Cassel and Esquelbecq
Flanders has – apart from its slag heaps – only two hills; the Mont des Cats and Cassel. Its strategic importance
is so obvious that the Romans occupied it and, in 1793, the Grand old Duke of York narched 10,000 men up to the top, which he failed to capture and marched them down again. In the First World War marshal Foch made his headquarters here, and in the second two British battalions held the place for five days before being ordered to retreat on Dunkirk.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Esquelbecq

A quiet little town dating from the 9th century, with a 13th-century castle whose central tower fell down in 1984
and is still being restored.