The sign said “Rock carvings 11km” with an arrow pointing down a track. Seemed like a good idea. The track led to an oued (dried up riverbed). We turned left following the larger track, which became a smaller track and then disappeared altogether. An hour later, back at the junction, we set off the other way. The route looked more promising and just after a sign in Arabic (that we could not understand) we spotted a desultory youth hanging around in the middle of the valley watching us closely. We angled towards him and he drifted towards us. Such is tourism in Morocco. He was our guide to the petroglyphs. Earlier we had seen a nomad’s tent so we suspect he lived there with his family who would have kept a few goats and sheep. Certainly, he was not a full time tour guide. One visitor a week could not make a profession. He had no English and, in common with many youths, did not seem inclined to talk at all. He did however show me the engravings that, if I am honest, were rubbish. Possibly some historic context would have helped me understand what I was looking at. I asked the disaffected youth, in my terrible French, if he had made the petroglyphs himself but he claimed not.
Wrong way 
Right way 
Petroglyph 
Side valley 
The track continued down the valley for another 25km to a road. We thought we could give this a go but first needed to park up for the night. A little further along we found a lovely little side valley and a perfect place for a peaceful night. Next day we set off along the broad open valley and soon discovered that route finding was not altogether straightforward. From time to time, the river must flow here and it washes away parts of the track. After many years of this, the situation now is a mess of little bits of route marked with rocks. Most of these do not go anywhere useful and end at a steep, water cut gullies. The valley floor was mostly loose rocks and pebbles. Altogether, it made for very slow going with a lot of time staring into the distance trying to spot the way. Progress was steady but by evening, we were nowhere near the end so we spent xmas eve parked by the valley side.
Happy xmas 
