When planning this trip, I looked at the map and
saw that whilst we'd only be covering 24 km in these two days of walking,
it would have been too hard to do in one day. In fairness, Garry thought we
would succeed in getting through the 24 km in one day, and I'm sure HE could
indeed have done it. Mark, whilst not as tough as our resident mountain goat,
is a public servant, who has ample time to work out in the gym and keep himself
fit. Yoni and I may well have succeeded in completing the 24 km in one day, but
we wouldn't have enjoyed it. But we're doing the shvil in order to enjoy it,
not to prove to anybody that we still have enough testosterone to hike more
than 20 km in a day. So if we did 13 yesterday (not counting the added 4 before
we officially started), that leaves 11 today. No problem, even if it is mostly
uphill the whole way.
Now is the time when I admit to the fact that I
can sometimes be a bit thick. Yoni took one look at the book and the maps and
instantly declared that walking South to North, or down from 700 metres above
sea level to 200 metres above sea level, is far more logical than continuing from where we finished the day before, in a North to
South direction, which would have us climb from 200 metres up to 700 metres.
Even though we have switched directions many times in the past in order to have
an easier walk, I didn't think to do it now. Thankfully Yoni convinced us of
the logic and for one last time, we switched walking direction.
This trip and the previous one, where we stayed at
Elifaz, have had easy, hassle free logistics, reliable transport and
accommodation in one place for two nights, which, not withstanding the walking,
gave it an almost holiday feel. It's a distant memory from other times when starting
to walk would be delayed by 3 hours by logistical difficulties. Given that today was a Friday, we were eager to get
going early so we could finish and get back home in the North in time for
Shabbath. In order to facilitate this, we arranged for Shimon to pick us up at
5.00 so we would be walking at sunlight. No coffee stops, no muckin' around,
straight to the starting point. Shimon is super reliable and doesn't seem to
sleep, as no matter how early we ask him to pick us up, he's there 15 minutes
early. So at 4.55 we were in his taxi already, for the short drive to the
starting point on Route 12, adjacent to the border with Egypt. Trouble is,
first light is about 5.40. So there we were, seeing Shimon's tail lights
disappear down the road and over the mountain, in pitch black. The trail looked
wide and obvious, so we decided to set off in the dark, hoping this was the right
way. The book did warn us that the trail, being so close to the Egyptian
border, passed through a mine field on either side. So that about sums it up; we
were walking on a path through a mine field, in the dark, not being absolutely
certain that we were on the right track. At 55 years old, you'd think we'd show a bit more
responsibility, maturity and judgement, especially so close to the end.
We did notice, dark or not, that the path was
going down very steeply. We were instantly glad that we were descending first
thing in the morning and not ascending at the end of the walk. After 20 minutes
or so, it was still dark, bit we could make out enough to see that we had
gotten to a cliff. A very high cliff. Unanimously we decided to stop and wait
to see where the path went and where the edge of the cliff was. Who says we're
irresponsible?
As light came up we could see the grandeur of the
surrounding mountains and the valley a long way below us. My companions stayed
well back from the cliff's edge, but I wanted an adrenaline rush and a better
view of the cliff face and the valley, so walked around the side, along an
abutment on the edge. My heart did literally pound from the adrenaline and the
views were even better than where my friends were standing. Hell, if we were
rolling the dice this morning, then why not the whole way?
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Once we had enough light and decided to get moving again, we had a
little trouble finding the continuation of the path. It seemed to have
disappeared. This is actually quite correct, it sort of did disappear.
Down a vertical hole in a rock. Was Mr. Shvil Painter serious, that we
were to lower ourselves in to a hole that would be a tight fit for
"regular" shvillers, let alone overweight 50 somethings? I'm not
joking when I say that this fissure in the rock was less than a metre wide and in
order to get in we had to remove our backpacks and wiggle into the space. Once in, we crouched
down inside the middle of the rock, sat on a ledge and tried to find a way of
getting legs down to unseen rungs. The adrenaline burst on top of the cliff was
nothing compared to this. Each one of us found a different way of successfully lowering
our bodies down. Once again, on the 2nd last leg of this long
journey, when you think that you've seen everything on the shvil, you get
something new, exciting, dangerous and FUN. The remainder of the descent down
to the bottom of the cliff was steep but uneventful. Ein Netafim, the only
spring in the area that has water all year round, is at the base of the cliff.
We didn't stop to have a look, though from all reports, it's not exactly the
sort of desert oasis that tempts you to hang around at for very long.
The path continued down nachal netafim, once again passing through Hollywood disaster movie sets of boulders strewn all over the place. Fortunately, the path wound around the boulders and we didn't have to drop any straight down. The descent down nachal netafim was quite steep, but after a few km leveled out. For the 2nd or 3rd or 4th time, we were thankful that my short-sightedness gave way to simple logic in reversing the walking direction.
Today's
walk, although relatively short, was as varied and as beautiful as any we had
done on the shvil, principally because we passed many junctions and valleys.
Each valley that we passed had a different view, angle and colour. Imagine walking
down Main Street in your home town, at every intersection looking right or left
and seeing a different neighborhood. Here, we would crest a hill, walk past
deep canyons or wide valleys and each appeared different. After a few km, the
flat-topped Mt, Schoret loomed in front of us. From experience, the Shvil
Elders like to schlep us up flat-topped mountains, just for the fun of it. The
book, however, made no mention of climbing Mt Schoret, so we assumed that this
time we would skirt it around its base. The truth lay somewhere in the middle.
As we approached the mountain ahead of us, the path rose. And continued to
rise. We made quite a steep climb that scaled about 3/4 of the mountain. By the
time the path reached its high-point we weren't so far beneath the mountain's
summit. The
descent over the other side into the basin below, surrounded by mountains in
all directions, was stunning. Throughout the day's walk, the mountains and valleys
were colored with varieties of red, yellow, white and black that made the views
all the more striking. At a 4 way
path junction we turned right into Schoret canyon. Now the color ranges were up
close as we walked the final kilometer and a half through the narrow canyon. A
final bit of variety to end two days of almost perfect walking, which had
everything from boring plains to mountain views, to cliffs, valleys and narrow
canyons. The shvil was going out with a bang.
Just to put the cherry on the icing for everything
that had gone right this trip, Danny the Jeep Man arrived to the agreed pickup
point at exactly the same time as we exited the canyon. We'd finished the 10 km
quickly and hadn't had our brekky. Whilst we always enjoy sitting on a ledge,
or under a tree or on a mountain top to eat, there's something unaccustomedly civilized
about eating breakfast at a table, on plates, in an apartment in Eilat.
The long boring drive back was made a little more
bearable by a fun new game. Yoni the DJ took requests from the audience, which he
would duly find on YouTube and play over the car's stereo. The hours passed
listening to old songs from our youth. Just 4 old friends out on a drive. And
an adventure.
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