Bray To Greystones

Ireland has this fascinating fascination with walks. There are cliff walks, and loop walks, and walks to lighthouses, and of the maybe three books we own about Ireland, one is a book of the 24 greatest walks in Dublin.

One is essentially a historical pub crawl, but I'm happy calling it a walk, because then I'm being cultural, you see, and plus there's the whole pint thing. Anyway, it's an awesome fascination that they have, and frankly, it works quite well for getting to know an area. (insert quip about walking a mile in Dublin's shoes here).

The first walk that Michelle and I went on was due to a rather emphatic and super helpful suggestion by our friends Rob and Katie. Rob also qualifies as a co-worker, and part boss, but the suggestion was made during a social time, so there you have it, from friend Rob. The Bray to Greystones walk is an excellent cliff walk along a rather peaceful 6 miles. You can start at Bray and walk to Greystones, or you can do what we did and start at Greystones and walk to Bray.

It doesn't really matter one way or the other- both Bray and Greystones are stops on the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit), and you're essentially walking between stops. One way, the Irish Sea is on your left and the other way it's on your right.

The walk itself is about 6 miles, not much in terms of hills, and the path is well maintained. If you start at Bray, get off the DART, head to the beach and start walking south. You can't really miss it. If you start at Greystones, walk north, and either just ask people, or follow the trail of people who have clearly just walked 6 miles, or stop and buy a seedy cookie at The Happy Pear in Greystones and ask for directions. Plus, the seedy cookie is fantabulously tasty and super awesome halfway through the walk. There are other reasons to start at Greystones: the trains run less frequently, so you can plan which train to take from home; the sun, if you're so lucky, is at your back; you end the walk in Bray, which has many more gastral choices... but really, either way is fine.

The Irish summer, as it turns out, is either beautiful or blustery, and sometimes both if you appreciate that sort of thing (which thankfully, I do, three weeks in. Check back in three months or more, though).

Let's be honest, there are great things about Ireland and there are shitty things about Ireland. We're still in the honeymoon phase, so more of the things err on the side of amazing. Frankly, I think a lot of life is based around how you choose to deal with it. It's like going to Disneyland: if you go to Disneyland and you walk in and you say to yourself, "Self, we're going to have a great day today and it will be fun"... then chances are, you'll have fun. But you walk in and you put on your cynical hat and say "Self, we're going to be critical about things and not get swept up in the ultra-commercial, in-your-face, loud and obnoxious, annoying crowds bit of Disneyland"... well, then you're pretty well set up to have a rotten time, unless you like that sort of thing.

Ireland is like that. Actually, I think life is like that. For instance, can you honestly look at the picture on the left and (if you turn off the cynical part of your brain) tell me that it's NOT pulled straight out of some awesome toy train set?

And yet, I promise you, that idyllic tiny smidgen of a scene is all over Ireland, all the time. It sort of rocks (unlike the radio stations, I might add).