First photo - start of the journey

The D933 is a road that starts from the Landes, just accross the Gave de Pau river and descends through the Béarn and the Basque Country to the Spanish border where it becomes the N135 and passes through Roncesvalles on the way to Pampaluna. The road from Sauveterre and then from Ostabat after Saint Palias through to Saint Jean Pied de Port is part of the pilgrim road to Compestella.

My drive to work from Sauveterre-de-Béarn to Saint-Palais is along  12km stretch that takes me from the Béarn into the Basque country. Historically and culturally very different regions that coexist today in the same French département : Pyrénées Atlantiques.

The D933 passed through Sauveterre just a few years ago. There is now a deviation around the medieval town and this photo shows the roundabout where I join the D933 on the way to work. I arrive from the left - the exit is hardly visible on this photo - and take a left-turn on the road that goes up the photo and off into the distance, over the Gave d'Oloron river and onto the Basque Country. The road to the right takes you onto the deviation and back north to Salies-de-Béarn. A roundabout further up the road allows you to turn off for Athos, the original home of one of the Three Musketeers.

Just looking at the photo here - it's very green isn't it !