Scooterer Stories, Part Fifteen – Bridges over the Jordan

By Louis the Scooterer

Okay early up, sunrise seen, breakfast eaten.. lets go find some bridges that River Jordan flows under…in this area.

Remember we stopped at Arik bridge which is on the main road, where the Jordan flows into the north end of Kinerret (Sea of Galilee).. where many people stop and walk across to the other side..often seeing kayaks and canoes on the water? Now we go the same place and a couple of hundred meters from that Arik bridge is another old wooden bridge across the Jordan.. I have never seen people here altho’ its a beautiful spot..and definitely warrants a few minutes drive on the back road to get there.

We get into Jordan Park http://www.weekend.co.il/maslulim/ramatg/p_yarden/indexE.htm where many bridges cross the Jordan and also many walkers bridges have been built.

In the summertime this is a hive ..thousands of campers and holidaymakers and the place is packed, and hot and muggy and everyone just love what they are doing.

I was lucky to drive there on a cold wintry day and the places were deserted, and I met a man in charge of kyak rentals camping complex, who invited me to sit and drink coffee with him, and chat, as he is alone for many days. He took me around and explained a few things about the place, and led me to a notice board which showed the height of the Jordan River when in flood a few years earlier.

Many small “walkers bridges” have been built and in some places the Jordan River has been diverted into narrow streams and is less than 15 inches wide..yes 15″…nevertheless it IS the River Jordan and the Ole-Man river..just goes flowing along.

I’ve previously told about the bridges at Naharayiim and the story about Aunties bridge. Now we will take a short drive to the ruined Aunties bridge, but there is really nothing to see other than broken concrete.

Anyway its worth a short climb over the the rocks to see the Jordan flowing peacefully like a little stream.
Note..the Aunties Bridge may have looked similar to the one in the picture below when seen from high up as it was a simple concrete bridge through the water.

A few of the other bridges are very imposing and well built as is the Green Bridge,

and the twin (one-way) wooden bridges seen below

which are known as Jacobs Daughters Bridges..one of which had been (recently) totally rebuilt for two-way traffic, and now looks like any regular bridge.. with metal handrails and a very narrow sidewalk..
and the other has been closed,

and will remain as a tourist sightseeing attraction.

While on my “finding Jordan river bridges” mission..

there was always “another one” to find and cross..and the last one I found and crossed is an ordinary concrete bridge..leading to a moshav Khulata.

On one trip with scooter I arrived at a point from where I could see a long straight gravelroad with the river on left, and I wondered if that will take me to a “Jordan River bridge” as it was not marked on my maps..then I had a flat tyre and luckily had a tin of foam that inflated the tyre to allow riding for several kilometers to a pump.

I took the long gravel road and found the final bridge, a simple concrete bridge without any name or descriptions… which I crossed and have since returned several times. That first time, I then crossed a very small bridge at a gate and carried on riding on another straight road on the other side of the river… and to my surprise I took a turning that took me via the back road.. and I scootered into the Khula Nature Reserve.
On that occasion I was made welcome by the security and other people who worked at the visitors center…many making a fuss about the scooterman coming in the wrong route.

On another occasion in a rentcar I took the same roads and on entering the reserve I was followed by security who told me I should not be on that road, as the small gate should have been locked..?? and I was escorted to the main entrance gate, to leave the car in the main car-park.

There are no entrance fees into the Khula Reserve but no private vehicles are allowed inside the reserve, as many visitors hire tricycles and walk on all the tar roads as well as all the side roads to the bird fields.

So I believe I found every bridge that crosses the river… and with exception to the 3 border crossings, I have crossed and walked over every bridge..even all the walking bridges inside the Jordan Park.

Unfortunately, not everyone respects the ole’ man River Jordan, and some places are full of garbage..even a supermarket trolley, and very often there are build-ups of branches and small bushes that are washed away in storms or big winds.

One of these bridges is so nondescript.. a simple sort of concrete wall fence..covered with overgrown shrubbery,

and I actually couldnt recognise it as a bridge..I was lucky to see a tiny sign about 12 inches square nailed to a tree, faded word reading…”Shalma” (name of that bridge).

Okay, lets break away from bridges and take a drive to HULA RESERVE. Lots to see and do, and after watching a movie about the place, we will not hurry. http://www.parks.org.il/ParksENG/company_card.php3?CNumber=422020

There are many activities and pedalcars and golfcarts can be hired to ride only on paved roads, and I suggest we go on tractor ride into the bird areas..tractor pulls a closed trailer with seats and gets us close to almost touch the various birds.

Dont forget your binoculars and cameras.

By the way..there are also several unimpressive bridges that cross the man made canals, when the Jordan River was diverted..to become the nature reserve that we see today.

During certain seasons there are hundreds of thousands of birds on the ground..everyone pecking at something on the earth..and surely every bird has enough to eat. Occasionally a few thousand will take off and fly around in a big circle above us..then land and carry on pecking.

I have also spent time in a birdwatching “building” where expert birdwatching guides and rangers will answer questions about what can be seen through the openings. Saturday is always busy and I was “clever” to return another day when I was given VIP treatment without large crowds..and every facility will be open and available. I was the only passenger on the bus that takes you around the complex and the driver answered all my questions and gave much advice, and suggestions.

After a tiring but very satisfying few hours we have a snack n coffee at cafetaria, and head back in the dark to spend our final night at Kare Deshe.
Please leave a comment, or email louisdrinkingt@013.net

The 007 Standard

By Jeffrey the Barak.

