''An Inland Voyage'' (1878) is a travelogue by

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

about a

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

ing trip through France and Belgium in 1876. It is Stevenson's earliest book and a pioneering work of

outdoor literature Outdoor literature is a literature genre about or involving the outdoors. Outdoor literature encompasses several different subgenres including exploration literature, adventure literature, mountain literature and nature writing. Another subgenre i ...

. As a young man, Stevenson desired to be financially independent so that he might pursue the woman he loved, and set about funding his freedom from parental support by writing travelogues, the three most prominent being ''An Inland Voyage'', ''

Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes ''Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes'' (1879) is one of Robert Louis Stevenson's earliest published works and is considered a pioneering classic of outdoor literature. Background Stevenson was in his late 20s and still dependent on his par ...

'' (1879) and '' The Silverado Squatters'' (1883). ''Voyage'' was undertaken with Stevenson's Scottish friend Sir Walter Grindlay Simpson, mostly along the

Oise River The Oise ( ; ) is a river of Belgium and France, flowing for from its source in the Belgian province of Hainaut, south of Chimay. It crosses the border with France after about . It flows into the Seine at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a north-west ...

from Belgium through France, in the Fall of 1876 when Stevenson was 26 years old. The first part, in Belgium, passed through heavily industrial areas and many

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface fl ...

locks, proving to be not much of a vacation. They then went by rail to France, starting downriver at

Maubeuge Maubeuge (; historical nl, Mabuse or nl, Malbode; pcd, Maubeuche) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is situated on both banks of the Sambre (here canalized), east of Valenciennes and about from the Belgian border ...

and ending at

Pontoise Pontoise () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the "new town" of Cergy-Pontoise. Administration Pontoise is the official ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-d'Oise ''dép ...

, close to the

Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributaries ...

. The route itinerary has become a popular route for modern travelers to re-enact with guidebooks and maps available. Stevenson (named " Arethusa" in the book after his canoe) and Simpson (called "Cigarette" along with his canoe) each had a wooden canoe rigged with a sail, comparable in style to a modern

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word '' qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each s ...

, known as a "Rob Roy". They were narrow, decked, and paddled with double-bladed paddles, a style that had recently become popular in England, France, and neighboring countries, inspired by Scottish explorer John MacGregor's book ''A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe'' (1866). Outdoor travel for leisure was unusual for the time, and the two Scotsmen were often mistaken for lowly traveling salesman (a status that more than once kept them from a room for the night), but the novelty of their canoes would occasion entire villages to come out and wave along the banks with cheers of "come back soon!" A fundamentally Romantic work in style and tone, the book paints a delightful atmosphere of Europe in a more innocent time, with quirky innkeepers, traveling entertainers and puppeteers, old men who had never left their villages, ramshackle military units parading with drums and swords, and

gypsy The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

-like families who lived on canal barges. The first edition was published by C. Kegan Paul & Co. Since then there have been several editions; a later edition adds an adventure on foot in which Stevenson is thought to be a beggar and is tossed in jail by police, and also a preface by Stevenson's future wife Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne and stepson Lloyd Osbourne, who met him on this journey.

References

External links

*Digitised copy o
An inland voyage
from the C. Kegan & Paul & Co. edition (1878) from

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in th ...

. JPEG, PDF, XML versions.
''ibiblio.org''
This site has the full text of An Inland Voyage, using the Cockbird Press edition (1991).
''Andrew Sanger''
(1991), ''An Inland Voyage, with a Travel Guide to the route'', published by Cockbird Press (1991) , most up to date travel itinerary for those repeating the journey, includes annotations and illustrations to the original text. See also: Andrew Sanger.
''An Inland Voyage''
from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective adm ...

. Includes pictures from an early edition and HTML format.
''An Inland Voyage''
a later edition containing a preface by the Osbourne's and an Epilogue. HTML format.
''An Inland Voyage''
from

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libra ...

. *
"Rob Roy"
drawings of the "Rob Roy" canoe from ''A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe'' (1866) *John Alexander Hammerton
''In the track of R. L. Stevenson and elsewhere in old France''
Bristol, J. W. Arrowsmith; etc., 1907. From

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Inland Voyage 1878 books Books by Robert Louis Stevenson British travel books Books about Belgium Books about France Canoeing in Belgium Canoeing in France Canoeing in Europe