Stevenson wrote: “It was quite unexpectedly at last that my eyes rose above the summit, a view into the hazy air of heaven, and a land of intricate blue hills below my feet. However, the quintessence of the journey is perhaps found near Mont Lozère, between Villefort and Fleurac. Yet, the heights of Velay and Gévaudan are not lacking in charm with their deserted horizons and forgotten villages. Guiziou/ Sheep on Mount Lozère – debieux/Getty Images Plus Getting to grips with the landscape en routeĪlso a victim of his donkey Modestine’s unruly behaviour, Stevenson was not very taken with the first part of his journey: “without wood, without much grandeur of hill-form, and famous in the past for little beside wolves,” he wrote in Travels With a Donkey in the Cévennes, published one year after his trip. Guiziou/ damien calmel/Getty Images Plus Ludwig Deguffroy/Getty Images Plus Finiels – MarcCharbonne/Getty Images Plus Hiking with a donkey on the Stevenson hiking – F. Montvert bridge on the way to Stevenson – F. These little inconveniences are to be accepted with a smile, because the animal’s company – especially with children – and the landscapes travelled through are well worth a few sacrifices. Arriving at the gîtes or hotels equipped to welcome donkeys means performing several tasks such as feeding and watering the animal and taking it to its pen, after walking all day… And while the beasts may be well used to accompanying hikers, they are not above getting into a curmudgeonly mood, firmly refusing to budge for some time. There is no space here to detail the process required to learn how put on a packsaddle, position the halter, brush the animal or clean its hooves each morning. You must prepare yourself: despite the wise advice of the operators hiring out the donkeys, there are bound to be hitches along the way. To spice up the adventure and mimic the Scottish writer’s saga, they are sometimes accompanied by a donkey… Putting on a packsaddle, brushing, cleaning the hooves…
Whether they decide to tackle it all in one go over a dozen days or in sections, everyone is on foot along this Grande Randonnée (GR 70) hiking trail, but not necessarily alone. Each year, more and more hikers make the journey between Le Puy-en-Velay and Alès: a great escape covering 272 km across the four departments of Haute-Loire, Ardèche, Lozère and Gard.
Is it the rediscovery of Stevenson’s account of setting off on a walk with a donkey in 1878? The success of My Donkey, My Lover & I, a refreshing film relating the tragicomic adventures of a tourist with her four-legged friend? Or is it simply the call of the great outdoors? All of the above have contributed to the success of the Chemin de Stevenson.
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