Wandelgids Cevennen - GR 70: The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail van Le Puy tot St-Jean du Gard - Cicerone (9781852845117)

• ISBN / Code:
  9781852845117
• Aantal blz.:
  204
• Uitgever:
  Cicerone Press
• Editie:
  2008
• Soort:
  Wandelgids / Walking guide
• Taal:
  Engels
• Beoordeling:
  Schrijf als eerste een review

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€ 22,75

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Wandelgids Cevennen - GR 70: The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail van Le Puy tot St-Jean du Gard - Cicerone

Uitstekende wandelgids van een gerenommeerde Engelse uitgever. De tochten zijn met zorg beschreven en voorzien van allerhande nuttige informatie.

Early one morning in the autumn of 1878 RLS set out from the sleepy village of Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille with his donkey, Modestine, to traverse the Velay and Cévennes to the small town of Saint-Jean-du-Gard in the south. Robert Louis Stevenson’s account of his 140-mile trek through southern France has long captured the imagination of walkers and lovers of literature alike. Today, the RLS Trail has become a classic route across the hills and along the valleys of this delightful region of rural France.

The route, which is well served by accommodation of all types, is divided into twelve day-stages in the guide, so that the Trail easily fits into a fortnight’s holiday. The book includes details of the facilities for the traveller and places of interest en route, together with a detailed route description and an account of Stevenson’s adventures with Modestine. For those with more time available, trails that link the beginning and end of the route are also described, making it is possible to walk all the way from the historic town of Le Puy to Alés.

Packed with snippets of fascinating information about this historic region, the guide is also of use to cyclists and motorists keen to trace a parallel road route, following in the footsteps of Stevenson and Modestine.

The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail is a linear long-distance walk through the Velay, Gévaudan and Cévennes regions of southern France. It follows closely, but not exactly, the route taken by the writer Robert Louis Stevenson (affectionately known as RLS), accompanied by his donkey, Modestine, during the autumn of 1878, and later recounted in his first successful book, Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879).

The trail meanders south for some 225km (140 miles), from Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille near Le Puy in the Velay, across the Cévennes mountains, to finish at Saint-Jean-du-Gard, west of Alès. In so doing, it crosses some of the most remote and finest country in rural France, and visits numerous towns and villages of historical importance, including Pradelles, Le Pont-de-Montvert and Florac. The latter sections of the trail pass through the land of the Camisards, an area ravaged by nearly 100 years of religious war between the local Protestants and their Catholic rulers.

Although the title of Stevenson’s book suggests that the trail is wholly within the Cévennes, this is not in fact the case. The walk actually starts in the Velay, remaining there until Langogne, where it enters the ancient district of Gévaudan, bordering on Vivarais, the modern Ardèche. The Cévennes are not actually encountered until Mont Lozère, just under the halfway mark. The trail passes through three modern départements: the Haute-Loire until just before Langogne, Lozère for much of the remainder of the journey, and Gard for the last few kilometres into Saint-Jean-du-Gard. The Haute-Loire belongs to the Auvergne region, while Lozère and Gard form part of the region of Languedoc-Roussillon.

The RLS Trail (‘Le Chemin de Stevenson’ in French) follows footpaths, ancient drove roads (drailles), bridleways and a number of quiet roads. It is not a particularly demanding walk in either terrain or distance, fitting conveniently into a fortnight’s holiday, allowing time for sightseeing if required at the beginning and end of the walk, as well as at a number of points in between. It is suitable as a first walking holiday for those with little or no experience of long-distance walking, although it would be wise to reach some level of fitness before setting out.

The second half of the walk in the Cévennes is noticeably more hilly than the first stages in the Velay and Gévaudan, but by then the wayfarer should be ‘trail fit’, taking the relatively modest ascents and descents in his or her stride. It is difficult to compare the ‘grade’ of this walk with any in the UK as the landscape is so totally different from any encountered in the British Isles, and there are also factors to consider such as the heat of a summer sun in these southerly latitudes. That being said, the RLS Trail can be likened in severity more to the South Downs Way than to the Pennine Way, but there the comparison ends!

An inspection of the route followed by Stevenson soon reveals that the writer did not take a direct line through these hills, his path wandering several times to the west and east on its journey south. There are a number of possible reasons for this meandering route.

Firstly, it seems likely that Stevenson was not the best of navigators, and furthermore that the maps he carried may not have been very reliable (they almost certainly did not show the new roads that were being built at the time). In addition, many of the people he encountered were unwilling or unable to direct him to his desired destination, and on at least one occasion (at Fouzillac/Fouzillic) he became hopelessly lost.

Secondly, his inquisitive, educated mind encouraged him to seek out places of interest some distance from the natural line of the route. This was almost certainly the reason for the detour to the west on his first day, as he sought, but never found, volcanic Lac du Bouchet.

Thirdly, there were relatively few places on the journey where his and Modestine’s food supplies could be restocked. This may well have been the reason for the lengthy loop to Florac, down the Tarn valley, and back up the valley of the Mimente.

Lastly, the philosophy of Stevenson must be remembered – he ‘travelled not to go anywhere, but to go’.

Several of the paths and tracks used by RLS in 1878 have now been metalled and incorporated into the road network, which is why the trail described in this guidebook does not follow exactly in the footsteps of Stevenson and Modestine. The modern route was designed to provide as scenic a walk as possible, avoiding busy roads and making use of France’s excellent system of tracks and footpaths. Nevertheless, the itinerary described visits all of the principal towns and villages mentioned by RLS, with the exception of those in the Tarn valley between Le Pont-de-Montvert and Florac.

Stevenson entered the area at Le Puy-en-Velay, where he did much of the shopping for the innumerable items of gear that he took with him on his journey. The modern walker will also almost certainly arrive first at Le Puy before continuing on to Le Monastier. As a preliminary to the RLS Trail, visitors are highly recommended to spend at least a day exploring Le Puy – a very attractive and historic town – and then either taking public transport to Le Monastier, as RLS did, or walking there.

For those who want to reach the start of the RLS Trail on foot, there is an excellent route, part of the GR430 (or ‘Chemin de Saint-Régis’), from Le Puy, via Coubon on the River Loire, to Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille, and this is described in what I have called the Prologue, preceding Stage 1.

RLS had originally intended to walk all the way to Alès, but in the end, for various reasons, stopped his pedestrian journey at Saint-Jean-du-Gard and took a stagecoach on to Alès. For those who want to continue on foot from Saint-Jean-du-Gard to Alès, a walking route following sections of three other long-distance trails – the GR61, GR67 and GR44D – makes this possible, and is described in the Epilogue in this guidebook.