24-Oct-2002 -- This Confluence is situated a couple kilometres short of the sleepy village of al-Haddār, and about 100 km from the town of Laylā. Apparently the feminine name of the town is derived from the famous romantic legend of Laylā and Majnūn dating from the 7th century; it is even claimed that both Laylā and Majnūn (literally means "madman", though his real name was Qays) are buried under a jabal near the town.

We had arrived at Laylā the previous night from al-Khubar, a journey of about 6 hours. After a refreshing sleep at the local funduq (hotel), we were on our way towards al-Haddār. The trip took us along a winding tarmac road through some gorgeous escarpments. The last couple of kilometres were across a valley with unsurpassed views of the escarpments on both sides, and some stunning looking jabals on the far side.

As we approached our Confluence, our hearts sank as an imposing escarpment rose ahead. We parked our car and started walking towards the escarpment, climbing the last few steps on the fallen rocks until we were almost on the face of the escarpment. We were lucky, as the Confluence was at that point. The views from this elevated point on the escarpment were majestic. As we were pressed for time, we could not explore the valley further out, so we headed back to Laylā, where we had a wonderful breakfast at a local maṭ`am (restaurant), before heading across the al-Biyāḍ dunes towards the confluence 22N 48E.