The Pilgrim Road to Trondheim

This is a guide to the 643km Pilegrimsleden from Oslo to Trondheim. The book is primarily aimed at the “long-haul” pilgrim, who walks in a single journey, alone or with few companions.

The introduction covers the history and background of the pilgrimage, topography and language, preparation, equipment, how to get there and back, details of the pilgrim centres, accommodation, public holidays, waymarking, maps, textual description and abbreviations.

The actual route description then follows, divided into four main sections: the Eastern Route along Lake Mjøsa, the Western Route, Lillehammer to Hjerkinn and Hjerkinn to Nidaros Cathedral. The guide provides step-by-step walking instructions. It runs from one place to the next, beginning with the distance from the previous one, its height and population where known, a list of the facilities available and finally the history and places of interest. Updated maps – mostly at a scale of 1:100,000 – illustrate the route.

Appendixes provide brief details of other routes in the Nidaros pilgrim network, a list of suggestions for further reading and useful websites, a glossary of Norwegian vocabulary dealing with geography, toponomy and practical matters such as food and accommodation, as well as indexes of maps and place names.

The author, Alison Raju, has recently re-walked the entire route herself. She was the author of the 2001 edition of Pilgrim Road to Nidaros and has also written guidebooks to pilgrim routes to Santiago de Compostela and Rome.