An Inland Voyage Revisited
A gray sky, and a river the color of silver: the morning is above all dreary. Enormous barges and small freighters disturb the calm of the Escaut River estuary. Tugboats come and go, some toward a liner ready to depart, others toward busy wharves in the harbor. Two leave the right bank at downtown Anvers, and are snatched up by the tide’s flood and carried upstream. On board, we are pleased this voyage we’ve imagined for a decade is now underway.For my companion—Jean-Marie Huron—the exhilaration is short-lived: his kayak, VAILIMA, insists on veering to the right. I had many occasions to try mine, SILVERADO, but Jean-Marie didn’t board for the first time until the day before departure. The prospect of constantly adjusting his course for three weeks was more than depressing.
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Thanks! The copy of An Inland Voyage we have also has Stevenson’s Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes, also an excellent read. I wonder how that would be to attempt.
I have always loved this Stevenson book and Donatien and Jean-Marie are to be congratulated on capturing the bohemian spirit once again on their voyage honoring Stevenson’s first go. Fun!