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# Words Are Not Enough
- URL: https://www.digest.andymarshall.co/aaa5f22449f720990da89ed1bb4377e2/
- Published: 2018-04-25T06:10:44.000Z
- Updated: 2023-12-12T12:41:41.000Z
- Description: Memory, place and continuity in the Yorkshire Dales
- Author: Andy  Marshall
- Tags: #exposure, #Import 2023-02-28 18:49

## Sam and Em, my Grandad spoke of Pen-y-Ghent

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/7feslysuu6ejzo8jy908zslrpjyb07rucx74/original.jpg)

Pen-y-Ghent from Horton-in-Ribblesdale

He pronounced it softly, phonetically - the tip of his tongue protruding slightly, padding the sharpness of the 't' with deep northern undertones.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/tmdj6fhzptfmju44uank72p7otd903v23ad3/original.jpg)

The path to Pen-y-Ghent

I'm frightened I might not pass this on, might lose it - this memory from a loved one - its potency derived from days he spent within the dales that I do not know, but am kindred to.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/8qo4e1p54okumnxhacv2dg09lrhlwwdmn6bs/original.jpg)

Horton-in-Ribblesdale from the path to Pen-y-Ghent

I'm walking here to connect with him, this place an affordance for envisioning him.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/02ianstkw8w9kgf03n02uk9nsx9dkaz47vf6/original.jpg)

I see him in the gnarled stone and creaking gates, the tumbled compote of moss and lime and the battered walls crumbling over time.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/c9474ovos6i0xo0mq7jcvj83pjo8jhrlcal4/original.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/v7zcu56mks8ne480c5ykxpded523n07871fu/original.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/lke011mg9qr0at09nizar9vl3iuela6ho4s9/original.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/pfoxprx8dkoc1owp0w8qnqnwctsu7xgdlt7b/original.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/6tv7c2myhwoz6hs97v8unjswitt4jet0f4ie/original.jpg)

The day I visit - the clouds are low and bilious - like the tobacco borealis that hung around his living room chair - amidst the sound of Cowboys and Indians chasing horses.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/0hfdg9akdo8d2orjaozzykm48x6nd4jisklz/original.jpg)

The sign-posts here are returning to nature - not that he would have seen - he couldn't read.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/f0v3wyrte796puuc90igtmoe5wazidc9nf4z/original.jpg)

This man whose hands were deft at fixing things and wringing chickens necks, never knew the might of the pen with which I write.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/ltky07dlmycwseac6gpxga1exphh1ptv1wnh/original.jpg)

I could never comprehend that

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/y6f1dulh8vz3a7t13dtco9qrqqum8t8cenvj/original.jpg)

Yet, within the moment I felt him most, with the looming limestone ossuary of Pen-y-Ghent behind me, he showed me the frivolity of words, in the presence of the spindled light breaking through the dale.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/a7o70m3lb4bxlozqdg1s98p7u340d0im7eba/original.jpg)