Shvil Israel Day 11
Starting km: 279
Finishing km: 305
Distance walked: 26km
Generally a pretty pleasant day's walk. Mostly easy going, as almost all of it was along the beach. In fact, if I'd wanted the whole day could have been beach walking, but I followed the official trail up off the beach at Netanya to walk along the clifftop promenade. It had a bit more shade, and some nice views out over the ocean, but was marred by the big soulless apartment/hotel buildings, both extant and under construction.
The area around Netanya is sometimes called the Israeli Riviera, and I can see why. It's got lovely golden sand beaches and clear turquoise water, both of which have been somewhat spoiled by overdevelopment on and immediately behind the beaches.
Still really pretty to walk along so long as you keep your eyes fixed on the beach and water and don't look inland.
Further south the beaches weren't quite as nice, but neither was the development so overdone. When I arrived at Poleg beach it wasn't even 15:00 yet, so I had a long time to sit under a sunshade watching the dozens of kitesurfers out on the water, a school group doing activities (in one, teams had to fill a bucket placed 50m from the ocean using only a small plastic cup and their wits. They'd soon started bringing back mouthfuls of seawater and wringing their hair into the bucket on return).
Also watched a lot of matkot, which is kind of a cross between beach volleyball and racquetball that is very popular in Israel. And at least it has a better name than pickleball.
When it finally started to cool a bit and as the sun dipped towards the horizon I went and set my tent up on a small pathway in amongst the dunes next to the Poleg Stream.
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