Introduction

This blog is about my biking trip in Israel in February and March of this year. A bit different than the others - a lot shorter, carried out on a rental bike (which turned out to be quite expensive...), in winter time - when the days are really short. Still, it was a cool adventure, starting in the Golan Heights and then at the very north of the country, heading all the way south to Eilat and even a bit into the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.The reason why I travelled to Israel was sad and affectious at the same time - my uncle Andris, with his family in the north of the country, had passed away in December, while it was close to impossible to be there for the prompt burial, a few weeks later this gave a chance to meet my relatives and their loved ones - some of whom I had never met.My parents and myself flew from Vienna to Tel Aviv, were greeted by my cousin Arik and driven to the north, to a lavish kibbutz called HaGoshrim, close to Kiryat Shmona. Here we visited the grave of Andris and spent a few days in the welcoming circle of my cousins. At one dinner, we were 25 people - my two cousins, their 9 children and their respective partners.

My parents had to fly back after a couple of days - and once I was already in this country, having arrived just after the winter rains had passed, I thought I would stay a a couple of days longer and do what I love to do - discover parts of this country by bike.

I guess one needs a bike for a cycle tour - I found a couple of rentals in the vicinity, but my cousin had an idea - a friend an neighbor of his living in the very same kibbutz had a bike shop and I was able to rent one of his road bikes. It was a rather sophisticated one, I usually ride sort of trekking/gravel bikes, this one was a real light bike racers use. As such, there were two drawbacks - the cargo was limited, so I left my tent and sleeping bag behind, second it was really expensive. Israel is by no means an inexpensive country (OK, easier would have been to say it is bloody expensive), but the amount I paid for my bike exceeded my wildest dreams. OK, I will not spend any more words on this, let us say I could have been more insightful when renting the equipment. Let us shovel earth on this topic. and see how the tour went.