Pilgrims No More

We found the end of our path

Our last day on the trail was a slog through the rain

Wow it’s hard to believe that it has been more than two weeks since I shared what I wanted out of this thing. Let’s recap and and see how it went:

We did part of the trail ✅, and did at least 15km a day ✅ while carrying all our stuff ✅. We did this for more than two days ✅, and we did hike for a week ✅.

I do know much better what I am and am not capable of ✅.

So from all of this, I would say: “Mission Accomplished”.

We hiked part of the forest where pilgrims have been walking for nearly 1,000 years. But really, there was not much forest on the portion we walked.

I’m not sure if I felt a stronger connection to nature and mother earth - most of our walking was on asphalt, and a lot of it was in very urban environments.

And while it is true that we were sorely unprepared…

• We had way more stuff than we needed, or even used, so we were carrying a lot of unnecessary weight

• We did not have warm enough sleeping bags, and no tent or sleeping mats.

• No camp stove, no cookware or dishes, and no means to build a fire

…still, the physical challenge was nothing compared to the mental energy required to work out logistics.

My final hope was was:

“Most of all, I want to know what I am walking toward. Or what I am walking from”

…and this proved to be very elusive. I think it would require doing a lot more walking in a much more mindful way. Yes, we were mindful, but in a very different sense…

• How much food do we need to pick up today?

• Will we be able to cook our meals? Or are we eating cold food? And if so, for how many days?

• How far do we need to walk to our next overnight and what will it cost? What amenities will it offer?

• How far to the next grocery store after this one?

• Repeat all of the above every day.

And we did that looking at 3 different maps for the different bits of info each provided. We needed a translation app to convert Norwegian to English. And a currency converting app so we knew what we’re spending.

After a week of doing that every day, getting blisters on our feet, and getting soaked on our last couple of days, only to end up sitting in a free shelter - cold, wet and tired - we realized that we had already accomplished most of what we had set out to do.

We decided we were the ones in charge of this challenge. We proved to ourselves what we wanted to, and had nothing to prove to anyone else.

So we called it. We ended up back-tracking 4km to the charming pilgrim hostel you saw in our previous post. We paid for the overnight stay, dried ourselves out and contemplated what to do next.

I’m not complaining. I’m just realizing that originally I was all concerned about the physical aspects of this - the weight on my back, the distances to cover each day - but what I learned is that the required mental energy is what became so overwhelming.

And maybe that’s true of all pilgrimages? (especially those that people actually complete?)

How easy must it be if all you need to worry about is putting one foot in front of the other?

I am SO glad we did this. I learned a lot about myself in the process and I think I can pat myself on the back:

Me - a 63 year old, strapping 35 pounds on my back, and heading off down a trail with no backpacking experience - I think I did OK.

And on a lighter note, here’s something that happened out on the path. If you have a longtime partner, spouse or significant other, you may be familiar with the concept of one of you pausing mid-sentence, trying to find the words and the other finishing the sentence for you. Well that happened with us as Shannon was explaining to me what she had read in the guidebook. It went something like this:

Shannon:
“Pilgrims had many reasons to walk to Trondheim - searching for the healing powers of Saint Olav, or forgiveness of past sins, and for those reasons as well as to find shelter from the elements, they would travel from church to church along the way, hoping that their prayers would be answered… (pause)…

Me:
"…in the order they were received?”

Anyway. We thought it was funny. Maybe you had to be there.