshold guardian blocking the trail.

11:15, 6km: bench for a break after some up, up, up.

After 8.5km lunch break: dense nettles and monkshood. My feet and pants were soaked, and my elbows were nipped by the nettles.

The trail in this section, especially the middle of the day, was very full and lush with Stinging Nettles and Monkshood.

I forgot to mention it yesterday, but a Norwegian father and son were walking together along the trail, and had stayed at the same place we did the night prior. The son had invited the dad as a birthday gift. They only did a couple of days together. It’s intriguing to see the different ways people experience the trail.

12.4 km bench break. Massage legs and feet.