Sarah and I had originally planned to arrive in Israel together, but because she's such a fabulous daughter (and person) she headed home to NZ to be with her mom who needed some help around the house after back surgery.
This left me with about two weeks on my own in Israel before she comes to rejoin me. So I figured why not spend it walking!?
For the next dozen-ish entries I'll be documenting my walk on the Shvil Israel, the Israel national trail. It runs about 1000km from Dan in the north, right near the Lebanon border to Eilat in the south on the Red Sea.
I'll be walking the first 40-45% of it, from Dan to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
I arrived in Tel Aviv and just zipped through passport control and customs. I don't think it took me ten minutes after a very long bus ride and a long walk got me there.
No trains because of track work, but there was a free shuttle to Ha Havana station, which is convenient, cause it's right where I wanted to go.
Spent the night at a very friendly hostel, then, later than I'd planned, caught the bus north towards Kiryat Shmona. There's no real distinction between municipal and national public transit in Israel, and both were free because it was election day. Score!
I was amazed at the number of military personnel (virtually all of them young) on the buses. It's one thing to know about the compulsory military service here, even have friends who have done it, but quite another to be sharing your ride with a dozen young men in uniform, most of them carrying automatic weapons.
Got to Kiryat Shmona and met my first three fellow hikers. They'd been on the same bus but, curiously, after I'd done some shopping and got aboard the first bus headed to Kibbutz Dan, the start of the trail.
Bought a spoon in little Dan from the one store there, then began the walk proper…
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