Because it will be a while before we’ll be going to South-Korea and Japan (Autumn), I had set my mind to a short solo cycling holiday. But something else crossed my path and for this one I’ll be going all the way to Trondheim in Norway. Not as in a cycling holiday, but more like a cycling holiday job which has everything to do with hiking trails, Pilgrims, Vikings and King Olav…
Trondheim in Norway was in the medieval days just as important destination for pilgrims as Santiago, Rome and Jerusalem. The Pilgrims walked to the grave of the holy Olav in Nidaros, the ancient name of present Trondheim. Since a couple of years a number of routes are made accessible again for the modern Pilgrims.
One of these routes is the St. Olav's Way through Sweden. This route is 580 km long and a wonderful ‘coast to coast’ through Scandinavia. S:t Olavsleden, as the trail is officially called, is adapted for cyclists and completely signposted this Spring. The route goes over the countryside of Sweden and the Scandinavian Highlands and mountains of Norway to Trondheim.
I’m working on a cycling route guide for this route and publish it in cooperation with Ria Warmerdam, author of the walking guide in Dutch of this route and with Heidi Brimi, manager of Stiklestad Pilgrim Center in Norway.
De cycling route guide contains not only the St. Olav's Way in Sweden, but also the Norwegian Olav's Way in the reverse direction from Trondheim to Oslo and a transit route from Oslo to Selånger will be added. I hope to achieve this next year.
How did this all end up on my lap? I know Ria through a the community of professional music librarians and assisted her with her website.
On a cold February evening I was having diner with her in a small restaurant in the center of The Hague and somewhere between the main course and desert the plan started to appeal to me.
On Tuesday, June 18 I’ll head north by car with bicycle. On my way up, I’ll visit Hanne in Denmark and on June 21 at Anders and Sofia in Sweden to celebrate Midsummer. After that I travel on North to Trondheim or Stiklestad where I’ll leave my car in favor of my bicycle.
At the latest on June 12, I want to be home again.
Hej då!
Gea
