My St Olavsleden pilgrimage - some end notes

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I kept basic walking notes along the way from Sundsvall to Trondheim, alhough I wasn't as consistent as I might have been. I also kept a GPS track which I will look at when I get home.

For the days for which I have notes:

Equivalent walking distances (using Naismiths Rules and Langmuir corrections)

10 to 20 km - 6 days

20 to 30 km - 14 days

Over 30 km - 7 days

Longest day: 38.1 km

Elevation gain/loss

Less than 200 m: 3 days / 5 days

200 m to 400 m: 15 days / 9 days

400 m to 600 m: 5 days / 6 days

Over 600 m: 2 days / 2 days

Most accumulated climb in a day: 712 m

Most accumulated descent in a day: 689 m

Both these on the same day!

Pack Weight

I weighed my pack when I reached Trondheim. At this point, that included any residual consumables that have been included in the bare weight.

Bare weight: 13.5 kg

Water at the start of each day: 2.5 kg

Food: at Trondheim, I had an emergency day, snacks including fresh fruit for two days, and another meal. All up, a bit over 1 kg. I normally had a fair bit more than this, but didn't keep a record of exactly how much it might have weighed.

Other consumables: Batteries were the heaviest of the other consumables. A set of two AA batteries lasted two to three days in the GPS. I didn't need to replace the single AA battery in my torch, although that looked imminent at one point, and bought extra which weren't needed and got used in the GPS in any case.

Swedish roads caused substantially more wear on walking pole rubber tips than I had expected. I had replaced two sets of tips in the first eight days. I bought a set of tips with an 'extra thick sole' in Ostersund that are still going strong three weeks walking later.

Hydration

There were four days where I needed to refill a two litre bladder while on the road, and I would regularly consume a litre or more in the evenings. There were reports during the string of hot days when I had just crossed the border of one pilgrim needing to be picked up, and not being able to continue. There were temperatures above 30 deg C on at least three walking days, and they were above 25 deg C regularly. This is unusual, but it reinforces my view that it is prudent to have at least two litres available at the start of the walking day.

Blisters

None. I did use Micropore (tm) to tape the large and next toes of my right foot, and applied Fixomull (r) to a bunion.

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