Thursday 19 March 2009

'Rabies' in the Ravine

At Ibillin we met Michel Chacour,nephew of Archbishop Elias Chacour.He gave us a tour of the nearly completed Church.We went around the schools.There are 75% muslim students. The rest Christian,they also have Jewish students studying extra curricula subjects.The head teacher of one school is muslim.They have Jewish,Christian,Muslim & Druze teachers.
We drove from Ibillin to Tiberius & stayed at the very basic Aviv Hostel.Althopugh,4 beds crammed into a small room we managed to leave a 12" gap between the men's 'triple bed' & patsy's single.I won't say who snored enough for Paul to bring out the earplugs...Machael had suggested we find the Melkite Catholic Church in Tiberius Old City.We met Nami who looks after the Church - we wished we had booked accommodation there.We did go back for breakfast.We got a Taxi to Capernaum on morning of Tuesday 17th.
We visited Capernaum Church & synagogue.Prayed together on camera ( a new experience).
About half an hour's walk away is the Church of Beatitudes.We got there just as they were closing for lunch.We then walked to the nearby Churches of Peter's Primacy and Loaves & Fishes.All different styles.
We then followed the Jesu Trail - backwards,This has proved challenging to say the least.After 15 minutes we missed a left turning & lost maybe 45 minutes.We more or less had to walk near to the road to Migdal Junction - several miles.Then the fun really began.As we entered the ravine between the mountains a dog bit James.We were running out of daylight but thought we had time to climb up & over the cliff.
Thomas was struggling with pack,camera,tripod & equipment.We ran out of daylight!We dedcided that as we had come so far we wouldn't be beaten.It's quite amazing just how much you can see on a 3' wide ledge even in darkness.I eventually found my headtorch.We walked along the ledge - slowly & found the way over the top.It was a series of Vertical (no exaggeration) small metal handholes.It looked like suicide for a monkey without baggage in daylight!We decided to go back to the beginning of the ledge.Then the group decided to go the longer 'easier' route.Judging by our efforts thus far we calculated 2 hours round the rim of the cliff & smaller climb.As we edged along the ledge facing the Sea of Galilee the ledge narrowed.We cornered to face the Sea & the wind blew.We dreaded the thought of rain - slippy!Thomas scrammbled about 20 metres straight up scree with only a 4'ledge to stop a 1000' drop.Thomas vanished out of sight,we could only see the torch as we waited in darkness.On his return Co-ordinator's veto 'vote'took us slowly down the Mountain.We had been on the Mopuntain in the dark for about 4 hours...
We secured transport to Arbel Guesthouse.

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