Well, we’ve only got 2 full days left on holidays before the long drive home, so we’ve decided to keep our day trips short, local, and fun for Liam. On day 6 we decided to take a bit of a wander on the Stevenson Trail, which passes through our town. Liam always enjoys a good forest walk!
The Stevenson Trail (GR70) is a 201km long trail that inspired Robert Louis Stevensons classic book, “Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes” (1879), which, in its day, was a ground-breaking novel in the new genre of outdoor literature, paving the way for modern travel writing. I must admit… I have downloaded the book onto my iPad, but haven’t yet gotten around to reading it. But I will.
Our walk in the woods was actually off to an unpleasant start… Liam put up a huge fuss at the beginning as he wanted to bring bunny and purple pillow with him (we eventually allowed bunny, but purple pillow had to stay in the car), and, well, he didn’t want to walk. The moment we put him down and tried to engage him with the nature around us, he clung to mumma’s legs, crying ‘I want carry you!’ (in his whiniest voice). Liam is not light. And he had to be carried a LOT!
But we persevered, and eventually the possibility of climbing a big rock interested him, and after a bit of climb, a rest, and a snack… he finally got some enthusiasm and energy, and wanted to run all the way down the hill (covered with loose gravel… made mumma and daddy nervous, he did slide out twice… but no crying!)
At the bottom of the hill, near the river, was an old ceramics mill, where Liam was beyond thrilled to discover an old rusted out tractor from the 50’s. He pretended to drive it for at least 15 minutes, and literally had to be pulled off of it!
After our little jaunt in the forest we drove into Anduze, about 26 km from our town. It looked like a lovely little town to explore… and we’d already passed through it so many times. Anduze is the town at the far end of the steam train line.
We found a lovely, shady park in Anduze, which thrilled Liam… he would have happily stayed on the swings all day! And the far end of the park overlooked the train station, so when we heard the whistle we dashed over so Liam could see the last departure of the afternoon. The train puffed out of the station and right past us, under our noses, and disappeared into the tunnel. A great way to end the afternoon!
