Page 16 - Discover Israel Magazine - UK edition 2017

By: Hillel Sussman The Israe

The Israel Bike Trail is a national Pedal your way to an appreciatio
project for the construction of a
mountain bike trail that traverses
the entire country from the
northernmost and highest point in Israel -
Mount Hermon - to the lowest point on earth
- the Dead Sea, and to the southernmost
point - the city of Eilat on the shores of the
Red Sea.

Imagine that in just a few short years, you'll
be able to hop on your bike on Mount
Hermon and pedal away until you reach
Eilat. The project is led by the Israel Nature
and Parks Authority with financial support
from the Ministry of Tourism and the Israel
Government Tourist Corporation as well
as other government ministries, including
the Ministry of Environmental Protection
and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development.

The concept is that anyone who bikes the
trail will learn about the diverse landscapes
and cultures of Israel. In planning the trail,
we have attempted to connect to as many
important tourist sites as possible into a
single contiguous trail. The trail is planned to
extend over 1,200 kilometres (approximately
750 miles), making it one of the longest trails
in the world, and perhaps the most beautiful
and diverse. To create the trail, teams
are currently deployed throughout Israel,
seeking the best possible routes. The trail is
being constructed with the highest possible
mountain biking trail standards. Parts of it
are being built by volunteers and others by
professional trail builders.

We set several principles for the planning
phase:
• Rider services - Each day begins and
ends at a place where riders can sleep,
eat and, if necessary, have their bikes
repaired.
• Daily stages - We defined daily stages
that are not particularly long, so that
riders will have enough time to visit the
sites located down the length of the
trail and wander around the areas they
ride through. With that objective in mind,
we set a daily stage of 35-40 kilometres
(skilled riders can easily combine two
segments into a single day).
• Easy riding - To ensure that the trail
is very easy to ride, the planning teams
have worked hard to reduce the level of
technical and physical skills riders need
to enjoy the trail. Although you can't

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