Rockhunters

Even though it was a grey and cloudy day, we took a ride down the street to the Maryport coast so that Frankie could show Jim and Jo the beach by our house. As it turns out, it was a really lovely afternoon. The grey skies were a perfect British backdrop to our beachwalk--The wind, waves, and rocks were all strikingly beautiful.

We had the beach all to ourselves, and walked up and down the shore looking at the rocks that had washed up on the sand. We saw quite a few beautifully colored rocks: deep blues, bright greens, vibrant oranges. I've honestly never seen beach rocks as interestingly colored as the ones on the Maryport coast. We all picked up the best rocks as we walked, and Jo is going to take some home with her as souviners. Frankie’s started a little collection too.

One of the most interesting finds of the day was when we stumbled across a rock that was the fraternal twin brother of the infamous "Tickle Rock." (Remember? We found Tickle Rock our first week in Maryport. It has the word "Tickle" clearly stamped into its surface.)

Here's the rock in question, Wilson:

After that discovery, we got a little obsessed with finding other rocks with writing on them. The more we looked, the more we realized that the rocks were indeed bricks that must have come from a pier or similar structure that has been destroyed at some point in the town’s history. We saw the ruined concrete supports in the sand, and water-worn brick fragments everywhere. Most of the bricks were blank. Either the sea had worn the writing off or they were blank to begin with.

I'm still not sure what happened to the pier, how long ago it happened, or why some of the bricks were laid into the structure with words embossed into them. I think, though, that finding the text-covered bricks has become my new obsession. We came away that day with two. Wilson, and another that says "Whitehaven." (The neighboring town that, coincidentally, we had visited the day before.)

My goal to obsessively scour the beach until I come up with enough text bricks to string together a series of words that could function as a weird avant-guard poem or haiku. I can't wait to go back to the beach and keep looking!