Читать книгу Walking in the Cevennes. 31 walks and the Tour of Mont Lozere онлайн

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Much later in life I reread the same little book, and it was then that I decided to explore the region on foot and visit some of the places so vividly described by Stevenson. Of course much has changed: roads have been built, towns have grown in size and tourism is now the main economic resource. Yet most of the landscape remains hauntingly wild and desolate. Many of the villages Stevenson walked through are now crumbling ruins, as many of the people, unable to survive by agriculture, left at the turn of the 19th century. In 1879 Stevenson encountered more people on his travels through the Cevennes than I did on mine!

My first Cevennes experience was a four-day circular walk in February. Although I got lost and very cold – not knowing how winter lingers in this rough upland country – the subtle magic of the area, steeped in historical conflict and economic hardship, fascinated me, and I knew I would eventually return to find out more.

It was not until many years later that I could go back and write a walking book, basing myself in two little towns, one to the north and the other to the south of the Cevennes National Park. The two areas are quite different – the south gentler and covered in chestnut trees, the north bleak open moorland and deep gorges. Insidiously the fascination of walking and discovering this remote countryside became an obsession and a pleasure, shared as always by my faithful team of walking companions.