Leaving the Art house I walked by date palms being watered. A certain smell suggested the water was being recycled. By a large array of solar panels and a sewerage plant a new, large water reclamation facility was being built, maybe supporting my supposition.
A few kilometres north, by the next village of Sapir, young children were playing by some acacia trees, running up and down a small hill, watched over by a few adults. These villages seem a good place for young children to grow up, away from traffic and pollution, and close to nature, although I expect in their teens they find things a bit quiet. No-where to hang out in the evening except around the grocery store.
Heading into the hills I heard the sound of semi-automatic gun fire (at least I think that is what it was, not myself being familiar with weaponry). Later there were explosions in the distance. Overhead military transport planes crossed the sky and in the late afternoon a jet flew low over my campsite followed by four helicopters, red lights flashing in the dusk. According to the map on my GPS, tonight I am sleeping in a military area, hope they are careful what they do.
There were three big climbs today and two big descents, the final descent being pretty steep. From the highest points I could see the mountains of Jordan, capped with a white coating of snow. Other than that I saw a few ibex which ran off on spotting me, not as tame as the ones I encountered near Eilat. When they stood still I could hardly see them, their rough, sandy brown colour blending in so well with the desert dust and stones. There were also birds, which I mainly heard twittering in tree branches.
Some interesting geology attracted my attention, such as a dyke, black against the surrounding yellowish rock (a dyke is a line along which molten rock has pushed through the pre-existing rock and then solidified). There were some interesting exposures of folded chert beds, the white limestone between the chert seems to have been squeezed into cracks to accommodate the folding. It gave some interesting shapes anyway.
I am now camped at Gev Holit Night Camp, alone in a valley spotted with acacia and enclosed by high mountains, high enough to stop me getting a phone signal. Birds are tweeting as the sun lowers itself serenely behind the cliffs.
27.1 kilometres walked today with a 760 metre total ascent.
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