“Our main aim is simply to create a safe space for people of colour to reconnect with nature, reclaim space in the outdoors and reap the mental health benefits…”
Peaks of Colour is a Peak District-based walking club by and for people of colour only. We offer monthly hikes across classic Peak District locations, and regular walk-shops: creative and holistic workshops set in nature, in collaboration with local facilitators of colour. In 2022, for example, we will see the group exploring routes such as Winn Hill and Edale, with yoga, nature writing and sound therapy workshops throughout the year also. We’re an informal, inclusive and intersectional group that is intentionally trauma-informed, LGBT+ inclusive and accessible. Our walks vary in difficulty and duration, with wheelchair and pushchair accessible walks to meet a range of needs and experiences.
As a community group that aims to uphold a decolonial, co-produced model, Peaks of Colour is founded on the Black Feminist ethos of Radical Self-Care. This recognises that for people of colour, rest is resistance, an act that unapologetically puts our wellbeing and safety first. It recognises that in order to look after others – be that within the family, the wider community or in our fight for social justice – we must first look after ourselves. We were similarly born in response to the overt and insidious rural racism experienced in outdoor spaces, combatting the disproportionate barriers to access that people of colour experience and resisting the systems which gatekeep nature and the mental wellbeing benefits it offers.
Our main aim is simply to create a safe space for people of colour to reconnect with nature, reclaim space in the outdoors and reap the mental health benefits – that for one day a month, we permit ourselves the space to pause, breathe, recover and heal, in the company of others who share our lived experiences of navigating society as people of colour.
Another aim, more broadly, is to explore funding opportunities and revenues that resists a top-down model far too often rooted in colonial models of power and control. We hope to remain sustainable as a collective whilst also remaining true to our values of rest and resistance.
If you identify as a person of colour, you can get involved by joining our closed Facebook group (search ‘Peaks of Colour), which is where we announce all the dates, times and locations of our monthly hikes and events.
Our allies can support us by following us on Instagram, sharing Peaks of Colour amongst your networks and, if you have the financial capacity, donating to our fundraising pot. We are currently an unfunded and volunteer-led community group that relies solely on donations to fund our workshops and core costs, so any and all financial support is hugely appreciated.
For me, in the most individualised sense, Sheffield and the Peak District more specifically is a place of healing. As a domestic abuse survivor, I have relied heavily on the outdoors this city has to offer for my own trauma recovery – whether being blown away atop Stanage Edge, submerging into Rivelin’s Plunge Pool or lounging amongst the crocuses in the Botanical Gardens, I am the most at home in myself when immersed in the Outdoor City. It’s what makes me feel tethered and anchored, yet similarly detached and free.
It allows me to focus on the present and look forward to the future instead of being cemented in the past, and I always return home feeling lighter after spending time in the outdoors. Peaks of Colour as an idea was actually conceived on one of Sheffield’s round walks and is simply my opportunity to extend the invitation, to people of colour to share the places and the peace these places offer with me.
To read more from our Outdoor City People series click here
