Freedom Outdoors

Women’s 1000m K1 Photo Finish

Ana and I drove up North on Thursday to Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), arriving around 9pm. We were there to cheer on my friend who was competing in a flatwater sprint kayak competition over the weekend on the Kinneret.

We grabbed dinner at Tzel Tamar nearby. It’s a really nice restaurant with small ponds and gardens outside. The interior decor is wood and looks great. Unfortunately, the service and food are not quite at the same level. Ana kept asking the waiter if he recommended the carpacho or the hamburger. We tried to be very specific, asking if they considered one or the other to be more of their specialty. However, the waiter couldn’t get past telling us that since one was an apetizer and the other a main course, it was impossible to compare. What can you do when you know that the person will be satisfied with the size of either as a main course and just wants the tastier dish? He simply refused to give an answer, repeating again and again that no comparison was possible as they were too different. Anyway, she went for the hamburger in the end. I took the chiken with garlic and spices. Neither were all that great. Oh well.

Accomodations were better. We stayed at a room rented at Kibbutz Deganya Bet. They’re a good value, clean and simple. Best of all, just accross the road is a chocolate factory & store that Ana and our friends simply loved.

On Friday we went to the competition after I got back from a morning road ride of about 35km up to Tiberias and back towards the Jordan Valley. Lior won the women’s 1000m K1, her only race of the day. After all the races were finished, we went out for a late lunch at a local grill place.

We raced up North to a kibbutz near Kyriat Shmona and spent the evening with some other friends. In the morning I went for a trail ride with him around the Hula Park. STUNNING! Even though the birds had migrated out, there were still a lot to see. They’d built asphalt bike trails to keep people off the grass and from making their own, thus making this a great destination for families to take their kids riding. We didn’t have too much time, but it whet my appetite and I really need to go back for a longer ride.

Some more friends who live up North joined us later on Saturday back at the Kinneret Kayak Club where we watched some more races before hanging out in the afternoon together.

It was a superb weekend. We got to hang out on the water, watch some good races, see lots of friends and I got in some good riding in some of the early warm weather of the season.

[tags]kayak, K1, kinneret, race, israel, tiberias[/tags]