An appreciative look at the Seiko SKX007

It is common for men who collect affordable watches to have between one and several Seiko SKX007 diver’s watches in their collection. It has become a standard classic watch against which others are measured. Perhaps only the Rolex Submariner shares this role in being such a universal standard to which other watches are compared.

The 007 is a big watch, with a diameter of 42.5 mm excluding the crown. (The Rolex above has a case diameter of 40mm but the photos are not to scale). Even with the oversize trend bringing us wrist clocks of 50 mm and beyond, no one would ever say that 42.5 mm was not a big watch by any standard.

The Seiko SKX007 uses the most common movement found in many different Seiko and Seiko 5 watches in this price range, the 7S26. It is a reasonably accurate automatic self-winder with quick set day and date and no hacking feature. But this article is not about the movement. There are already several online reviews to be found that take a more detailed and technical look at this icon. Rather I am writing about the SKX007 as the staple of any collection, and hopefully about it’s general style.

Men’s watches today have settled into a few pigeonholes, with the largest category being that of the diver’s watch. Depth ratings vary but the 200 meter rating of the 007 places it in the most common group.

Most owners of this widely owned watch would never be caught scuba diving to the rated limit of 200 meters below the surface of the sea, or even snorkeling at half a meter, or in some cases they would never be seen wet, but the solid, strong weight and feel of a diver and the undeniable usefulness of the time elapsed rotation bezel make the divers watch the ideal tool for life on dry land also. After all, you can time all your cooking and parking and then clean your watch with water.

The 007 is a reasonably big, but not too big, plain vanilla, middle of the road diver that has evolved from older popular Seikos like the cushion cased 6309. It tells you the date and the day, although if it happens to be around midnight you never be too sure of the wheels have jumped to the next day or date yet, or you may see them not quite reaching the dial’s window. The time displayed is usually pretty close to accurate, or more often a tiny bit fast than a little slow. But this is no quartz and such things are to be expected from a real watchmaker’s movement.

My first Seiko was a different diver. No date, no steel (well maybe inside the movement, but the case and bracelet were Titanium). That was an SKX403 and one day in 2003 a burglar dropped by the house and took it away.

Not long after that day I was in downtown L.A. with a small clip of twenties and a shopping list that read “watch” Two watches caught my eye and made it to the short list that day. The SKX007 and the SKX781 Orange Monster. I bought the Monster and wore it for five years. But by the end of that five year Monster period, I was buying and selling other watches with enough frequency that I came to the realization that I was a flipping crazy collector.

So after some delay, in 2008 I finally and belatedly got myself an SKX007. I chose a Jubilee bracelet as it’s mount because I liked the way the small shiny center links complimented the bezel grip. I really admired the watch and imagined it was all I needed. I considered making it my one and only. But for the 007, the timing was bad, because it came into my life during one of those mood swings that occasionally confounds collectors. I am constantly torn between wanting to own every watch I like, and being a one watch minimalist.

Shortly after receiving my new 007 I also acquired my favorite watch, a Japan market Seiko Prospex SBCB009 Solar Titanium Scuba. Visually, a direct descendant of my SKX403 that was stolen in 2003. This watch sent me to eBay to sell everything else, including my 007 which was really in 99% new condition at the time. There was one thing about the 007 that I didn’t like. The minute hand. Something about that shiny edged arrow shape just bugged me and when it was time to cull, the 007 was gone, along with all my others save for the Solar.

But over time as the collection started to pull itself back together after a brief one-watch Nirvana, I felt the need to consider another 007. At a Poor Man’s Watch Forum Get-Together (PMWG GTG) in Orange County California, I saw a few nicely modified watches based on either the 007 or the 6309 or 7002.

By this time I had become an enthusiast of modified watches, and was enjoying a great SNK809 mod, so after much back and forth, I commissioned a 007 with a yellow dial. But I made an error of judgement with that one. The hands should have been blacker. Alas I could not easily see the time, mainly due to the wrong choice of hands, so within a few days, I had it for sale. Without pausing to breathe I then commissioned another one. This time with the standard, unmodified dial, but with a red plongeur hand set.

The 007 is a very common platform for the watch modifiers. The widely used 7S26 movement will take a wide variety of modified dials and hands, and with replacement bezel inserts and various case finishes, you can have thousands of varieties of this watch, which comes only one way from the factory.

Of course this means the modifiers have piles of 007 dials sitting around that have been removed from 007’s during the modification process. Having come across a picture of a 007 dial shoehorned into a non-diver, I unexpectedly realized something. The original dial is great! It does not have steel edged applied dot markers like the Seiko SKX031 (Submariner style), but rather just delicious blobs of luminous white on a flat black background. Paired with the cartoonish red and white of the custom plongeur hand set, this dial makes the 007 a visual riot of clear precise time comprehension. A blend of Felix the Cat, Mickey Mouse and Jacques Cousteau.

In fact I’ll say that the original hands of the 007 do not do it’s intensely dotty dial justice. The shiny edges of the original hands distract the eye from those crazy white dots floating on their sea of inky black.

So my new 007 mod, a riotous conglomeration of brushed steel, matte black, luminous white, and red paint, would be quite at home in a cartoon and it is certainly at home on my wrist.

I have experienced the oversize craze, enjoyed it and moved through it. I now know my ideal case diameter is somewhere around 39 mm, but for a good design exceptions are made. And it’s worth going back up to 42.5 mm again in order to enjoy the standard classic diver that is the 007.

Jeffrey the Barak spends too much time thinking about watches and is the publisher of the-vu