Sansana to Philip farm on Israel National Trail: Day 25

A good distance covered today on easy tracks through woods and across grassland by meandering, if dry, streams.

Leaving the hospitable village of Sansana I headed downhill through woods eventually reaching Lahav Kibbutz. I had thought of visiting the shop here but the yellow security gates had no pedestrian access, not wanting to get trapped inside, and as it was not essential to buy any groceries, I continued on my way. From the outside, many of the kibbutz and villages look unwelcoming, surrounded by high fences and closed gates.

The next section was up and down over grassy hills. Palm cave was on the path, so called as it is a cave, and it has a palm tree in front of it. Another pine woods followed. Sheep grazed in grassy areas covered with red anemones, while white egrets(?) wandered among them, sometimes standing on top of a sheep. At a picnic area there were remains of what looked like ancient cisterns for storing water.

Sheep grazing in a clearing among the red anemones

Walking beside a dry stream bed on the right populated with trees, and green crops on the left.

For a several kilometres the path followed a stream bed as it meandered about. Although there was little water the small valley was full of lush, green grass, herbage and a variety of trees. People were cutting the grass and loading it onto their pickups, presumably as fodder for their animals. Surrounding the valley fields had been planted with grass, or it might have been a grain crop. 

The route crossed the main Route 6 motorway by a Petrol station where I enjoyed a welcome coffee and pain-au-chocolat. Such treats make up for the hardship of long walks, and of course you need the calories. I then had to wade through mud as the trail took me along a drainage tunnel below the road, the only safe way of crossing such a busy highway, it made a real mess of my lovely Italian walking boots. 

Later, there was a trailer selling food and drinks by the Pura nature reserve. The menu was in Hebrew but I pointed to a sandwich someone had bought and indicated I would have one of those. It turned out to a chicken schnitzel sandwich served in a good sized, soft, white bread roll with white cabbage and olives served with a Turkish coffee. Slightly healthier than the snack I had earlier at the Petrol station. A couple sat down at the same table as me, he joked that I was walking his trail as his name was Israel. Like others I met they told me of a trip they had made to England. They visited London but found the local inhabitants uncommunicative, only managing to have a conversation with a Filipino lady.

Many wild flowers were blooming in the nature reserve, and indeed all day I had been admiring the red anemones, although there were also blue flowers, pools of white flowers and plenty of yellow ones too. A school group had arrived on a coach and teachers were telling their pupils about different flowers which the students were dutifully photographing with their phones.

Remains of old Turkish railway bridge

I continued across the grassland to some ancient remains (they seem to dot the countryside) and the more recent remains of a collapsed railway bridge from the Ottoman era. A more modern railway ran nearby with regular trains (including sleek double decker passenger trains).

Time was passing so I made a diversion off the trail to reach Philip farm before sunset, where my host of the previous evening had sent a text warning of my arrival. The guidebook refers to a campsite here although there did not seem to be any particular area to pitch one's tent between the donkey enclosure, donkey traps, All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) and other farm buildings. Very kindly the lady at the small house let me use the shower and fed me coffee and some very good cookies (made with spelt I thought she said). I pitched my tent in the dark behind the ATVs.