The Pilgrim Road to Nidaros: St. Olav's Way - Oslo to Trondheim - Softcover

Alison Raju

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1852843144 ISBN 13: 9781852843144

Publisher: Cicerone Press, 2002

Synopsis

This is a walker's guide to the 643 km medieval pilgrim road from Oslo to Nidaros (Trondheim) Cathedral, where Saint Olav (king of Norway, and responsible for much of the conversion of the country to Christianity) was buried. His shrine was the focus not only of many miracles but also of the fourth most important pilgrim route in Europe after Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela, and from the tenth century until the Reformation it attracted pilgrims not only from Norway and the rest of Scandinavia but from Russia, the Baltic countries, Germany and Britain as well. Cleared and waymarked in 1997 the route has been 'rediscovered', and is being actively promoted as a walking pilgrim path. This is the only guide to the route in English. As well as giving directions for walking the route, the book also provides information on places of interest along the way, the history of the pilgrimage, a list of suggestions for further reading and a glossary of geographical and useful terms.

About this title

Review

'This is a walker's guide of the 643km medieval pilgrim route from Oslo to Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim, where Saint Olav was buried. Saint Olav, king of Norway, was responsible for much of the conversion of the country to Christianity. Visits to his shrine, the focus of many miracles, culminated in the route becoming the fourth most important pilgrim route in Europe, after Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela. Following the arrival of the Reformation in Norway and the prohibition of pilgrims, the route fell into disuse some time after 1537. Between 1994 and 1996, however, many of the old tracks were cleared and re-opened and the western (cultural) route, via Gjovik, was waymarked in its entirety in 1997. This coincided with the millennium of the founding of Nidaros Cathedral. The eastern route goes via Hamar and waymarking was completed in 2000. The two branches join up about 20km north of Lillehammer. Directions for both branches are covered in the guidebook. The introduction contains a brief history about Saint Olav and the pilgrimage routes that developed following his death in 1030. It is estimated that pilgrims took 25 days to cover the route from Oslo to Nidaros, many aiming to arrive on the saint's day (July 29th). The author informs us that, unlike his historical counterpart, the modern pilgrim no longer returns home by foot; thus the route is waymarked only in one direction. Along the way one can visit many of the medieval churches and wells that still exist. On the language front, the author includes a short glossary of geographical and other useful items in an appendix at the rear of the book. Although English is regarded as the second language of Norway it is always worth taking along a small dictionary. It is the 'sing-song' intonation of the spoken word that causes most difficulty (this sounds a bit like the Welsh language). Information about accommodation, returning from Trondheim and other relevant facts are included in the preamble. The route description is well laid out and easy to follow. Points of interest along the route have been printed in light blue and consequently stand out against the black print of the route directions.' (Les Maple, Strider)

About the Author

Alison Raju is a former teacher of French, German and Spanish to adults and the author of four pilgrim guides for walkers published by Cicerone Press: Way of St. James: Le Puy to the Pyrenees, (2nd edition 2003) Way of St. James: Pyrenees-Santiago-Finisterre (3rd edition 2003), Via de la Plata: Seville/Granada-Santiago (2nd edition 2005) and the Pilgrim Road to Nidaros (Oslo-Trondheim, 2001.) A walker's guide to the Via Francigena, the classic pilgrim road from Canterbury to Rome, is in preparation. A chance viewing of a television programme in the early 1970's lead to Alison's interest in the Pilgrim Road to Santiago, at that time barely known in Britain. A walker most of her life she had the opportunity to walk the 1000 mile camino from Le Puy-en-Velay to Santiago all in one go in 1990, a time which coincided, fortuitously, with Cicerone Press seeking an author to write an original guide in English to the Spanish section of the route. Since then Alison has walked and explored many of the pilgrim roads through Europe (France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal) as well as those she has written about.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cicerone Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1852843144
• ISBN 13: 9781852843144
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 221