The journey took several days; possibly weeks. At last, in the hidden recess high in the mountains, the pilgrim crouched and spent hours or days chipping an image into the hardest rock.
Two hundred generations afterwards, I crouch in the same position with my camera. Across the unfathomable gulf of five thousand years, scholars can only speculate about the meaning or purpose of the symbols, but around 100,000 of them have now been found over 2 square KM.
We walked from the mountain hut Madonne de Fenestre across Pas the Colomb, a narrow notch in the ridge at 2550 m, and to the lonely Refuge de Nice.
The second day there was a risk of thunderstorms in the afternoon, but a 7.30 am departure got us over the stony wilderness of the Baisse de Basto pass, 2700 m, to reach the Baisse de Valmasque, by midday.
From here we looked down into the narrow slot of the Vallee de Merveilles (like the Lost Valley in Glencoe, hidden from below). As we passed down it, some major symbols were signposted.
We survived two nights at the Refuge de Merveilles, largely by relying on cheap red wine to counteract the food (presumably supplied by HMPrisons).
This gave us a morning to take the tour of the rock engravings, and an afternoon excursion to reach Pas du Trem and (just) sneak some views from the summit of Cime du Trem.
Our last day dawned sunny, and a few hours brisk striding got us 12km and 1400 metres down to St Dalmas and the journey home.
