Region of the Pyrenees: Auñamendi. The two hundred kilometres of peaks and hills that make up our Pyrenees, dividing the country into two slopes, are of astonishing variety and beauty. To understand their situation, we must climb to the summit of Auñamendi (Anie), to this grandiose watchtower that rises up among desolate rubble heaps to an altitude of 2,506 metres. Once at the top, close to the limits of Bearne, Zuberoa and Navarre, we face the Basque Country, facing the scale of mountains that rise up to us from the cliffs of the Cantabrian Sea. From here we can count our giants: the earthy and solitary pyramid of Arlas, the elongated mass of Añilarra which raises its head very close by; the also nearby Iror Erregue Maia and Budoguia; the grey roundness, further away, of Ezkaurre and to the west, the advanced sentinel, pyramidal and solitary in its category, the peak of Ori. All these grandiose mountains of over two thousand metres, with some acolytes that go down to nineteen hundred or eighteen hundred, Txamantxoia, Lakartxela, Lakora, Otsogarrigañe, Barazea, Oritxipi and others, are the guardians of this extraordinary region of Basaburia (Zuberoa) and Erronkari-Salazar (Navarre), a small region that contains perhaps the most beautiful and violent geographical contrasts in Europe. From the Ori peak, located in Salazar (Navarre) and Larrau (Zuberoa), the Pyrenean chain descends gradually and will never again reach 2,000 m. within the Basque Country. After the Orion, Arnustegui and Orzanzurieta mountains, the Ibañeta pass. Then the Adi and Sayua milestones to descend again in Belate. This wooded pass is the gateway to Baztan. The mountains raise their heads again at Izarbill and Aizola, but lower their heads at Huizi and Azpiroz, to rise again at Aralar, with Irumugarrieta, Balerdi, Txindoki, Ganbo, Putxerri and Artxueta. From some of its peaks we can see the plains, valleys and mountains of the whole of the Basque Country. The series of mountains covered with forests and meadows, crowned with lofty crags, culminate -already in Guipúzcoa- in Aitzgorri, with a marvellous balcony overlooking Zegama. This beautiful and rough crest goes down the mountain, escaping like a stony flock, with hard-working fleeces, to the Urbía field. And there txabolas, round and smoked cheeses, gentle sheep, bad-tempered dogs, shepherds with Basque accents and hard hands. And the sound of a humble eskila - up there - is answered by the sound of its big sister, the bell of Our Lady of Aránzazu in the rocky hollow.from Aratz to Gorbea - Near the borders of Navarre, Guipúzcoa and Alava, but in the latter, the pointed Aratz rises up. This stretch, from here to the Gorbea, is dotted with peaks, long mountain ranges, hills of fine grass, beech forests and rocks that rise above the greenery. On one side of the Aránzazu and Elguea mountain ranges, we can see the plains of Alava dotted with villages, with the mirror of its reservoirs to the west. On the other side, the mountainous maze of Guipúzcoa, the silver festoon of the Bay of Biscay - difficult to see - and the factory smoke rising from the ravines. We will stop for a long time at the Arlaban pass, where the landscape of Alava is indescribable. The immense blue of the lake festooned with shores that look green here, grey there, steely and misty in the distance, with some parish silhouettes cloaked in their dark cloak. We go up the mountain again and border the Aramaiona valley. The watershed passes through Urkiola. The roof that covers the church of Saints Antonios pours its waters into the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean. The rocky crest heads towards Gorbea, where it rises to more than fifteen hundred metres. From its summits we can see a large part of Vizcaya and almost all of Alava, parts of Guipúzcoa and the convoluted geography of Burgos-Santanderina. From Gorbea we continue along the divide, along the headwaters of the River Bayas, descending the Altube steps to the pass of the same name. We skirt Izarra and at the head of the Arrastaria valley we reach the sources of the Nervión. A series of hills and peaks point us to the Orduña pass, the Txarlazo (927 m), Iturrigorri (1,066 m), Unguino (1,094 m), Eskutxi (1,178 m), to link up with the region of Arceniega (A) and Encartaciones (V). The Basque Pyrenees mountain range is a vast natural region, the cradle of privileged valleys on both sides of the watershed.