Hi,
We live quite close to Ha-Yarkon Park and most of the times I run along the Yarkon river. It was one of the many reason we choose to rent the house where we live.
But sometimes, I find it boring: you can run to one side, you can run to the other. That is why I keep searching for new running routes in the area. The point is not to avoid driving there, and use bicycles if possible. That is how I came across the idea of running along the Ayalon stream. If you would live here, saying the name Ayalon would make you think about the Ayalon highway. But you can run along the stream before it get into the concrete channel in the middle of the Highway.
Entrance point to Park Menachem Begin where the journey starts
Doesn’t seem like the most maintained park
A small petting zoo with Yahmor (like a deer) and ostrich
The dry stream route and Ariel Sharon Park (the hill in the middle picture)
A nice bridge over a tributary of Ayalon
This hill used to be the main waste dump of central Israel, and was called Hiriya, on the name of the Arab village that was there before Al-Khayiryya (meaning “the good”). Ironically – nowadays Hiriya is used as a word for bad things.
The site is not used as a wasteland, and is rehabilitate to be Ariel Sharon Park and house three recycling facilities.
The stream is mostly dry, but even now there are still puddles that house wildlife (and some dogs that run away from their owners and took a nice swimming =)
Some of the bridges that hang over the stream and belong to main highways and roads. From constructive point of vies there is really something special about them: Beam bridges – meaning that simple supported beams are spanned over the stream.
The end of the run at Ben Gurion International Airport – the ATC tower and planes
The city of Yehud near the airport