Finding First Gear.

After months of planning and driving my wife crazy the time has come to ride.  The alarm went off at a time of day I only like to see once and never with a “0” in front of it.  I managed to fumble my phone and wake my wife who, I’m sure, appreciated it.

After the usual morning routine, I was joined for breakfast by my 2-year-old son who was on great form and “helped” me pack the bike by which time my wife and daughter (11 weeks old) where awake.  Finally, the time had come to head to the boarder.

With the family looking on I said good bye and, with the engine running, paused before selecting first.  Could this be happening?  Am I leaving my family for three weeks?  How selfish can one be?  Then I looked at my wife and saw her smile.  They are behind me and want me to go….. Hold on, is that a good thing?

I got to the Jordan/Israel border crossing in good time and was ready for the inevitable paper work and red tape that would see me safely into Israel.  It never happened.  I was at the wrong crossing (King Hussein Bridge or Allenby Crossing).  It turns out this one is foot traffic only, unless you have a magic piece of paper from someone in Amman.  A 70km detour later I was at the right crossing (Sheikh Hussein) in the north.  And now for the paperwork…. A few hours later and I’m crossing the Jordan River into Israel. 

The Israeli side was a a little different to the Jordanian side.  Totally swept up and professional while also managing to be welcoming with a side order of don’t fuck with us.  The staff deal with you in pairs, a man and a woman.  On the whole the women are extremely attractive and the men a muscled and heavily armed.   

After being searched, having my luggage searched and the bike taken into a dark garage to be “searched”, rather her than me.  We were on our way to Haifa. 

What a time to discover that when Garmin say “Mapping for the Middle East and North Africa” they don’t include Israel.  Oh well time for a paper map, oh ya I didn’t bother with one for Israel.  Better Google it, no sim…. Bollocks.

If you are also an idiot then just head West from the border and you’ll find Haifa.  Finding your way around Haifa is another matter.  After a long time slowly cooking in the heavy traffic, while wearing full bike kit in the 35c heat I found my hotel and, after checking in, stripped of for a cold shower and grabbed something to eat.  By now it was 4:30pm and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.  After that I had a beer, read my book and went to bed.  Rock. And. Roll!!

And he's off...