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Published: July 26th 2018
Today will be my last walking day. As the crow flies, Trondheim cathedral - the Nidarosdomen - is 11 kilometres away. Walking the final part of the St Olavsleden pilgrimage route will take 16 kilometres. I expect that I will arrive by mid-afternoon, meet Elaine, and after the formalities at the Nidaros pilgimsgård, have a quiet little celebration.
So far I have walked for 27 days, with two rest days. I have walked for perhaps 30 minutes of that with other pilgrims - the vast bulk of my walking days have been spent alone. When the walking is difficult, it took all my concentration, but at other times I was left with my own thoughts. Whether I chose to repeat mindless tuneless, and inane ditties in my mind, or ponder what spiritually meant to me, was entirely my gift.
I have walked in beautiful surroundings, and in some that are less so. Where the natural landscape has been preserved in both Sweden and Norway, it has been a real pleasure to walk even when it is technically difficult to do so. But in contrast, forestry is an important industry in both countries, and it can leave ugly reminders on the landscape.
Other agricultural activities aren't without their impact, although that is generally less obvious at first glance. But after walking across quite a few boggy paddocks where the trick is to avoid stepping into the holes left by the cattle, one realises just how marginal some farmland must be. Not everyone has smooth, richly grassed paddocks to work with.
The people I have met who have provided places to stay or when I have needed to shop have been great. There were one or two that I met who couldn't speak English, but we muddled through where we had to, and generally got a good result.
So it is with somewhat mixed feelings that I will start walking today. Thankful that it looks like it won't rain, glad to know I will see Elaine again after a month, interested to see who has arrived that I have been following along the path, and happy that I will have walked across two countries. And just a bit sad that it is finishing.
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Kath Ibbo
non-member comment
Congratulations
A huge congratulations to you from all the team here at work. What an accomplishment.