Hiya – me and my partner (both from the UK) are planning a hike (probably part of the Olavsleden) this year in May. I’ve got a bunch of dumb questions which I’m struggling to find good answers for, and I’m hoping some of you might be kind enough to help. The questions are:

1. Should we expect midges and mosquitos to be a serious problem in May? I’ve read very conflicting things.
2. We’re planning to camp most nights. Is hammock camping a good idea, or are there large areas without trees?
3. How frequent are shops / villages? If we pack two days food, will we be able to restock before running out?
4. There’s lots of cabins listed at [this website](https://ut.no/utforsker/norge/hytter), but it doesn’t have much information about the pilgrim trails. Are there likely to be cabins along the trail?
5. Any other tips / ideas?

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Thanks for your help! I know these questions are quite naive – I’ve never been to Norway. We’re both fairly confident hikers, looking to try somewhere beautiful and new.

3 comments

  1. Which pilgrims path are you thinking of following?

    [https://pilegrimsleden.no/en/pilegrimsledene](https://pilegrimsleden.no/en/trails/st-olavsleden)

    As you see, they are through very different parts of the country.

    In general about hammock camping, may nights can be very brisk, some years ago we had a serious blizzard on may 4th in the the Oslo area, and of course farther north and higher inland you can have even harsher weather- and of course also all four seasons in one day.

  2. To echo what the other redditor wrote, we’re gonna need more info on where, exactly, you’re thinking of hiking. Olavsleden goes through a few different types of areas which can have different conditions. I remember 17th of May a few years ago it was 20° and sunny, 5° and raining, 0° and sleat/snowing, and then back to around 10° and partial sun in – no word of a lie – about 2 hours. So as the other redditor said, you can get all 4 seasons in one day.

    Some parts of the country might have biting insects awake and hungry, but at least in Trøndelag, May is a little early for the worst of them. You’ll likely just get the really eager ones. That said, who knows what this May will look like in terms of weather. If it’s a warm/early Spring, May could be perfect for early thawing and insects. A few years ago hiking in some of the forests around southern Trøndelag was almost impossible due to immense amounts of flies/insects, but last year? Nothing worth mentioning. It’s entirely dependent on year.

    Hammock camping should be, more or less, do-able, but again will depend on where you’re going to be. If you start getting into higher elevations, you’ll start having more problems with finding suitable trees.

    You can [find more info about DNT cabins here](https://www.dnt.no/om-hyttene/). They are scattered around and have varying levels of service (from nothing to full service). Some require booking, some don’t.

    Availability of stores/shops is going to greatly depend on where you’re going. Plot your route into google once you’ve got it set up and then look for grocery stores along the way. Most small places will have a coop or joker or something of that nature, but the smallest of smallest might not. Generally speaking it’s usually not too hard to find somewhere.

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