My room rate included a boxed breakfast. One of the problems with booking.com is that sometimes when you book a room that can sleep two people you end up with two breakfasts, as I did today, and they were two large breakfasts. I ate four croissants, two pots of yogurt and most of a large carton of orange juice and packed the rest of the food for my dinner tonight.
Kinneret is a village established in 1908 by pioneering Zionists. The buildings of black basalt were made to last, a statement of permanence. Leaving the village I climbed up the side of the ridge that encloses the Sea of Galilee. The path then followed the upper part of the hillside for several kilometres looking down on Galilee.
I walked among yellow wild flowers passing cherry (?) orchards and crossing the Swiss Forest Nature Reserve, only part of which seemed to have any trees. Tiberias with its white buildings spreading up from the shoreline appeared around a corner of the hill and grew steadily larger. The trail crossed the upper part of the town.
After dropping down into a valley the path climbs again initially through vegetation, made green and lush by recent rainfall. Caterpillars in large numbers were eating it. The path joined a vehicle track and steadily climbed up Mount Arbel.
The day began with blue skies but as the morning progressed black clouds gathered above the steel grey surface of the Sea of Galilee. Now heavy rain began, driven into me by a strong wind (my thoughts here turned to the bible story of Jesus on the lake with his disciples when a storm blew up). My GPS was having problems with satellite reception, despite the clear view of the sky, it has been an issue here in Israel. Not wanting to soak my guidebook by consulting its maps, I was relying on spotting the waymarks to find where to go. Fortunately the waymarks were good unlike my vision, which was hindered by a flapping anorak hood and fogged up glasses. I followed a small path around the top of the mountain to a place where it dropped off the side of the cliff. Thankfully the rain eased very slightly, but not very much, as I made my way down the cliff path. On the plus side metal rungs were set into the rock to help you on steep bits, on the negative side the rocks were worn smooth by countless hikers and were now wet and slippery. My boots had a layer of mud on their soles, so their grip was minimal. Each step had to be carefully planned, if possible placing my boot in a ledge or gap where it would be jammed in rather than on a smooth, slippery surface which would have been fine on a dry day. Use of hand holds were essential to maintain balance and manage any slips. A cool head was needed, unfortunately that was not the only thing that was cool. The wind, rain, wet shorts and bare legs were pulling the heat out of me, and the friction between my wet shorts and thighs were pulling my shorts down. While exposed to the rain I dared not put my fleece on, as it would rapidly become soaked. Finally I reached some shelter where I could add some clothing.
Climbing down the cliff took a while but I eventually gained a path and then the road. I think the route actually went down a valley next to the road but it was guarded by two unfriendly dogs and the stream was swollen by rain so I stayed with the road, its pavement and a border of red and pink geraniums.
As the rain finally eased I crossed some orchards then walked through Migdal to my accommodation for the night. The owner was surprised to see me, claiming there were no tourists. Having pointed out that I had booked online, and I had arrived six weeks ago, well before tourists were prevented from flying to Israel, I was given a chalet, where I enjoyed a well deserved (I thought) hot shower.
Latest News: UK Foreign office has now advised against all world wide travel. It does not actually say come home as soon as possible but that seems to be the drift. Already airlines (Virgin Air, Wizz Air) have stopped flying out of Tel Aviv. BA's website could not offer me any flights. Easyjet is still flying, but maybe not for long. Israeli guidelines are become more stringent, with an Internet report that everyone will be effectively confined to their homes. In the light of this I have felt obliged to head for home tomorrow, despite being so close to the end (6 days and 100 kilometres according to the guidebook).
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