A walk along the Stevenson trail
FR - We take the opportunity of a reader's trip along the Stevenson Trail to take you there too.
The Scottish writer who gave his name to the route set out to cross the Cévennes (Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes, 1879). In all, it took him 12 days, 200 km and 14 stops to escape a broken heart and get away from his family for a while.
If Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (Voyage avec un âne dans les Cévennes), dedicated to his literary and art critic friend Sidney Colvin, became a benchmark in travel and hiking literature as soon as it was published, it will also be good company throughout your trip along the GR®70, bringing a touch of nostalgia and a little of the writer's vision.
On your way!
Winding its way between the Auvergne and Languedoc-Roussillon regions, the Stevenson Trail takes walkers from the slopes of the Massif Central to our neighbouring Cévennes.
A touristic, bucolic and cultural walk that reminds us that the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island and The Master of Ballantrae, was also an avid traveller, as his travel diaries remind us, for example, An Inland Voyage, 1878), The Silverado Squatters, 1883) and its sequel Across the Plains)...
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Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879) excerpt : For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move; to feel the needs and hitches of our life more clearly; to come down off this feather-bed of civilization, and find the globe granite underfoot and strewn with cutting flints. Alas, as we get up in life, and are more preoccupied with our affairs, even a holiday is a thing that must be worked for.
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The stages
Stevenson covered the Cévennes in 12 days, that's... 200 kms and 14 stages. Now it's up to you to follow the GR©70, which has been signposted since 1978 to mark the centenary of the route, and which promises some wonderful discoveries along its 272 kilometres. Just a few kilometres further than Stevenson, but with superb scenery, villages and an invigorating sense of inner peace.
The regions you will visit?
Velay, Gévaudan, Mont Lozère and, of course, the Cévennes, where you'll be able to recall the adventures of Robert Louis Stevenson on his mythical journey with his donkey.
For more information, visit The Stevenson Trail website, @ffrandonnee. More websites that can be useful I love walking in France, Walking in France.
Some titles worth reading or discovering: Aside Robert Louis Stevenson's book, you can have a look at Le chemin de Stevenson published by the Fédération Française de Randonnée Pédestre, Sur le chemin de Stevenson by Thierry Soulard or Stevenson, Autour du chemin, 29 balades by Alban Le Pape.
Many thanks to Sophie for her photos.