Stevenson fans recreate author’s travels with a donkey
Fans of Scots writer Robert Louis Stevenson gathered in the central French mountain town of Le Monastier yesterday to mark the 140th anniversary of the journey that inspired his classic travelogue, Travels With A Donkey in the Cevennes.
Walkers and a caravan of donkeys toured the town, where the author of Treasure Island and Kidnapped lived for a month in 1878, before setting off on a 12-day recreation of Stevenson’s own exploits with Modestine, his often uncooperative donkey.
Janet Darne, chairwoman of Club Stevenson, which promotes links with the author said: “When Stevenson came here he was nursing a broken heart because, Fanny Osbourne, whom he would later marry, had returned to California and he came to forget and most importantly write a book to earn some money.
“But he also came to discover the Camisards, a band of 17th century Protestant revolutionaries whose exploits resembled those of the Scottish Covenanters – tales of whom he had been brought up on.”
Since the book’s publication in 1879 many thousands of walkers have followed in Stevenson’s footsteps with many hiring their own Modestine.
The 140-mile long Chemin Stevenson is among France’s most popular long-distance footpaths. Each year more than 7,000 walkers spend more than 3m in this remote and sparsely populated region.