Robert Louis Stevenson · 1879 · overland

Robert Louis Stevenson's 1879 account of a twelve-day solo walk through the Cevennes mountains of south-central France, in the company of a stubborn donkey named Modestine. One of the first books to treat hiking as a pleasure in itself, it is wry, lyrical and quietly profound about solitude and the road. A small classic of travel writing. The route runs about 120 miles south through the hills.

1. 1
   Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille

   Stevenson sets out from the village of Le Monastier with a sleeping sack, a revolver and the donkey Modestine, who refuses at first to move.

2. 2
   Notre-Dame-des-Neiges

   Up onto the bleak volcanic uplands and a night at the Trappist monastery of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, among the silent monks.

3. 3
   Mont Lozere

   Over the high, wind-scoured shoulder of Mont Lozere, the roof of the Cevennes, alone with the donkey and the weather.

4. 4
   Florac

   Down through the Protestant country to Florac, in the deep gorges where the Camisard rebels once hid.

5. 5
   St-Jean-du-Gard

   To St-Jean-du-Gard, journey's end, where he sells Modestine and, to his own surprise, weeps at the parting.