Yorkshire - Just you and me

It is February 2020 half-term. Since 2017, we have been talking a little holiday together. Just you and me. We have had a tiny house in Cornwall, a nice hotel in London, a shepherd's hut in Suffolk and now a teeny little cabin in North Yorkshire. I will always treasure these little holidays and hope that we continue to have them. 

Our cabin

I have always felt at peace in Yorkshire. Bleak, isolated, ruthless and craggy beauty. It is so very real And real is where I feel most myself. Memories do not have to be made in golden palaces or in fantastical wonderlands. They can be made with the clean smell of damp mossy earth, the sound of a waterfall and the majesty of the steep open dale beyond. And with you and me.

The dale

On our 'intrepid' walk

Although you are like any 9 year old girl, and you love computer games and YouTube, you haven't cared that there is no wifi. If you were just humouring me on our intrepid walk today, then you hid it well ("Mummy, stop saying intrepid!" was what I heard a lot!) We walked the Ingleborough waterfall trail and then took a tour of the, other-worldly, Ingleborough Cave. We walked through millions of years of history, limestone formations, fossils, stalagmites, stalactites, crystals, the darkest dark you will ever experience and a reminder that wherever humans go, they change the environment. Life exists in this cave purely because of the lights that we have introduced. It is mind-blowing how much we alter the world around us. You were the only child on the tour who bounced up and down and wanted to see the fossils when the tour guide asked. The others were taking selfies for Instagram. I love you so much. You're playing Minecraft now, and that's ok too. 

Cave explorers

Inside the cave

It is relentlessly raining this week. It gives our trip the 'us against the elements' dimension and makes our little cabin all the cosier. We went to Haworth yesterday so that I could show you where the Brontes lived. You got your first copy of Jane Eye (if you're anything like me you will end up with multiple copies, collected over the years). You were more than a little perturbed about seeing the actual sofa that Emily Bronte died on, but you also took pride in learning which sister wrote which of the famous novels. And you are on chapter 3 of Jane Eyre already, which I am very proud of. I explained what life would have been like in Haworth when the Brontes were alive. Although, I'm not entirely sure that it was that different yesterday! Still raining. You haven't complained though.

On the Bronte's front steps

In Haworth village

And today is my friend Charlotte's birthday. We remembered her as we stood by a lake on our walk today. Memories are funny things. All of your yesteryears, jumbled up and piled high in your memories. Some will warm you up from the inside whilst others will leave you feeling cold. Some bring back joy whilst others, a tear. And someday, something will transport you back to a memory on a cold February breeze, or with the smell of the earth, back to standing beside that lake today, just you and me. 

At the lake today

"I have dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas: they've gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the colour of my mind." - Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights