July 26. Day 29 Walking.

Summary: Skogheim to Svorkmo. 10km, 72 m gain. Sunny and hot. 29 C.

8:30 am breakfast

10 am start walking

Chin-Yu and I walked together today, after three days of walking solo.

It was a short, 10 km day to an Airbnb flat in Svorkmo, where we have access to laundry.

The trail started as a spacious roadside trail where we didn’t have to think about the cars, then some forest trail, a quiet dirt road, and finally, the asphalt into the townsite and flat. We stopped in Løkken Verk, a copper mining town, to get some groceries and ate some fresh Norwegian strawberries. Slurp!

“The name Løkken is taken from a farm that was on the site when the copper was found in 1652. It is popularly called Løkken, but the official name is Løkken Verk.

The ore deposit at Løkken Verk was originally about 30 million tonnes, and was the largest deposit of copper-containing pyrite found in Norway. There was mining in the area for 333 years, from 1654 to 1987. Until 1844, copper was extracted, with roasting and smelting of copper ore. In 1851, operations were changed to extract sulfur silica, which was exported as a raw material for sulfuric acid production.”

pilegrimsleden.no

When we arrived in Svorkmo, we stopped for pizza and beer at Milano. Yum! I thought I would never eat pizza again after the Granmo Camping experience, but thankfully, my faith in pizza has been restored.

I have a new blister today. Wth?! On my left pinky toe. Seriously? What is that about? Maybe the heat? Super weird that one would come now, on a 10 km day, our shortest yet, after 29 days of walking an average of 20km/day.

I reiterate the extreme importance of finding shoes that fit properly and if you have odd feet, as I apparently do, get help! If you don’t sell or know shoes, don’t try to buy them on your own as I did. I really didn’t think I would have this challenge. It’s a first for me even with all my hiking experience.

I forgot to share in yesterday’s blog that I had a tic on me yesterday, while writing the blog. It wasn’t embedded, so that’s good. I washed it down the sink. Of course, I had the creepy crawlies for a while following finding it. And shook all my clothes before packing and dressing this morning.

I also received a horsefly bite yesterday. Apparently, there are 32 species of horseflies in Norway, and 4,000 species worldwide. The horseflies that have bitten me here in Norway do not resemble the slow, massive black horseflies I know from Jasper. These ones in Norway are quicker and far more stealth. They also look more like a moth to me, with the colour differences, and they are slimmer.

The bite that was on my heel at the start of the trip is better now, though there is a still a mark, and now I have one on the back of my calf. I chewed on some common plantain I found outside and have made a poultice so we’ll see how that works. It was so itchy before, but with the poultice. It is not noticeable at the moment. When I’ve been bitten by these Norwegian monsters before, the bites are firm, big bumps, they itch like mad, last a very long time, and leave a scar.

When we arrived at the house where we are staying, Chin-Yu understood we are on the upper floor. So we looked around to see how we would get to the upper floor and could only find this ladder. Really? We went the other way and I climbed up around the fence in the back. The people in the basement suite helped us out and it turns out our entrance is left of the bottom of the ladder, so not a difficult entrance at all.

We are relaxing at the flat this afternoon, and Chin-Yu, who loves to cook (so fantastic since I love to not cook!) will whip up another awesome dinner tonight, and I’ll clean up.

We have three days left of walking, with a 20km average, before we arrive in Trondheim. Wow!

Sture and Ariel will join us for our last overnighting and walk into Trondheim with us on the 29th. 🥰

Thank you for this day.