Jean Calbrix, a hebertist hiker from Basse-Normandie. Micro-analysis of a sport tourism in transformation (1960-2000)
In line with mainstream historical micro-analysis, the subject of this contribution is an anonymous Frenchman, living in Lower Normandy near Alençon, who has made a long-term investment in the development of sports and health tourism based on non-motorized travel. This choice allows us to analyze a period, 1960 to 2000, of social practices, outdoor physical activities, as well as the stakes and debates surrounding sports tourism. The illustrations concern hiking, through the routes of the “grande randonnée” trails, and the implementation of the first free access “health trail” in a state-owned forest. Beyond this witness, advocating the values of Georges Hébert’s “natural method” in his vision of sports tourism, a whole generation of actors has been participating, since the second 20th century, in the development and production of physical outdoor activities, both recreational and educational, concerned with the body and physical fitness, aiming at autonomy in a natural environment, but who questions the evolution of consumerist and individualistic tourism at the dawn of the 21st century.