Day 13 Tuesday 29/09/09

Left Beni Mellal and headed for the mountains, up twisting regional roads with the scenery changing dramatically. We eventually reached the dam of Bin El Ouidane where we were told by a soldier not to take photos (which we already had!). We drove to Ouaouizeght where we mistakenly drove into a Government/Military compound and were asked promptly to leave!

We headed for the hills and rough roads passing through Berber villages, waving and shouting "bonjour" to the locals. The majority were very friendly but on several occasions children would run up asking for money.

Our first aim was an old  mine on the road between Ouaouizeght and Zaoulat Ahansal, which took us far longer to reach than anticipated. En route we passed the impressive "Cathedral Rock" which dominated the valley before we reached the worn-out yellow sign of a mine. JC shot off down the track to be met by locals who bombarded him with questions in French, but this was enough to convince us that this was the right place to start on one of our leads that the Professor had given us. Given the time, we decided to set up camp and set off earlt the next day. We found a good bivvy spot just before the rain started heavily once again.