Stevenson's path

Discover this historical path
Stroll With DonkeyStroll With Donkey
©Stroll With Donkey Luziers November 2022 Stevenson Olivier October 7|Olivier Octobre

The famous Stevenson trail, or GR70, is not to be missed! You too, set off in the footsteps of this writer and discover the four territories that make up this hiking trail, which stretches from the south of the Massif Central to the deep Cévennes.

With its 250 km and its exceptional diversity, your route promises to be rich in surprises…

4 courses

Between Auvergne and Languedoc-Roussillon

Le Velay

A soft colorful mix between small volcanic reliefs and high agricultural plateaus. On one side the green lentil fields, on the other the small stone walls seem to want to organize the landscape by underlining each pasture. In the middle of this green countryside, the lava gives to the hamlets its red and black colors and the Loire river meanders quietly adding its touch of blue.

The Gévaudan

A legendary country where small valleys welcome wild forests lit by pastures and marshes where the silence lets guess the murmur of the numerous streams and where the moss carpets invite to rest. Until the smell of raspberry and birch trees awaken all the senses together.

The Mont Lozère

A strange bare massif, dotted with rounded granite chaos and punctuated by numerous fresh springs. A land in its own right where broom intoxicates the spring itself and purple heather and blueberries later herald the end of summer. At the top of Finiels, time necessarily stops for each traveler, leaving the eyes the pleasure of running from the Alps to the Pyrenees. The strength of the place then immanently impregnates the whole body of the walker before pushing him towards the blue volutes of the famous Cévennes.

The Cévennes

Deep and luminous at the same time, the Cévennes valleys gently invite to idleness, to the nonchalance of the south. The schist paths glide through the chestnut forests, plunging towards the refreshing rivers before reaching the sunny summits. The lauzes gradually give way to tiles on the roofs and each small village crossed has its stories to tell, in exchange for yours of course.

In truth, I do not travel, myself, to reach a specific place, but to walk: simple pleasure to travel.
Robert Louis Stevenson

The association

"On the path of Stevenson"

Created in 1994, the association Sur le Chemin de Stevenson and its partners work for the economic development around the GR70, respecting the environment and heritage that inhabit it and accompany you in the organization of your hike.

The topo-guide of the Fédération Française de Randonnée Pédestre will guide you all along the path (Reference 700 – Edition FFRandonnée and Chamina Editions).

Association “Sur le chemin de R.L. Stevenson”

48220 Le Pont de Montvert
04 66 45 86 31
asso.stevenson@libertysurf.fr

Robert Lewis Stevenson

Famous writer and traveler, Robert Lewis Stevenson was born on November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh.

Following a sentimental failure, Stevenson felt the need to isolate himself and then undertook a journey to the south of France, accompanied by a donkey named Modestine. This journey, he recounts in the book “Travel with a donkey in the Cevennes”. In his account, Stevenson recounts his crossing of the Cevennes on foot, undertaken in autumn 1878, with the donkey Modestine as his only companion. Despite the difficult beginnings, the author ends up weaving very strong emotional ties with the animal. From Le Monastier in the Haute-Loire, their journey lasted 12 days and ended in Saint-Jean-du-Gard, after about 200 km of walking. Stevenson’s objective was twofold: to forget his heartache and to go and meet the country of the Camisards.

His diary was published in 1879 under the title of “Travel with a donkey in the Cevennes”. This work allowed to trace his route today became the Stevenson Trail (GR 70) thus offering hikers the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of the Scottish author-adventurer in love with France.

Author known for his adventure and fantasy stories, Stevenson will be remembered for his many works that have become essential as “Treasure Island” published in 1883 or “The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” released in 1886.

I had sought adventure all my life, an adventure without passion, as it happened, to the heroic travelers of the early days; and to find myself thus, in the morning, in a lost and wooded corner of the Gévaudan, disoriented, as foreign to what surrounded me as the first man abandoned in the land, was to see, fulfilled, a part of my waking dreams. Robert Louis Stevenson

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