Reporting back from the Purple Mountain Observatory x Outdoor Licence Hike

Last Saturday saw the first Outdoor Licence hike of 2026 (look we’ve been really busy OK?) hosted by our impeccably clad friends Purple Mountain Observatory. As is now customary, our hike took place in the Peak District with a sizeable group of lovely human beings (and an even lovelier Jack Russel) heading off from Hayfield and heading up Mount Famine and South Head before circling back to where se started. As a previous resident of Hayfield and in charge of where we went I decided upon this route as it’s my favourite way to get to Kinder Scout and always a lot quieter than the other options especially at the weekends. It also affords great views of the Kinder plateau, giving you some decent elevation in a relatively short time with plenty of opportunities for stopping every now and again to take it all in, enjoy some next level trail mix (nice one Adam) and chat to one another about the joys of multiple jacket ownership. Weatherwise we lucked out on the whole, with a decent amount of sunshine accompanying us at the start and up to both summits, though once we started to head back down it was like we’d angered the Gods by not carrying on to Kinder and were treated to a pretty significant downpour all the back to the Packhorse pub. Regardless of this precipitous interlude it turned out to be a brilliant hike, thanks in no small part to the brilliant folk from PMO who came all the way up from our glorious capital as well as everyone else who managed to make it out. Big thanks too to OL hike veteran and amazing photographer Charlotte who provided some of these amazing photos alongside Joe from PMO who was also snapping away like a good un. We’ll definitely be doing another community hike with this brilliant brand later in the year as well as putting on lots more Outdoor Licence community hikes in between, so keep em peeled and see you in the next one!