Trip Day 25 - Cana to Kibbutz Lavi

Monday September 25

We slept a good night. Breakfast at 7:30 am. 

A photo from the front terrace to the Wedding Church Dome. 

Saying good-bye to our hosts. Felt great being there (communal bathroom and all). Such nice people. 

She was so proud of the fact that she was in the old Jesus Trail book on page 33. In the new slimmer version she is not any longer.  But here she is!

(Correction: we found it on page 25)

I think we were on the road at 8 :20 am today. 

Walking out of town. What a lovely door. 

Every so often you have to stop and look around. 

The guide book says that today the beginning is the most difficult part. Uphill uphill uphill. But then downhill and flat. We thought we were at the highest point at the mosque. 

About 1100 feet. 

We had passed some really lovely houses. Big houses. We were told that even today families live together. If a son married, another story will be just built on top. 

Turning right at 9:12 am. Downhill. This must be the highest point. 1128 feet

Mmhh. No! More uphill. And so it goes. 

I had my Camino pants on. The material made it very hot. So I unzipped "the legs" hoping we would not have to go through scratchy thorn  bushes like yesterday. Much cooler. Very nice. 

This might finally be the highest point today. 

1236 feet. 

In the valley was a house with a retainingwall terrace and nice flowers. James was funny saying that he was wondering where they got the stones from. 

Soon we started seeing these trail markers. 

And then went through a pine forest. The new path felt like walking on a carpet. 

The trail went past a military base for a while. No photos being on the cautious side. The guy in the watchtower waved to us enthusiastically though. 

We had been told that there was a little place selling sandwiches to the soldiers and cheap. We found it. It was actually very good. 

And off we go again. This time cows are standing guard. 

Where we are going is halfway between these two. 

And here is where our trouble started again. Mark has altered the trail and gave us the new trail map but not all markers are done yet. Somebody recommended an app on the iPhone and it worked great so far but it also had the old map. The old trail went through this tunnel under a highway but the marker was marked out. We followed the new trail marker. One. Two. Can't find any. Could we be so dumb?

And the wandering in the wilderness started. 

 

Finally we decided it must be this second tunnel we had passed earlier. 

Well, after we wandered a bit on the other side we were frustrated and called Mark on the telephone. 

He told us where we should be so we did something we should not  tell our children. We climbed over the barrier from the other side to this where we could get up some steps and over a pedestrian bridge. And after a few steps there was a marker. 

And, ha-ha, there where golden arches. McD. James only filled our water up. 

No marker in sight so we missed the roman road. But no problem. A very nice policeman (coming from McD) told us where the Kibbutz Lavi was. He even offered to drive us but we said thank you but no thank you. 

So along the road we marched. 

And then we came to a marker from which we could see the Kibbutz. 

We had been told not to bring any food since everything in this Kibbutz is kosher so we ate our emergency bar (Oreos is the only thing we could find yesterday) in the shade. 

Arrive Kibbutz Lavi about 3:15 pm

30108 Fitbit steps 12.9 miles (20.8 km)

Should have had 14.1 km = 8.76 miles

James says he is proud of me. I wish I could do a little better. But ... we are here. 

The place is huge. But I have no photos yet. Maybe tomorrow. 

Getting out of the wet sweaty clothes and shower is first thing. Very nice room with our own bathroom. Internet great too. 

Later we get a beer from the bar to enjoy outside in the shade. Saw this at the bar. So funny. 

Dinner included which is very convenient. Buffet of course. Everything kosher but very nice. I wouldn't know any difference. Forgot the photos again. Only remembered half way through my salad plate. All so delicious. 

We also asked a 21 year old girl from Germany to the table. We had met Helen yesterday in the Guesthouse. She is by herself and it's not nice to eat alone. We had a lively conversation. 

There was a lecture about the Kibbutz life. James went to it but I skipped it. He told me all which I had not heard yet. Win win. 

This is a religious Kibbutz which was started in 1948 by people from England. The settlers were mostly people who had been evacuated to England from Germany as children when the holocaust era started. They were taken in by English families but their relatives  had all been killed. Those we talked to definately spoke with a British accent. 

Tomorrow morning we would like to get going earlier to get going before the sun gets too high since breakfast starts at 6:30 am. It is very hot by about noon and we sometimes need to refill our water along the way.