This was a short travelogue memoir of the author's trip through the Cevennes Mountains in France in 1878. This was a 12 day trek undertaken only by Stevenson and his donkey, Modestine. The reader gets descriptions of the landscapes and the people, oftentimes with humor. 82 pages ( )

The title gives you a pretty good idea of what goes on in the book. If it was called Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes While Hating Catholics, it would give you an even better idea. I picked it up because the first chapter/essay in [b:Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer|992809|Footsteps Adventures of a Romantic Biographer|Richard Holmes|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403183687l/992809._SY75_.jpg|978304] is about Stevenson's adventure and I thought that it would be fun to read the original before I read the response. It was fun! This is a short, briskly-paced account of a kind of leisure travel which was quite new at the time. It's clearly written and Stevenson isn't afraid to laugh at himself, so there is some humour to be had. The religious/political bits are short and easily bearable. If you can get through the animal mistreatment toward the beginning, it's a rewarding light read. ( )

An underwhelming French travelogue by the famous author in his youth. RLS's descriptions are well-wrought, if not especially penetrating. It's short. ( )

2 1/2 stars, a little too much about the conflict between Protestants and Catholics and too little on the time spent on the walk. The parts about the Modestine were my favorites. ( )

Allegedly one of the very first hiking travelogues, Stevenson’s book is a pleasant account of a twelve-day trip in his late twenties over a mountain range in southern France, accompanied only by a jenny to help with carrying his gear. Maybe a wee bit too prolix towards the end about local history at the cost of his own experiences. ( )