Day 1: Oslo to Olavsgaard

My previous adventures always seemed to involve  me leaving before dawn.  I doubt that will happen this trip! There will be no sunrise photographs, nor would I hold up much hope for any sunset ones either.  

I left Oslo at about 7.30am, having taken a photo by the kilometre marker at the site of St Halvard’s Cathedral.  The eagle eyed among you will spot that I am wearing a waterproof jacket. I hate waterproof jackets so you’d be correct that to draw the conclusion that the rain was ‘persistent!’ 

The route was not too tricky to find, an advantage of leaving in daylight, and I easily identified the point where the route split into the East and West routes and picked the correct one.  For a long time it was a pretty uninspiring walk.  I was comparing it with walking out of London via the Purley Way and then turned a corner to see Ikea!  On the official pilgrim map Ikea is listed a a possible restaurant stop.  Can you imaging the extra miles that would be involved in finding the meatballs?  And you’d end up having to find space in your back pack for the inevitable pack of tea lights you’d have managed to buy.

I stopped at a couple of churches along the way, mainly because I was intrigued by the idea of the stamps being in a lock box that could be opened with a code that had been shared in a Facebook.  It worked.  Although, given the weather, I’d much rather have been able to duck into a nice dry church.  

In homage to the Purley Way vibe of this part of the morning and because there was little other choice, I stopped at a petrol station for ‘breakfast.’  An indifferent black coffee and a cereal bar from my stash. Tomorrow I will have breakfast before I leave.

Suddenly, about 11km into the walk, I was on rocky trails surrounded by trees.  The walking was far more challenging, smooth rocks are slippery in the rain, but it was much more rewarding.  I came face to face with a roe deer.  

The weather took a turn for the worse.  The rain was torrential but I knew that the end, for today, was near.  It is a bit of a soulless, chain hotel as the nearby hostel seems to be closed this year.  On the plus side, I have a nice warm room with a lovely power shower.  Hopefully my stuff will be dry by the morning.