Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 11, 1895 - Miscellanies, Volume III

X
WALKING TOURS
It must not be imagined that a walking tour, as
some would have us fancy, is merely a better or
worse way of seeing the country. There are many
ways of seeing landscape quite as good; and none
more vivid, in spite of canting dilettantes, than from
a railway train. But landscape on a walking tour
is quite accessory. He who is indeed of the brother-
hood does not voyage in quest of the picturesque,
but of certain jolly humours — of the hope and spirit
with which the march begins at morning, and the
peace and spiritual repletion of the evening's rest.
He cannot tell whether he puts his knapsack on, or
takes it off, with more delight. The excitement of
the departure puts him in key for that of the arrival.
Whatever he does is not only a reward in itself, but
will be further rewarded in the sequel ; and so
pleasure leads on to pleasure in an endless chain.
It is this that so few can understand ; they will
either be always lounging or always at five miles an
hour ; they do not play off the one against the other,
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