Israel won't let us move on yet. Why our last day in the Holy Land is not the last after all, you can find out here.

The bags are packed. The tires on our wheels are changed. Everything is ready to go. The next day our plane flies to Kazakhstan. We spend the last afternoon in Israel in Tel Aviv in Old Jaffa on the beach and enjoy the summer temperatures. But then everything turns out differently. When we come back to the bike parking lot at the beach, we are almost hit by the blow. The bikes are gone! Stolen in broad daylight! No one saw anything and apparently two locks did not dissuade the thieves from their plans. Instead of continuing our journey in a few hours, we are suddenly faced with nothing and our adventure is threatened with a premature end. 

In desperation, we contact Sagi, with whom we were accommodated a few days ago. He helps us find the nearest police station and translates on the phone, as the officer speaks poor English. It takes Joos three hours to fill out the report. Jamie, meanwhile, provides emotional support to Tania. The police officer has all the surveillance cameras (yes, there are more than enough of them in Israel!) checked on the beach promenade and presents us with a proud smile a video of the thief as he rolls away carelessly with our bikes... These are the last pictures of our bicycles... Since it is now the weekend (in Israel this means Friday and Saturday/Shabbat), nothing is done until Sunday. We stand there helplessly and already suspect that we will never see he bicycles again.

 We make our way back to Jamie and Melanie where we spend a sleepless night. What shall we do now? In any case, we will not be able to take our flight to Kazakhstan. We contact our Mobiliar Versicherung, which fortunately also accepts the six-page police report in Hebrew (i.e. in hieroglyphics) per bicycle. Unfortunately, the sum does not cover the entire damage. The luggage rack and various helpful tools were also on the bikes at the time of the theft and our cancelled flight tickets will not be refunded if cancelled at such short notice.

Over the weekend we flee back to our oasis of well-being at Sagi. We need some distance and have to think about how to proceed now. His family welcomes us again with open arms and tries everything to distract and cheer us up. We can take part in a traditional Shabbat dinner with many delicious delicacies, accompany Sagi to one of the avocado plantations and spend a nice evening with Sagi's parents Ezra and Dvora with many delicious little chocolate sweets.

There is only one solution for us at the moment: RESET and start all over again. We are already looking for flights back to Switzerland when Avi sends us a message that turns everything upside down again. We met Avi about six weeks ago on the Israel Bike Trail and he already helped us find a place for our bikes in Eilat when we traveled to Egypt for two weeks. When he found out about the theft of our bikes, he informed the entire Israeli bike community. In his voice message, he shares good news and bad news with us. First of all, we will certainly never see our bikes again, because the thieves are well organized in Tel Aviv and the stolen goods are immediately resold. And he's right. On Sunday we receive the information from the police that they will now close our case... The good news, however, is that the entire bike community wants to help us instead! She started a crowdfunding campaign for us and collected a considerable amount for us after just a few hours. We can't believe it! and are completly speechless. The ball is getting rolling more and more, the donated buzzer is getting bigger and bigger and the mailbox of our Facebook and Instagram accounts is overflowing. We receive encouraging messages from complete strangers and everyone assures us of their support. In the meantime, we have someone in almost every corner of the country who wants to invite us to their home. So instead of booking a flight back to Switzerland, we are now busy answering all the lovely messages and looking for new bikes for us with the manager of the Specialized Store of Matzman-Merutz. Because it is clear to us that we want to spend the money collected by the community (it was 20000 Schekel in the End!) in Israel and not in Switzerland!

 So it happens that just four days after the theft, we are the proud owners of new Specialized Stumpjumper bikes. We name them Ami and Tami (Hansel and Gretel in Hebrew) and they will always remind us of the generosity of the Israeli bike community. Our biggest thanks go to Avi, who is by far the biggest trail angel in the world. Without him, none of this would have been possible!  With all the presence on social media, we have mutated into small celebrities in Israel. The salesman at the Decathlon recognizes us immediately, the mechanic at the Trek Store apologizes for not donating and at the intersection in bustling Tel Aviv we are addressed with "Hello Switzerland" by a cyclist we have never seen before. Our story quickly made the rounds and we are overwhelmed by all the encouraging feedback we have received during this difficult time! Thank you Israel!

