Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française

Commune in Occitania, France

Location of Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française

(2021–2026) Patrick Valdeyron^[1]Area

50.99 km² (19.69 sq mi)Population

(2021)^[2]

496 • Density9.7/km² (25/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)INSEE/Postal code

48148 /48330

Elevation194–925 m (636–3,035 ft)
(avg. 245 m or 804 ft)¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃t‿etjɛn vale fʁɑ̃sɛːz]; Occitan: Sent Estève de Valfrancesca) is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France.^[3]

The Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson passed through the village on 2 October 1878, as recounted in his book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes:

I went down beside the Gardon of Mialet, a great glaring watercourse devoid of water, and through St. Etienne de Vallée Française, or Val Francesque, as they used to call it; and towards evening began to ascend the hill of St. Pierre.^[4]

The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail (GR 70), a popular long-distance path following Stevenson's approximate route, runs through the village.^[5]

References

^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 1 February 2022.
^ "Populations légales 2021". The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
^ INSEE commune file
^ Stevenson, Robert Louis (1905) [1879]. "The Country of the Camisards" . Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 192–193 – via Wikisource.
^ Castle, Alan (2007). "Stage 12 – Saint-Germain-de-Calberte to Saint-Jean-du-Gard". The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail (2nd ed.). Cicerone. pp. 171–182. ISBN 978-1-85284-511-7.