BRIMHAM ROCKS
Today started slowly, I actually slept in to 11am! This would normally be a real treat, especially as the father of a two year old. But as I was WIDE awake until 4am this wasn’t really a sleep-in but more of a survival strategy to prevent any premature killings of the family members.

After a quite big breakfast we headed out to Brimham Roks. Imagine big rocks that have been formed for the last 380 million years. To contextualize how long ago that was, dinosaurs became extinct only 65 million years ago. It is a place that belongs to the National Trust, an English charity created in 1895 to preserve places of historical interest and natural beauty. As a young lad my family would visit (at least twice a year) Brimham Rocks while camping in the nearby area. My bro and I had a hiding area called our ‘Den’ which we laid down Bracken and played Dick Turpin and defended the enemy from taking ground and storming our secret den – ah the imagination of wee boys.

The site has been visited by people since 1792 when Lord Grantly built the Brimham House for the ‘accommodation of strangers’. Between 1792 and the 1970’s numerous people ran the house and opened coffee shops and other simple attractions, but the main focus are the rocks. In 1970 the National Trust took overseeing of the park welcoming over 175,000 visitors a year.

Visiting it as an adult is great especially as we had my brother’s five year old son with us. His energy and enthusiasm was reflective of our own when we use to visit Brimham Rocks as kids. For a slice of amusement he was also dressed as Batman (a recent fascination) so as he ran through the trails and climbed and conquered the large rocks, he did it wearing his black cape (which blew vibrantly in the wind), and his home- made Batman mask. It was really priceless.

It also had me feel a little old, as everything seemed so so so small compared to how I remembered them from when I was a kid. Ah well, we all have to grow up one day. That being said it didn’t stop me from climbing on these large 30-40 feet high rocks. The strong winds made it even more challenging, but that ‘young boy’ spirit soon returned. The pleasure you get from being physical and conquering what at times seems like an impossible task is a great high.

It was great to go into the visitor centre and learn more about the history of this site. I think my parents wondered who had kidnapped their son and had replaced him with this new person, interested suddenly in History. They desperately tried when I was a kid to have me learn about all the rich history of England as we visited great historical cities on our weekend excursions. But as a Kid, running around taking-down imaginary armies of ‘baddies’ was way more fun than being trapped in a stuffy church. Now that the ‘baddies’ know not to mess with me I guess I have more time to learn all that important historical stuff.

BACK AT HOME
Once we returned home we all helped out in making dinner and cleaning the dishes. I observed how certain English folk (let’s say all the population) never rinse dishes, allowing the wonderful taste of ‘Fairy’ washing up liquid to dry itself effortlessly to the clean dishes. Yum. I bet in some countries that we will visit on our global tour soapy dishes will be a luxury, compared to rinsing them in a river or dipping them into a muddy puddle.

Finally no visit to Yorkshire will be complete without Fish and Chips. We have this planned for tomorrow night. But as we passed a local ‘chippy’ today in the car I wanted them there and then. My Mum commented on how I could have them twice tomorrow and  I got very excited about the prospect. As I was discussing this with my sister in law later in the day my Mum informed me that she was joking (cruel cruel woman As I informed her that I was going to have them twice anyway, she said in that tone that only mothers know how “no you’re not, don’t be so silly”. Ah bless her. I am 37 years old, but I guess I will always be her wee son. She may have a point though- it may just be a little bit better for my health if I avoid deep friend wonderfulness twice in one day. But then again it will taste so good. We will see how tomorrow goes I guess.

SEE IMAGES ON FLICKR:
part 1, part 2, part 3 & part 4

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