cycle Palestine chapter 4 - getting there

 Getting There
 
A Chinese philosopher once said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a walk to Lewisham Station. This is very true.
 
The majority of people flew ridiculously early from Heathrow.  Fortunately for me, I was flying from Luton at around midday, and could leave home at a more civilised hour.  Unfortunately for me, I was carrying one of two bags of tyres with me that the group was taking with us, because they are difficult to get hold of in Palestine.  It was a shoulder bag from which the strap had gone missing, so I rigged up something with a bit of cord.
 
This is Lewisham Station again.

Taking Bikes
 
A few people took their own bikes, but most of us hired hybrids from the tour company that MAP was working with in Palestine.  I choose not to take my own classic bike with me.

Those who chose to take their own bikes had to take them apart and package them in something like this.

Arriving at Ben Gurion Airport
 
When the two of us who flew from Luton arrived, the others had been there for four hours already. Several of them had been or were still being questioned.
 
I was asked a couple of questions and allowed straight through, but others were questioned for hours. In this picture you can see me, a member of MAP staff crouching in front of me, one of our Palestinian guides in red, and then all the people who had been held back for questioning.

I couldn’t possibly say if there had been any profiling.
 
Anyway, the white people had already left for Jenin four hours earlier, but it turned out that a checkpoint had been closed without warning, leaving them to take a long alternative route, and in the end we met up with them on the way and all arrived at our hotel in Jenin the same time (very late).