At Irun, which need not delay one, there is a turning to the left leading down to the very picturesque little walled town of Fuentarrabia, at the mouth of the Bidassoa. It is difficult to take a motor through the narrow streets, and it is therefore wiser to leave the car outside the quaint gateway. Wellington’s army crossed the mouth of the Bidassoa in October, 1813, the men wading through the water at low tide with their rifles held above their heads. Soult expected that the English would cross at Vera, eight miles up the river, the bridge at Béhobie having been destroyed, and being unaware of the ford among the sandbanks, which was known to the Basque fishermen. SECTION XII BIARRITZ TO PAU, 69 MILES (111 KILOMETRES) DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE Kil. Miles. =Biarritz= to Bayonne =7= 4½ =Bayonne= to Peyrehorade =35= 21¾ =Peyrehorade= to Puyôo =17= 10½ =Puyôo= to Orthez =14= 8¾ =Orthez= to Artix =19= 11¾ =Artix= to Pau =19= 11¾ NOTES FOR DRIVERS =Bayonne to Peyrehorade.=--A rather bad surface at the present time, which will probably be improved. A steep ascent out of Bayonne, and after that only small undulations. =Peyrehorade.=--At bridge do not cross, but keep straight on, and bear to the left to cross railway, then at once to the right. =Orthez to Pau.=--The road is level. PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE =Peyrehorade.=--Picturesque little town, with narrow streets; two castles, one in town and one by river; modern church. =Puyôo.=--Old village, with early defensive mound, from which the place obtains its name. =Baigts.=--Ruins of twelfth-century castle and sulphurous springs. =Orthez.=--Formerly the capital of Béarn, an historic town on the Gave de Pau, with (1) a fourteenth-century fortified bridge; (2) church of fifteenth century; (3) Tour Moncade, the keep of the castle built in 1242; (4) a few old houses in the Rue Bourg-Vieux. After leaving Spain the architecture on this section of the route seems rather dull and the scenery lacking in grandeur, but this impression lasts only for a short time, for the road, after going north-east by east for a few miles, gets nearer to the great white ridge of the Pyrenees, and day after day, as one goes eastwards, the snowy peaks form a great rampart on the right. They make splendid backgrounds to nearly every view, and one is never weary of gazing into the rugged valleys that open up every now and then as the miles slip by.