Bray Head to Greystones Cliff Walk

Written By: Gail Clifford | Published By: Weekend Notes | July 16, 2022

https://www.weekendnotes.com/bray-head-to-greystones-cliff-walk/

When you create extra time in your schedule for outdoor adventures beyond Dublin, Bray Head and the famous Cliff Walk become a premiere choice. The largest city in Wicklow County, Bray (the term means “hill, rising ground”) is the longest established seaside tourist town in Ireland. The railway’s arrival in 1854 allowed easy passage from Dublin and grew the area from a one-street town in 1838 to a busy urban centre serving County Wicklow and the southern part of County Dublin. Reminders of its medieval past are present in architecture ranging from churches in ruin to exquisite Georgian and Victorian architecture.

But we’re here for the seacoast, not the town, today, so off we go to the strand. It’s the Beach BBQ Festival weekend and after less than one block walk from the DART station we are inundated with BBQ smoke, carnival noise, and the happy screams of children on the high swings or Helter Skelter rides.

For everyone who hasn’t eaten, this is the place to be. Stop for a burger at one of the restaurants right at Dart when the Festival isn’t in session. Your appetites will be satisfied with the Festival’s stuffed jacket potatoes, tinga chicken tacos, burgers, fish and chips, or a plethora of ice cream and sweet choices. Sit and eat with the classic rock blasting from the bandstand or walk further along the strand.

The seafront is everything you could want in a scenic Dublin coastal town or village. You’ll see families and couples and singles on the rocky beach, and walking South, we found one of the more isolated and beautiful sandy beaches where I saw dogs and families sunbathing in the Irish Sea.

Perhaps a kilometre along the strand, past the longstanding playground and the temporary blow-up slides, continue along the seacoast. Up the hill, you’ll start the Cliff Walk. It’s listed as easy, but there is a section about four kilometres into the 7-kilometre walk that I found challenging. The Windgates steps are uneven, and often a foot deep. It can leave you winded. Rockslides have caused the walk to be intermittently closed and some portions have protective barriers that remind hikers to take care. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The walkway along the cliff between Bray and Greystones has existed, they believe, from medieval times. It was developed in the 1840s to provide access to railway workers to bring materials cliffside during the rail construction which linked Bray to Greystones and placed them within easy reach for Dubliners interested in getting out of the big, overcrowded city. This suddenly turned these sleepy little settlements in the mid-1850s into fashionable seaside resorts.

But back to the walk itself … The most fun right away may have been watching the children bet their parents about who could get up this first steep hill fastest. The homes on the cliff sides are lovingly restored, with one gentleman with a single paintbrush touching up his trim as we pass. The children lost steam within 50 yards but the parents, as most of us do, kept encouraging and let the wee ones capture their victory.