The first pilgrim we met ourselves along the St. Olav Path in Sweden was Michael Schildmann from Germany, all the way back in 2012. Twelve years later Michael and his wife Renate are still very active with expressing what it is to be a pilgrim, with books, paintings, and exhibitions. We spoke with Michael about the pilgrim experience.

“Years ago, when I lost my job and also heard I had prostate cancer, my life was turned upside down. I had the impression that I hadn’t fulfilled my mission in life. It took a long time before I was able to walk among people again. After a test hike along the Baltic Sea in 2005, I decided to walk the Way of St. James from the Somport Pass to Santiago in 2007. I was inspired to do this by Hape Kerkeling and a good friend, among others. After my return back home, I changed my life. My wife and I moved to another city, to the house of my mother-in-law, who had passed away.

I took up my old passion of photography again, by providing pictures for books and setting up an exhibition about my hike. I also produced a (picture) book, called Day by Day – On the Way of St. James. Then I heard from a fellow pilgrim about the Olav Path, from Oslo to Trondheim. I was expecting many lonely days, which appealed to me. And that’s how it turned out, when I finally walked the path. During the hike I realized that I was walking in my father’s footsteps: he had been a soldier in both Oslo and Trondheim, a fact that made me feel bad. This route also made a big impression on me. I think, in general, that a pilgrim is not a regular hiker: he or she walks more consciously, is more attentive to himself/herself and his/her environment, perhaps thinks about his/her relationship to God.

These are the paths that I walked:
– 2007: Camino to Santiago (alone)
– 2010: Gudbrandsdalsleden from Oslo (alone)
– 2011: Camino from Poro to Santiago and Muxia (with my wife)
– 2012: St. Olavsleden from Sundsvall (alone)
– 2013: Camino from Viborg/Dk to Lübeck/G (with my wife)
– 2014: Camino from Swinemünde, Poland to Rostock (with my wife)
– 2015: Camino from Rostock to Hamburg (with my wife)
– 2017: Österdalsleden from Karlstad to Trondheim (alone)
– 2022: Camino from Hamburg to Bremen (alone)

After my first trip, I couldn’t communicate what I had experienced. Somehow people didn’t understand what was going on with me. So I worked through the photos I had collected and created a picture show. This allowed me to tell stories with the help of the pictures. People understood that much better. Then there were exhibitions and a book, Tag für Tag – 45 days – 45 pictures. Later came texts of sermons that had been preached while the pictures were hanging in a church in Oldenburg, Germany.

Nobody here knew the Olav Path. For that reason alone, I had a lot to tell. Then I thought my diary could help. At first it was just a blog that I wrote for the trail. In it, I shared my experiences and thoughts day by day, in German. My second book was created from this. I do the layout of all my books myself and publish them through my own publishing house – now even in English. My next book was about the St. Olav Path from from Sundsvall. This was followed by a book about the Österdalsleden, which was written because there was no guidebook for the route.

In 2023, a panoramic photo exhibition was held in Oppdal along the Gudbrandsdalsleden (Olav Path), with pictures of all three Olav trails that I had walked. Parts of this exhibition were also shown in St. Jacobi in Hamburg and are now hanging in another church in Hamburg. The City-Church (Nicolaikirche) is the next church to present the exhibition. They will open it on 1st of March 2025. Then the pictures go to Jemgumgaste, a small place near the Dutch border (23rd of August until the 7th of September 2025) – in combination with Norwegian water colour paintings from my wife Renate.”

More info: www.edition-lichtblick.de