Lillehammar- Hundorp. An essential stone.

“You must be an idealist to do this, no?” (Dieter, then an acquaintance, now a friend, met first at Hamar and again at Dale Gudbrand Gard)

Dear Friends and Allies of The Orkney Boat,

I am writing from Hundorp, 305km from Oslo, which marks almost the halfway point of our walk through Norway. We have 337km ahead of us. Writings on the blog so far have mostly taken the form of diary entries but, on this occasion, I would like to be a little more reflective about the stone and the effect that walking with it for such a time is having on me. A few things have come into rather stark perspective...

The first, which is not actually a revelation at all, is that carrying the stone brings me great reassurance, emotional comfort and security. Carrying the stone also leads directly to my physical discomfort and fear.

I have come to think of the stone as essential. The space beneath the trailer is ideal for the tent and the water, and the food and map-case usually ride ahead of the stone, on top. In this way, alongside the shelter, the water and the food, sometimes the stone seems no less necessary. I never resent it. I resent the weight of the food and I rage at the difficulty of the trailer, but the stone is constant, not just in its size and weight and patience but in its presence. It is un-negotiable. I wanted to try to make a journey on foot with it, partly I think to prove the sad (near) impossibility of doing such a thing, but despite this I have always wanted to succeed. With all my heart I want this to be the journey AND RETURN of the stone, but I do also want it to test my commitment and my strength because so many that long to can not make their journey with their landscape in tow. I cannot help but feel that for the journey to be this difficult is authentic and exactly as it should be.

The path in the wood above Hundorp is narrow, rocky and steep, with a drop on one side that slopes down to the railway. I was detached from the trailer, but both stone and trailer tumbled down the bank again and again. After a fall that took Toby down with it, shocked, hurt and furious, we stormed away from the scene. When I returned the stone was still laying beneath the upturned trailer, halfway down the bank. I wanted us to go down alone to find help, but I couldn’t bear to leave it there so undignified. I felt I had to right it and get it back onto the path. I was trying and failing until Toby returned and we could drag our cargo back onto the path. We emerged from the wood, no more hurt, an hour later with a grass stained, muddy stone and a trailer that has no bearings remaining. So now there is only the option to drag the trailer and stone, since it will no longer roll. Still, this hardship will have its rewards... According to the Orkneyinga Saga, dragging a boat over the land is an ancient way if claiming it for yourself!

“He [Beiti] had one of his ships hauled over from Beistad north across Namdalseid to Namsen on the far side, with Gor sitting aft, his hand on the tiller. So he laid claim to all the land lying to port, and sizeable area with many settlements.”

It seems that everyone who we meet and re-meet walking this path faces some adversity on their journey. It is a long, hard route and people are dogged by their thoughts, their fatigue, their injuries. And we all agree that there is huge value in overcoming these supposed limitations. Such is any worthwhile journey. This season’s Gudbrandsalen walkers are often reunited on the road, but then our schedules or our difficulties part us for a while. But bread, honey, beer, pilgrim waffles and delight are shared when we are together! I have marvelled at the simplicity of this formula - this path, with its Pilegrimssenter network providing advice, rest and support is ENABLING and that is why I am moved by it. It makes it possible for people to walk almost half of Norway, to meet each other, eat together and share their stories! If the UK were bigger, wilder, with long distance paths I would want to replicate this model. As it is, I am left simply with the sense that to enable, in any way, is a something to strive to do.

Before going North, The Orkney Boat visited the Tokstad Pine - a 500 year old protected pine tree outside Ringsaker. Ursula stood barefoot in the stone, with the tree ascending behind her and told me she was perfectly balanced there between earth and sky. Then, once again, The Orkney Boat boarded another boat and we went to the North stretch of Mjøsa with some fellow walkers on the paddle steamer, Skibladner. On the morning of our departure from Lillehammer, while making porridge and patching a stubborn puncture, we met a member of the university staff coming along the path. Her immediate understanding and summation is worth telling - “Yes” she said, “Sometimes I say to my students, stand up! Stand up and just feel yourself in contact with the ground!”

We do, as ever, need to find someone spirited and kind, owning their own grinder and welding equipment. I am reminded of Robyn Davidson urging us to choose adventure - adventure of the mind! - even in the most ordinary of circumstances. Somebody between Hundorp and Dovre must surely have the inclination for adventure enough to fix up a trailer fit to cross Dovrefjell...