On the left, near the outskirts of the forest, a pathway leads to a cemetery containing British soldiers' graves. La Motte-au-Bois, lying in a clearing, suffered little. Its 17th century château, which escaped destruction, can be reached by crossing the canal over a temporary bridge, leaving on the right a small octagonal chapel of no special interest. _Return by the same road to_ =Merville=, _and pass through it_, taking a glance at the ruins of the church on the right. _Cross the canal, the Lys, and the railway near the station, and turn to the left immediately afterwards._ _Follow the railway, then re-cross it. The road here runs parallel to the canal. At the next fork leave on the left the road to the Gorgue; turn to the right, cross the railway, and enter_ =Lestrem=. _Beyond the bridge over the Lawe, pass the church, then turn to the right, and skirt the grounds of an old ruined château._ This château--completely restored in 1890--was used by the Germans as an observation-post, and subsequently blown up by them on April 10, 1918 (photo, p. 122). On leaving Lestrem the road winds. On the left, broken fragments of ironwork mark the site of the distillery, which provided a livelihood for part of the working population of =La Fosse= village. The ruined church is seen to the left, on the far side of the canal. [Illustration: BÉTHUNE. THE CANAL AND SIDING (_Cliché LL._)] _Go through the hamlet of_ =Zelobes=, which, like that of =Lobes=, was razed to the ground. _Pass through what was_ =Locon= village (photo, p. 123). Lawe Canal, after running parallel to the road, turns and cuts it. _Cross the canal by the temporary bridge._ A little further on, the road again follows the canal as far as the entrance to =Béthune=. _Cross the Aires Canal, pass the railway station on the left, then through the horse-market to the Place de la République. Cross the latter and take the Rue de Rivage to the Grande Place._ For four years the whole district just passed through, since leaving Armentières, was the scene of incessant fighting. In October, 1914, it saw the close of the fighting which concluded the "race to the sea," and the stabilising of the front here resulted in more than six months' continuous fighting. A little later, the Artois offensive of 1915 found an echo in local operations for the possession of key positions like Festubert and Neuve-Chapelle, giving rise to sanguinary struggles without decisive result for either side. Finally, in 1918, it was the scene of the third great German offensive for the conquest of the Hills (see pp. 38--43.) =Béthune=