Walking in the woods with strangers: the lift you don't get on your own
Doing things together · Équipe Viatous · 4 min
Sunday morning. The sun is out, the woods are twenty minutes away, and you think a walk would be perfect. Then you picture the drive alone, the trail alone, the sandwich alone on a log. And you stay on the couch.
Shame. Because a forest walk in a small group, even with people you haven't met yet, is one of the simplest and nicest things you can do. And science has a few good arguments for getting you off that couch.
What nature actually does for you
In 2019, a team from the University of Exeter looked at answers from nearly 20,000 people in England. Their study, published in Scientific Reports , found that people who spend at least 120 minutes a week in nature are more likely to report good health and high wellbeing than people who spend none.
Here's the interesting part: it didn't matter whether those two hours came in one go or in several shorter visits. One long Sunday walk is enough to hit that mark. It's a correlation, not a prescription, but the idea is clear: two hours under the trees is time well spent.
Why it's even better with others
Researchers followed more than 1,500 people in England, some of them taking part in "Walking for Health", a national group walking program. Their results, published in 2014 in the journal Ecopsychology : people who went on group walks in nature reported less stress, fewer symptoms of depression and more positive emotions than those who didn't. The effect even looked stronger for people who had just been through a tough life event.
There's also a simpler reason everyone has noticed: talking is easier when you walk side by side. No need to look each other in the eye, no table between you, and silences are never awkward. There's always a bird, a root or a hill to get the conversation going again.
With strangers, really?
Yes, and it's actually a great format for meeting someone new. The forest gives you something in common from minute one. The walking pace sets the length of the meetup. And you can talk a lot, a little, or not at all for a while, and nobody finds it weird.
A walk is also low stakes. No endless dinner, no bill to split, no evening that never ends. You walk for two hours and say goodbye at the parking lot. If it was good, you do it again.
How to plan a great walk: the checklist
Pick a well-marked, popular trail. A known loop, ideally 5 to 8 km, with little climbing for a first time.
Meet in a public place. A train station, the main entrance of the forest, a busy parking lot. Start from there together.
Walk in daylight and check the weather the day before.
Tell someone close to you your route and when you expect to be back.
Pack light : water, a snack, a windbreaker, shoes with good grip, a charged phone.
Respect the forest : stay on the trails, take your trash home, no fires.
Three little games to liven up the walk
The photo challenge. Everyone has to bring back the strangest picture of the day: a weird mushroom, a tree trunk that looks like a face.
The plant app. A plant identification app turns anyone into a guide. Just remember: you admire the mushrooms, you don't eat them.
Five minutes of silence. Halfway through, walk for five minutes without talking, then everyone shares what they heard. It works every time.
Finding people to walk with
The hard part isn't walking. It's finding someone to go with, at the right time, at the right pace. That's where Viatous comes in.
You just write what you want to do, for example: "Looking for two or three people for a two-hour walk in the Fontainebleau forest on Sunday morning, easy pace." Viatous understands what you mean and builds a Room , a small group of 2 to 4 compatible people.
Roomi, the Viatous robot, welcomes the group, walks everyone through the steps and goes over the rules. Together you pick a public place from the ones Roomi suggests, and the Room stays open before and during the walk: handy if someone's running late or can't find the parking lot. You show up with your first name, and you can leave the Room at any time.
And if you'd like to do it again next month, the Room can become a Circle , as long as everyone agrees. One walk a month is already a lovely ritual.
Next Sunday, the same trail could be walked as a three, with a flask going from hand to hand and someone pointing out the weirdest mushroom in the forest. See how Viatous works : your sentence fits on one line, and the trees do the rest.