Ha Goshrim is a lovely part of Israel. Up here in the North there’s a lot of greenery around: agriculture is in full swing and is obviously well-watered. Mount Hermon has no snow at this time of year – too early – but the limestone stores huge quantities of water which discharge into the Hula valley, on into Lake Kinneret (Galilee) and the Jordan River.
Up early and a communal breakfast. Time for a prayer and a stretch before we mount the bikes, along with a last-minute check. Main luggage has gone into the big van which also carries spares and repairs; day-sacks with anything we might need during the day are in the little van with the water and fruit. Here we are just before starting.
Our guide, Ami, is in the blue shirt, my Camelbak is on the ground in front of me. As well as 2.1 litres of water, there is room for the camera and a few small things. Later on I’ll add my Bible.
The day starts cool, but comfortable in our t-shirts. As we leave on the flat, level roads of the Hula valley, the first few miles are an easy warm-up for us. I keep up with the front three or four: I sense that I’ll find it harder on the hills, and being near the front gives me more room to lose ground before I get to the back. I am still a little worried about not being strong enough to keep up, as all my training has been on my own.
We’re all wearing sunscreen: I hadn’t bothered while in Jerusalem. Although it was warm there, the sun wasn’t strong enough to cause problems while walking bare-armed. I now had a light tan but I didn’t want to take chances with sun-burn on the ride. I’ve also got a UV screening neck-scarf on. The Buff, as it’s called, will prove light and comfortable throughout the ride.
After a while we turn off the main roads, where we have been on a wide tarred shoulder, and onto the agricultural tracks. Rough, but still flat, we enter the Hula nature reserve: the drained Lake Hula (you’ll see this lake in old Bible atlases) has been partially reflooded, and forms a main stopping point for many birds migrating South to Africa along the Rift valley.
We stop for water and fruit from the small van, and many photos of the pelicans and cranes. There are also many otters: often close by or even on the tracks, they soon disappear if we stop and get the cameras out. However, patient waiting by an irrigation ditch eventually paid off.
Back onto the road for a short stretch up out of the old lake basin, then onto a long track above the infant Jordan heading South. At this point a pedal crank fell off my bike: Avi, the maintenance man, was there to fix it, and I soon caught up.
This was a hot slog along a rough track, but gradually the river sank below us until we came out on the edge of the hills above the Sea of Galilee (pictured).
Now we rejoined a tarred road and shot downhill to the lakeside; fast enough to overtake a lorry on the way down. We turned right to follow the West bank for a few miles until we arrived at Kphar Nahum – or Capernaum, as we would know it.
Stopping at an open-air restaurant, we enjoyed lunch of St Peter’s fish and pitta pockets of salad. This took a while, but eventually, much refreshed, we took a detour into the ruins of the ancient Biblical town. Ami had asked me (that morning, just before setting off!) to read something about the town from the Bible while we were here, and we were able to do this in the new Franciscan Church. This sits like a space-ship (literally – it’s disc-shaped) above the ruins of a Byzantine church that may have been built on the ruins of St Peter’s family home.
The Church has a central glass floor to enable us to see the ruins from above. The picture shows the view under the Church from the steps outside.
Time was marching on, and we had ‘miles to go and promises to keep before we sleep’. Back onto the road we retraced our route to the junction from the North, then continued round the North end of the Sea of Galilee. Darkness fell as we crossed the Jordan’s entry into the sea and turned South down the East bank.
We didn’t have lights, as we weren’t expecting to cycle in the dark. I had the little keyring led torch I’d bought to go through Hezekiah’s tunnel – I’d put it on a brake cable so I would know which bike was mine – and that gave me a little light for comfort. Thankfully there was a broad hard shoulder to this road so we weren’t in the line of traffic. Across the Sea, the lights of Tiberias kept us company as we cycled on.
Finally we got to Kibbutz Ein Gev at about 6.30 pm, although it felt much later. Here we had a chalet for two; with a bed in the lounge and a separate bedroom we could enjoy some privacy. After dinner, orientation (route for the next day) and prayers, there was time for a beer with some of the guys before retiring to bed.
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