Hikes

Hiking with Russian speakers: how it works

For us a hike isn’t a race against the clock; it’s a day outdoors with people you know. We pick easy routes so the children make it to the top too. It always ends around a shared table: everyone brings something, and there’s no set price. If you don’t have a car, we find you a seat with someone who has room, and that gets sorted in the chat and in private messages.

29 March 2026: Montferrand castle and Lac de Cécélès

The first hike was a member’s idea, floated in the chat at the start of March: a walk up to the ruins of Château de Montferrand, a 12th-century castle standing above the valley by Pic Saint-Loup, north of Montpellier. The organiser posted the announcement on 1 March and the list grew by the day. On 2 March about 15 people were in, by mid-month around 20, five children aged 6 to 11 among them, and four days before the date it was about forty, kids included. Families got a separate poll asking for each child’s age, so the route could be chosen to suit everyone.

A group that size changed the plan. The picnic moved from the castle to Lac de Cécélès, a ten-minute drive away. We met at 11:15-11:30 in the car park by the castle, with the exact spot shared as coordinates, and anyone coming only for the picnic went straight to the lake for 13:00. Someone asked in the chat what to wear on their feet, and the answer was short: “Trainers are fine.” The packing list was water, a blanket and food for the shared table, plus folding tables, balls and badminton sets from whoever had them. The forecast said about +15 °C and variable cloud, and a guitar came along, though nobody turned up to play it.

That was also the night France put the clocks forward to summer time, so the coffee in the thermoses earned its place. The morning was sunny and blowing a gale, and nobody backed out. At 11:42 the group set off up the trail and, at an easy pace, reached the castle in about an hour, by 12:45. The wind up there was serious, and it turned into a photo session with views over the hills and the garrigue, the scrubby Mediterranean heath around the ruins. The trail is easy, but you can’t get a pushchair up it. After coming down we drove to the lake, photos from the water’s edge were in the chat by three o’clock, and by the evening there were dozens of shots from at least four people and the day summed up in one line: “Yes, we challenged the wind and the sun.”

1 November 2026: crayfish and a shared table by a lake near Toulouse

The second outing was day three of the Slavic Weekend near Toulouse. We met by a lake at 14:00 on the Sunday, the sunniest day of the whole weekend. We caught a bucket of crayfish, and the hunt was a sport, done for the thrill of it rather than for dinner. Then we laid the shared table, put on music and karaoke, danced and played badminton. The children had the playground, while the grown-ups gathered chestnuts to bury a guest who had dozed off in a hammock. From 18:00 that evening it was Mafia at the villa.

If you fancy a crayfish day of your own, know the rules first. Catching crayfish is regulated in France: on many lakes and rivers you need a fishing card (carte de pêche), and invasive crayfish, such as the Louisiana crayfish, may not be transported alive. That is set out in a nationwide 2018 order on invasive species.

How to join the next hike

We’ll announce the next hike in the chat with the place, the meeting point, the time and whether you’ll need a car. Sign-up is through a poll in the chat. On the first route children came from the age of 6, and trainers were all anyone needed. If you have spare seats in your car, or you’re looking for a lift, say so in the chat.