Guidebooks?

[jrm]

I'm really hoping to be able to walk the St Olav's next year. I cannot find any of Alison Raju's books. Can anyone recommend another good guide book/resource?

 

[Bradypus]

There are several different St Olav ways which end in Trondheim. I walked the route from Sundsvall on the Baltic coast of Sweden. Since then an English language guidebook for that route has been published, and there is a friendly and helpful Facebook group as well.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/hikingstolavsleden/?ref=bookmarks

Have you already seen the Swedish and Norwegian websites for the St Olav ways? English language versions are available and very helpful.
http://www.stolavsleden.com/
http://pilegrimsleden.no/en/

 

[jrm]

I have seen the Swedish and Norwegian sites... I love them. Just looking for more I guess. I like to be Abel to research even while away from he computer

As far as Facebook... I'm facebookless so that probably wont work for me.

 

[Bradypus]

The 2015 edition of Alison Raju's guide is still available in the UK through Amazon and Ebay. I do not know where you live and therefore what postage charges might be. Here are a couple of links found a few moments ago:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Pilg...760848?hash=item2121c94b10:g:Pz4AAOSwehZaAvCw

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/8283050265/?tag=casaivar-21

 

[nidarosa]

I am walking the St Olav Way next year, from Oslo to Trondheim, and there was a new Alison Raju guide out last year: Pilgrim Road toTrondheim
Not actually sure what the different paths to Nidaros/Trondheim are called in English, but in Norwegian the way I am walking is called Pilegrimsleden (Pilgrim Way), spesifically Gudbrandsdalsleden (The Way through Gudbrandsdalen Valley). This was the main pilgrim path to Nidaros Cathedral and St Olav after he became a saint. The Swedes have called their Way St Olav but it follows his last journey before the battle where he fell.

 

[jrm]

Thanks for this information everyone. Part off my research has been which trail to take.. .the Gudbrandsdalsleden or the St Olav's may from Sweden. Both sound amazing. part of me is interested in following the traditional pathway of Saint Olav, the other is interested in following the traditional pathways of the pilgrims. Both look beautiful. I'll likely opt for the path in Norway, but have been adding that topic to my research.

Yeah, living in the US makes the UK amazon/ebay situation a little more difficult, but perhaps that is the best way to go!

 

[A Sime]

I walked the Oslo to Trondheim route in 2015. I had bought Alison's book and found it quite useless. When I went to the pilgrim office in Oslo, they had other books. I think the Norwegian book which I didn't buy was much better. Luckily I hooked up with others along the way and planned each stage with my companions. It worked beautifully. And the waymarks were good.

 

[nidarosa]

@A Sime In 2015 only the old Raju book was available, I think? We did the bit from Tønsberg to Oslo as a trial run and used the Norwegian book which was divided in two, and sadly that book too was pretty useless. Not just because it was so out of date and there had been a huge drive to promote and mark the trail, sometimes marking it differently from what was described in the book, but also because the maps made no sense. This year we have armed ourselves with the new Raju, which should be more up to date, and the second edition of a new Norwegian guide (we are both Norwegian so no language barrier) but they are heavy and we are making our own lists, stage plans and printouts. But everyone I have spoken to in the last year or two seem to agree that the Germans have the best guidebooks for Oslo-Trondheim, so if any Germans read this, try them first!

 

[A Sime]

@A Sime In 2015 only the old Raju book was available, I think? We did the bit from Tønsberg to Oslo as a trial run and used the Norwegian book which was divided in two, and sadly that book too was pretty useless. Not just because it was so out of date and there had been a huge drive to promote and mark the trail, sometimes marking it differently from what was described in the book, but also because the maps made no sense. This year we have armed ourselves with the new Raju, which should be more up to date, and the second edition of a new Norwegian guide (we are both Norwegian so no language barrier) but they are heavy and we are making our own lists, stage plans and printouts. But everyone I have spoken to in the last year or two seem to agree that the Germans have the best guidebooks for Oslo-Trondheim, so if any Germans read this, try them first!

I agree with that. The Germans I traveled with had the best guidebook. And sometimes a slightly different route. That also happened on the Camino Frances. The maps were definitely better.

 

[jrm]

I saw this post about guidebooks on the "official" stolavsleden instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRAsOzuFWIP/?taken-by=stolavsleden

I contacted them bout availability now and they pointed me to: vildmarksbiblioteket.se

However, that site doesn't work for me. So, perhaps there are more guide resources on the way!

-jon