Discounting the trips to arrive at the trailhead, the first part of this adventure was hiking Avad (alone) from Caesarea to Tel Aviv - about 40 trail miles in three days. Spoiler alert: I almost made it. On the third day, my foot bones slowed me down to the point that I had to bail out at Herzliyah beach, lest I hike the last 12 km in the dark, or leave the trail somewhere in between there and Tel Aviv with no way to return to Haifa for the night. :-p But other than the last-day shortfall (which I'll find time to make up later), it was a great three days.
I began at Caesarea, ordering my first breakfast of the trip, a smoothie from a roadside vendor, and seeking out the first trail marker of many to come.
Just a few minutes in I was already needing a bathroom (last I'd gone was at the apartment, and that was nearly three hours ago, what with buses down mountains, wait time, buses to the town, trek to the trail, and then breakfast). As I approached the southern end of the Caesarean park, I reminded myself that I very much look like exactly what I am - a Shvil hiker (Ani Shvilistit!) - and that no one knew that I had just re-started the trek, and hey, it was 11:30 in the morning and for all they knew, I'd been hiking since sunrise...so I put on my most humanizing smile, and asked the guard in my very bad Hebrew, and communicative gestures, if there might be a bathroom I could use without paying the entrance fee. He gave me a good natured smile, half laughing at knowing exactly how desperate I must be (this park is essentially in the middle of nowhere when it comes to public bathrooms), and with a flurry of incomprehensible Hebrew, he gestured me in and jokingly, but sternly, insisted that I come right back out, and not go galavanting around the park without having paid. "Oh yes, I'll come right back here!" said my mouth, while my gestures reinforced my declaration of "I hear and obey!"
Check out the pencil skirt on the women's bathroom sign. Ha, took me a second glance to pick the entrance I wanted. :-p
The rest of the first day was pretty uneventful. One step, then another, then another. Find the next trail marker, consider when last sunscreen was applied, calculate remaining kilometers and what that converts to in miles and how my pace is going. Take another step, another step, drink some water, eat some protein, take another step, take a picture here and there, take another step and another sip of life -- I mean, water -- walk somemore...repeat.
At one point I opted for a trail that ran parallel to the marked one, because it was a few meters further from the highway, and then all of a sudden I found myself forty feet above the river I was meant to cross at the footbridge up ahead. Oops, so much for parallel. The hill was too steep to risk a slide down it with my pack and on my own. So. Back the way I came until I could rejoin the INT safely and continue on my way. I arrived to Hadera two and a half hours early! Averaging about 3mph that first day, so I visited the beach, found a bathroom and some food, and at 4:30 gave my Trail angel a call.
What a sweet lady! She came and picked me up (and didn't utter a word at how I must have smelled), and took me to her lovely home a few miles away. Her children are grown, so her husband and she have several open rooms to share. She made dinner for me(!) and offered their washer (and dryer! Rare here), and we had a lovely chat, mostly in Hebrew and gestures, since my Hebrew fluency (we're talking communicative competence here, nothing resembling actual grammatical language), outstripped her English abilities.
I had a loooovely shower and washed out my clothes from the day, and took them up on their dryer, woot. And best part was their WiFi allowing me to FaceTime with my friend and niece back home. She was weepy having just hurt her finger (the three year old, not my friend ;)), and I was so heartwarmed to have the technology and space and time to get to be there with them as she cried it out a bit, and then, whoosh, like the child she is, jumped up to show me her "new" xylophone (her Safta gave it to her for her bday quite a while back, but apparently it's just caught her eye). We sang a few songs together and caught up on life a bit, and then I went back out to spend a little time with my hosts before bed.
Her daughter and friend had arrived, and they chatted away and laughed - and I laughed along, not knowing why, but just thoroughly enjoying the Hebrew washing over me, and observing the native discourse markers, back-channeling, etc., and picking up words here and there. At the end of stories, my host's daughter would give me a summary of what they were discussing, and I'd add my two cents in a mixture of Hebrew, English, and manual supports. Eze Kef!
The next morning I was up at 6am to attend to emerging blisters and repack for heading back out. My host not only made breakfast for me (hosts are definitely not expected to feed hikers, though it is very much appreciated), she also gave me two sandwiches for the day, and then pushed me to fill a baggie from their Tu B'Shvatb box! Tu B'Shvat is a holiday coming up -- I don't really remember the whole story of the holiday (it strays from the typical, "They tried to kill us. They failed. Let's eat." theme of most Jewish holidays), but it's kind of like Earth Day, and I think you celebrate by planting a tree. Anyway, her work sends them a box every year filled with all kinds of dried fruit, nuts, and other goodies, so we made me a mixture of them all, a very fancy trail mix. :)
Her husband drove me back to the trail, and presto, there was evening and there was morning, Day 1. ;)
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