After we had breakfast, we brought the bikes down and layered them with wheels in between the bikes and on top like a chocolate layer cake. It worked! We could even put a few small bags in the rear area as well. With that arrangement, there was still room for a few toothbrushes!
For those who don't know the big fellow ( 6'6" , about 240 lbs) you understand why we call John "Big John" or BJ. Now, imagine him squeezed in the passenger seat behind Naomi and I (she needs to be up front to navigate) with bags piled to the roof and petit Ann on the other side. I have to say that John and Anne are the perfect travelling companions - not only do they NOT complain when things get challenging, but they really make the best of things! And, on that note, there were more to come.
The drive out of Tel Aviv was perplexing - rush hour traffic with cars honking at each other, motor bikes and scooters darting in between cars and weaving in front and, us, unfamiliar with the routes. However, Naomi did a brilliant job as navigator and we eventually got to our destination at the top of the Carmel Mountain near Haifa. We were in a tiny Druze village, with a Turkish bazaar type street - open air stalls set up with unusual collections of furniture, appliances, and assortments of small items. We parked in a designated "parking lot" behind the main street - the lot manned by a woman and her young son, collecting 15 shekels at a broken down booth.
Next challenge: unloading all our gear, reassembling the bikes and loading all the luggage back into the rear cargo area and covering the stuff with a thin paint tarp I brought from home. The plan was to ride down the mountain into Haifa and then leave the girls in town while BJ and I rode back up to the van and return to Haifa to pick up the girls. The route was only 26 km - top to bottom.
If we were at the top of the mountain, why did we have 3 major steep climbs at the start? The girls were NOT happy! It's one thing to ride steep climbs (which they are capable of doing), but without a warm up (did I mention that the temperature was around 36 C) However, the girls toughed it out and we descended into Carmel Centre - a suburb of Haifa. This area is still pretty high up above Haifa port, but because of our late start and hot weather, we decided this was far enough (only 18 km). The girls were willing to attempt the climb back up after lunch.
We stopped at a nice sandwich shop with outdoor patio and watched while a small airplane loaded with water, dive-bombed a forest fire in the valley just below. There were smoke and ashes filling the air in the valley and fire truck sirens wailing in the streets around us. Apparently, the hot dry conditions initiate fires in these areas. We ate inside in the cool, unsmoky restaurant. After lunch, we cycled a short distance down to view the famous and most beautiful Bahai gardens and the Haifa harbour in the background.
Turned out that, with the exception of one very long winding climb going back up the Carmel, the route down was much harder than the climb. Both Ann and Naomi did exceeding well all the way back to the van. We reloaded our gear back into the van, Naomi and I replotted our route to our night's destination above the Sea of Galilee and we took off. We noticed two more forest fires burning in the valleys.
We arrived around 6 PM at Verid HaGalil, unpacked, and went for a well earned supper. Our accommodations are pretty and comfortable cabins overlooking the Sea of Galilea (Lake Kinneret as it is know in Israel) . Most importantly, the beds are comfortable and showers excellent.
I assembled our bikes and we washed out our bike clothes and hung them outside to dry (probably within an hour) before hitting the sack.
