Travels with a donkey in the Cévennes

Robert Louis Stevenson chronicles his twelve-day solo hike through the rugged Cevennes mountains of southern France alongside Modestine, a stubborn pack donkey. Stevenson details the practical logistics of nineteenth-century outdoor survival, including the design of his waterproof sleeping sack and the difficulty of navigating rocky terrain without reliable maps. He recounts his encounters with local peasants, his nights sleeping under the stars, and his stay at the Trappist monastery of Our Lady of the Snows. The narrative focuses on the friction between his Protestant background and the region’s history of Catholic-Camisard religious warfare.

This book serves outdoor enthusiasts and students of travel literature who value precise observations of landscape and human character. Readers learn about the psychological demands of solitude and the specific history of the French religious landscape. It provides a blueprint for walking as a method of observation rather than a means of reaching a destination. By the end, a reader understands the patience required to manage an animal and the physical discipline needed to traverse high altitudes before the era of modern gear.