Bray Head - Nice exercise and rewarding views from the top!

Bray is ALWAYS a great idea!

No matter if you only want to go for  short walk, or for lunch, to get some sun or enjoy the sea, it seems that this town easily adapts to all tastes.

One Saturday morning, some months ago we got up with that "I'd-love-to-go-hiking" feeling and decided we would go to Bray.

Plan was simple: go for a nice walk in the area and then have something to eat in the town before heading back home. With this super complicated plan in mind, Bray Head seemed like the perfect destination.

Bray Head is a hill located in Bray, at the end of the seafront promenade. It's only 241m high, but the views of the Wicklow Mountains and the Irish Sea from the top are truly outstanding.

At the very top, the Cross, a huge concrete cross that was erected in 1950. I recently learnt that every year, on Good Friday, a group of people climb the hill from the town in procession to mark the stations of the Cross....

So Dad drove to the Raheen Park car park (see starting point with a little yellow car in the map below), which is also the starting point for the so popular Bray to Greystones Cliff Walk (that I will explain in a later post, of course) and we started our climb.

Actually the views from the car park are already pretty cool, aren't they?

We were not sure how hard the day would be so we were prepared for an Everest-type of climb and ready to make history by reaching the top...

but it turned out to be a bit easier than expected (thank God!) so we had the chance to enjoy the walk, take pictures, make jokes, have fun and still climb up.

Before we even started to think we were tired, we were reaching the top...

For the kids, to get to the top was a fantastic reward, after their climbing effort. They were delighted!

The walk down was easier and we could enjoy the views a little bit more than when we were climbing up, so in no time we were back at the car park.

For lunch... no negotiations required: went to our number 1 place: Campo de'Fiori Bistro-Market: they always have everyone's favourite pizza!

Actually, I never have the chance to take a proper picture of any of the pizzas before the boys (and Dad!) start eating them... A good sign I guess ;-)

I'd fully recommend this plan if your kids like a bit of adventure and good pizzas/pasta, specially now that the summer seems to be knocking on our doors. It is of course pouring down with rain the moment I am writing this, but I sincerely hope the summer will knock on our doors any time soon!!!

If you do not have a car, you can of course still get to Bray by DART. You can check the timetables here.