Day 43: Isfiya to ha-Nezirim Mill
Day 43, April 11: Descent from Carmel looked on map like 3 km. Felt more like 8 - took forever. Met Idan. Sunglasses broke - I need to get a real pair. Ok hiking - with section through 8 foot tall plants made entirely of spikes. Ended at cool mill with water and a party that we are not invited to. Everyone sounds drunk at 5 pm. Nezirim Mill.
Takhanat ha-Nezirim (Monks' Mill) turned out to be a restaurant in an old defunct mill. They had a lawn they nicely let us use. I again couldn't find trees to use my hammock and so slept in Idan's tent, and it rained again. Packing up a tent after a rainy night really makes you appreciate the benefits of hammock camping. We also met a guy hiking the opposite direction. On trails like this, meeting someone going the other way is a chance to exchange knowledge and lore, as it were - you not only share stories, but talk about conditions coming up. I found this to be a flashback to times when word of mouth was the only source of knowledge, especially since I was mostly without internet access during my time on the trail.
Some of the knowledge he shared was that we should detour around a certain wadi heading down to the Sea of Galilee, as it was a veritable mass of those spiky plants. Every plant over there smaller than an olive tree seems to be out to kill you. These are serious spikes - they draw blood!