These non-fiction accounts of camping and canoeing in France and Belgium were written in the refined and polished prose we have come to expect from Robert Louis Stevenson. With humor and irritation he describes his interactions with locals and reflects on their class consciousness. In some places he encounters hospitality, in others fear and hostility, but everywhere, curiosity. Rebuffed by innkeepers, who take him for a peddler or worse, he decides that "trees are the most civil society" and rediscovers in nature "those truths which are revealed to savages and hid from political economists." At Our Lady of the Snows monastery he is hospitably received but "annoyed beyond endurance" by proselytizing. In the end he concludes that the journey was "very agreeable and fortunate for me."

A slow and mellow read. Not everyone will appreciate the elegance of the writing and philosophizing here; not everyone will find it clear or even intelligible. But this is must reading for Stevenson fans as it gives unique insights into the author, his thoughts and his lifestyle, even his diet. I found it strange that he felt the need to carry a revolver! I felt no such need when I hitchhiked through that part of Europe with a pup tent. But I was good at making myself invisible; that is not so easily done when traveling with a donkey. Wolves were an issue in Stevenson’s day, but they didn’t even occur to me.

I thought Stevenson was a semi-invalid, but in this book he survives some very arduous travel, even to an elevation of 5,600 feet above sea level, while smoking tobacco, drinking brandy, and eating a substandard diet. Being pelted with rain was “revivifying” to the youthful RLS.

Maps would have been helpful to the reader. This book occasionally digresses into local history and uses foreign words and phrases without translation. Even some English words that I had not seen before. The author’s treatment of his donkey may displease some readers, but at least he is honest about it.

I preferred the travels with a donkey to the inland voyage. It is more readable, less convoluted in its philosophizing. The author’s donkey companion was more interesting than his canoeing partner. ( )