The Stevenson Trail in the Cévennes (GR70): a literary traverse

In 1878 the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson crossed the French Massif Central on foot in the company of a she-donkey named Modestine, and drew from it a travel book that became a classic. From that account the GR70 was born, the Stevenson Trail, which retraces his route through the Cévennes. It's one of France's great long-distance paths, and yet it stays surprisingly quiet: far from the Alps and their crowds, it winds through a rural, austere France where you can walk for hours without meeting a soul.

The route

The route sets off from Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille, in the upper Loire, and heads south down to Alès, on the southern edge of the massif. At first it crosses the volcanic plateaus of the Velay and then the granite ones around Mont Mézenc and Mont Lozère, lands of wind and flocks where the villages are small and scattered. You pass through hamlets like Le Bouchet-Saint-Nicolas and Pradelles, cross the austere Trappist abbey of Notre-Dame des Neiges, which Stevenson himself visited, and climb the broad back of Mont Lozère, the highest point of the walk, where the great blocks of granite mark the trail when the fog erases all bearings.

The land of the Camisards

From there the path enters the heart of the Cévennes proper, the land of the Camisards, the Protestants who in the eighteenth century rose up against persecution. It's a region marked by that memory, with austere temples and a culture of resistance still felt in the villages. You descend along ever narrower, more Mediterranean valleys, among chestnut groves and terraces, down to Florac and then towards Saint-Jean-du-Gard and Alès, where the climate and the scents already announce the south. The contrast between the bare plateaus of the start and the green valleys of the end is one of the finest things about this traverse.

Difficulty and stages

It's a long-haul walk, to be tackled over several days, with daily stages of a few hours and regular but never extreme elevation changes: no mountaineering passages, only the constant ups and downs of the plateaus and the crossing of the valleys. That's why it's considered accessible to anyone with good stamina and the desire to walk with a pack. The GR waymarking, the classic white-and-red bands, is reliable, and the itinerary is well described and served by staging points. Many, like Stevenson, walk it in its entirety in about ten days, but it's possible to do just a section.

Logistics and accommodation

As for logistics, the starting point Le Monastier and the finish near Alès are reachable by French public transport via the nearby towns, which makes the GR70 one of the easiest paths to tackle without a car: you arrive by train and bus, set off on foot and return the same way from the other end. Along the route there are gîtes d'étape, small inns and rooms to rent in the villages, so carrying a tent isn't essential, though many choose to camp to live the spirit of the book to the full.

When to go

The best time is late spring and early autumn. May and June find the plateaus in bloom and the broom ablaze, with long days and cool weather at altitude; September offers golden light, ripe chestnuts in the southern valleys and ideal temperatures, now far from the heat. Full summer can be sultry in the southern valleys, while out of season the walk is one of absolute quiet. It's precisely in the shoulder months that you catch that meditative solitude Stevenson was seeking.

A practical tip: on Mont Lozère the weather changes fast and fog can descend without warning, so keep a map and warm layers within reach even in high summer. And read, before or during, Stevenson's account: walking while reflecting on his words and his squabbles with the donkey Modestine turns a fine traverse into a small literary pilgrimage.

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