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  MÉTÉO
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Météo en Haute-Loire (43) |
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Météo en Lozère (48) |
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Météo du Gard (30) |
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REVUE DE PRESSE RANDO-FÊTE 2008 |
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SCOTSMAN (quotidien national écossais publié à Edimbourg) |
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Treasure trail: A path marking Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1878 donkey trek in the Cévennes makes for a romantic introduction to Languedoc
Published Date: 20 September 2008
By Alison Gray
ONE HUNDRED AND thirty years ago this week, Robert Louis Stevenson set off on a journey that would change his life. On 22 September 1878 the young writer left Le Monastier sur Gazeille, in the mountains of the Haute Loire. He was on foot and alone, except for the company of a rather irascible donkey whose name was Modestine. Thus began an adventure that lasted 12 days, 220km and inspired a book, Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes, long before he had even conceived of his best-known works Treasure Island and Doctor Jekyl and Mister Hyde.
Stevenson’s reasons for his solo journey were twofold. He wanted to explore the mountains where the Protestant rebels, the Camisards, had lived, and he needed something to take his mind off Fanny Osbourne, the woman he loved and who would later become his wife, who had left for America to try and get out of her first marriage. He thought he would never see her again.
The Stevenson Trail Association, founded in 1994, used the book to map his steps and create a long-distance footpath. Every year thousands of tourists walk in the writer’s footsteps, admiring the same wildlife and stopping off in the same villages to eat and drink. Some of them even walk in the company of a donkey.
However, before you are entrusted with the stewardship of your very own donkey you learn to look after your animal. At the end of a long day transporting your luggage -each donkey can carry up to 40kg- there is nothing they like better than to have their coat groomed with a stiff wire brush; donkey massage, if you will.
You also learn how to pick stones from their hooves with an iron tool - they are not shod. The next challenge is learning how to saddle up your steed, as there is a knack to securing the wooden saddle and hanging the panniers off either side so you are distributing the weight evenly.
I had thought that being supplied with a donkey might have been a gimmick on the part of the local tourist board, but I was wrong. We met plenty of tourists along the way, leading their donkeys quite happily, with a spring in their step. They might have felt how Stevenson did when he wrote in Travels: “I have been after an adventure all my life, a pure dispassionate adventure, such as befell early and heroic voyagers; and thus to be found by morning in a random wood side nook in Gévaudan -not knowing north from south, as strange to my surroundings as the first man upon the earth, an inland castaway was to find a fraction of my day-dreams realised.”
Apparently Stevenson kept a pin handy for jabbing Modestine in the flank when she failed to move quickly enough for him. This kind of thing is frowned upon these days and, to be honest, walking at the slow pace of our donkey, Melissa, was pleasant - the usual instinct to charge up the path ahead at Munro-bagging pace had to be suppressed and, as a result, we took more notice of the foliage and wildlife around us.
The itinerary followed by RLS in 1878 meanders from the Auvergne to the Languedoc, linking two major regions of France. Beginning in the Haute Loire, it wanders across the Ardèche, and the Lozère and ends in the Gard.
We caught up with it towards the end of the route, close to the tiny village of St-Germain-de-Calberte, staying with Clotilde and Julien Bonnal in their stone-built eyrie overlooking Cévennes National Park. Located 6km outside the village, at the end of a rutted track, theirs is an idyllic house they constructed themselves. Building so close to the national park would normally be impossible but the Bonnals, along with a few neighbours, gained planning permission as there had been a village on the site previously -the Nazis razed it to the ground during the Second World War believing that Resistance fighters might be hiding out there.
An amazing cook, Clotilde made up delicious packed lunches for our walks, as well as jars of a local speciality, a chestnut purée that tasted heavenly on top of fromage frais.
We also ate a fantastic home-cooked meal with the couple one evening, a lovely experience. Our conversational French just about held up but when we got donkey (un âne) confused with pineapple (ananas) it was time to retire for the evening.
After exploring the countryside of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, we spent a few days in one of its most vibrant cities. Edinburgh residents concerned about how the capital is coping with the chaos of the tramworks should visit Montpellier to be reassured. This Mediterranean city, famed for its historic centre and flourishing arts scene, loves its trams so much that a third route is now planned to connect locals with the seaside. We hopped on one to get to the new aquarium on the outskirts of the city and were seriously impressed. Our journey was quick and smooth, which is more than you can say about some city centre buses.
Montpellier is a young city, largely thanks to its 80,000 students, a number that has quadrupled in less than 20 years. Because of this, there is a lively nightlife and a plethora of festivals including the famous Montpellier International Dance Festival which takes place at the end of June.
Although it is the eighth-biggest city in France, one of the best things about Montpellier is that it is so easy to get around on foot. Take in the Faculty of Medicine which, dating from 1220, is the oldest in the western world. A stroll through the Ecusson district is a must -admire the private mansions and the monuments in the cobbled squares before taking a break for cappuccino in a pavement cafe where you can watch the world go by.
The only downside is that you might not see any donkeys.
Factfile languedoc
How to get there
- Jet2 (0871 226 1737) flies from Edinburgh to Avignon for around £60 return. Car hire from National/Citer (www.citer.fr) at Avignon airport, from €32 (£25) a day.
WHERE TO STAY
- Le Mas Lou Abeilhs. A room for two costs €48 (£38) including breakfast. Contact Clotilde and Julien Bonnal, St-Germain-de-Calberte (www. causses-cevennes.co/mas-abeilhs).
AND THERE IS MORE
- The Stevenson Trail Association (www.chemin-stevenson.org)
- One day’s donkey hire costs €48 (£38). For details and special packages, contact Christian Brochier by e-mailing anegenti@free.fr
- Scotsman Reader Holidays offers an eight-day trip to Provence and Languedoc (including Montpellier), departing from Edinburgh on 3 October, from £589. For details, visit www.holidays.scotsman.com
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