 Although we were able to replace our bikes so easily, our onward journey is still on hold. Various tools, small parts and spare parts still need to be organized (Thanks to Family Rüegg, Üpu and Andrea for your support!). And without our Elburro porter, we don't have the transportation option to continue our adventure. Since we travel with full-suspension mountain bikes, the luggage rack of the small Spanish company is the only sensible solution to carry our side bags.  We contact El Burro to order two new luggage racks. Ivan sends us a message that leaves us speechless once again. The small company that makes every single luggage rack by hand wants to provide us with two replacement luggage racks free of charge. We are proud to announce that we are the new ambassadors of El Burro Biking!  This is an incredible honor for us! 

 It will take some time before the new luggage racks arrive. In the meantime, we accept the invitation of Lior, who wants to show us the trails in Misgav. By train and bus we move to the green north of Israel to test our new bikes. Lior guides us through the varied trails, not without being stopped by various bikers and asked about our story. Even the famous Israeli Enduro World Series rider Noga Korem, who lives in Misgav, recognizes us on the trail. We don't... Embarrassing... 

 After five days on the trails around Misgav, we pedal back to the sea in the heat. There is the old Crusader city of Acre, which Napoleon tried unsuccessfully to conquer in the 18th century and where, according to Lior, there is the best hummus. We don't want to miss it! We spend the afternoon on the beach, this time we don't let the chained bikes out of our sight for a second and take a refreshing dip in the Mediterranean Sea. 

 Our next stop is Carmiel Mountain. There should also be some cool trails and the best: You can reach the mountain with a super modern gondola lift and save yourself a strict uphill in the sweltering heat. But despite the track support, Tania is no longer fit enough for the trails. While Joos and Gabriel explore the numerous trails on Carmiel Mountain, Tania sleeps in the tent and tries to recover. 

And then finally the redeeming news: Our new luggage racks will be delivered after the weekend! Place of delivery: Tania's parents, Switzerland. Unfortunately, a shipment to Israel was not possible. Thus, we are faced with a difficult decision, which is particularly preoccupying Tania. Who goes back to Switzerland? Since the situation in Israel is escalating a bit these days (which apparently happens from time to time and we in the north have not felt) and rockets are being fired from the Gaza Strip, the alarm sirens howl in Tel Aviv, as Melanie assures us, harmless, so that people can go to the next bunker. Not necessarily a reassuring situation... We also don't want to disturb Jamie and Melanie, who are in the middle of their wedding preparations, any longer. Our stuff has been besieging her living room for almost 3 months now.... And then there are our families who would like to see us... So with a heavy heart we decide that both of us will go back a few thousand steps and we will travel home together with all our luggage and restart from Switzerland. 

 With two bike boxes, our backpacks and 2 side bags, we torture our way to the train station, where we take the train to the airport. After a short time we are completely sweaty.... Ten minutes before boarding, we are also standing with our luggage at the check-in counter. It took almost two hours to queue and interrogate the Israeli security official... We rushed through passport control, where we get through quickly and reach our plane with the last call. And now we are going to cover the distance that took us ten months by bike in 4 hours. A weird feeling...

 The arrival in Switzerland is bumpy and fresh. A piece of luggage hasn't found its way onto the plane and Tania's mummy's bus doesn't want to start properly. When the engine finally starts and we want to close the window, we tear off the crank and have to drive off with the window half open. And the temperatures are far below those of Tel Aviv... Could definitely have gone better...

While Joos tries incognito in Davos (which unfortunately does not succeed... Thanks to the gossipers of the TrailCrew!) To arrange a few things, Tania goes to her parents in Aargau. The joy of reuniting with the family is great and compensates for the bitter pill of the unwanted journey home. So we enjoy a few days at home and can reorganize our things. Super delicious dinners, sauna visits, hikes, bike rides, family reunions and of course lots of cheese! Oh, how we missed it! Many thanks to our families who have done everything to make it very difficult for us to leave again. In particular, we would like to thank Tania's mom, who ALWAYS supports us, from far and near, and has a good solution ready even in the most difficult situations. Another thanks goes to Gurkesämi for organizing the new bike boxes! And, of course, to everyone else who sent us words of encouragement. We hope you don't take it personally that we didn't stop by everyone.... Otherwise, we probably would never have traveled any further.

 Where we will continue and if everything works out this time, you will find out next time.