A Wharfedale Wander - Almscliff Crag

This was an excellent walk that I did with some friends after a night in Leeds. it always amazes me that there are so many fabulous locations in close proximity to big cities. I am familiar with the region around Otley and Ilkley just north of Leeds and Bradford, as well as the foodland walks around the Adel and Meanwood areas just north of the city, but this was a new one.
My mate Rob was keen to show me "Lovely Rocks" and I was only to happy to discover a section of Wharfedale. We parked up at the railway station at Huby - which is oddly named Weeton station even though that village is a mile away?!

Together with Jase, who had accompanied me on walks in Malham as well as a walk along Offa's Dyke nearly 20 years ago, we made our way out of the vilage in a thick mist. There were patches of blue sky visible and we hoped the sun would manage to burn off the mist, but unfortunately we never did get our view over Wharfedale.

But the mist and fog patches made for some pretty spectacular eerie scenes and whilst we were walking along the lane all of a sudden Almscliff Crag became visible.

This was definitely a place worth exploring, and we were not alone as it is a popular spot for climbers. Almscliff still felt very remote and magical in particular in the light which meant that crags and climbers drifted in and out of visibility.

After a short climb we were at the very top of the crags, where we enjoyed our sandwiches and a chat about how the rock formation came to be. We enjoyed a roam around on the top of the rocks in the vague hope that the mist would lift, but the we will have to enjoy those views another time.

We made our way along the footpaths back down to the village of Huby, before heading our seperate ways and having thouroughly enjoyed our short walk.