Shvil Yisrael -- Beit Meir

Instead of continuing our walk from last week, we hit the Jerusalem area, because early in the morning we had to hand our precious Oldest Teen over to the tender mercies of the Israeli Army. (They then loaded him on a bus and took him to the Tel Aviv area, which we could have taken him to more easily than to Jerusalem, but that's the army for you...)

We took the main highway to the Beit Meir turn-off, and parked at a KKL sign at the entrance to the Burma road.

My National Trail guidebook said that there was a 2 hour circular section headed down the Burma road, so of course The Spouse chose to head out in the opposite direction. [sigh]

The scenery is beautiful, especially all greened up for winter. The almond tree is blooming already, though it's about a month early.

The only blemish on this bucolic scene is the odor; this section of the Trail passes right alongside the Beit Meir chicken coops. At least you know, on the return trip, when you're almost done, with the perfume wafting int the air around you.

This section of the trail is much better marked than is the section on the Herzeliya beach. It's no less crowded, but here's it's bicyclists you share the trail with, thanks to KKL. (I never thought I'd say those words about the Jewish National Waste of Funds.)


Most of this section is a forest walk, with pines and oaks obscuring anything else--you can't see the forest for the tress or, as my brother put it when he was about 7, "I can't see the view. All these trees are in the way."

Along the way, enjoying the sunshine and the relative warmth, you do find reminders that it is still winter.

Rain puddles, two days after the last rain. Well, something had to get everything so green, didn't it?
At one point there's a break in the trees and you suddenly see what, in some circles, passes for civilization: the city of Beit Shemesh. Between you and the city there are kilometers of trees. All those blue-box pennies actually were used, so when are you coming to water your tree?

After about 40 minutes of strolling we got to a downhill which in real-life looked a little trickier than it does in a photograph and we decided to leave it for another day, when the Old Spouse's heel spurs are further along the road to recovery.

(If you look carefully, you can see trail markings on the big stone down at the bottom.)

And because this is still a knitting blog, proof that all this walking hasn't completely stalled knitting, though it seems to have affected my sense of color:

The first Monthly Dishcloth KAL. It was supposed to be white, but I need to start making some milchig dishcloths for Pesach... Besides, isn't snow a bluish kind of white? (Now let's all quote the Teens: "Mama, you're weird!")