TECHNICAL DETAILS
Leica D-Lux typ 109. 1/640 at f/5.6 ISO 200. 27mm equivalent focal length. Hand held.
BRAY’S HEAD
With a layover weekend in Ireland ahead, my colleague, Gary, asked if I wanted to go for a hike along the coast on Saturday. Always eager for a chance to get out of the city and see the countryside, I gratefully accepted. We drove a short way south out of Dublin to County Wicklow and parked in the quaint and picturesque seaside village of Bray. The goal was to hike to the summit of Bray’s Head, a looming hill which afforded grand vistas over the Irish Sea. Ostensibly, on a clear day you can see the coast of Wales straight across, almost even with Snowdonia National Park. But this day was too hazy. To the south you can see several miles down to Graystones, and north the Howth penninsula.
We departed the village on a well-paved trail and headed along the coast. Steep hillsides and a lively sea made for beautiful scenery. Before too long, the tarmac gave way to crushed stone, and eventually just a dirt path that slowly gained elevation as we moved south.
“Do you fancy a bit of off road?” Gary asked. Definitely up for the less-traveled vista, I followed him off the trail, and we made our way up through a very dense undergrowth of evergreens and brush, perhaps chest high. It got progressively steeper, at last having us scramble up rocks with our hands until we reached a high series of ledges with great views all along the coast. It was a challenging hike, though probably not for Gary, who even past his supposed running prime still logs marathons approaching 2:30. That’s not a typo!
After enjoying the view from the summit, we headed back north on some trails that ran along the high ridges, and I stopped, moving slightly off the trail, to capture this view looking north toward Howth. With the low, cloudy skies, the green-blue specked sea, and the green, treeless hills, the vista was spectacular. Emerald indeed.
We finished off with a steep downhill that led right back into the village of Bray, where we stopped for a pint (OK, a couple of pints) at the Harbor Bar, which has been named in one poll as the best pub in Ireland. That’s a tall order, but it lived up to its billing. Quintessential. Thanks, Gary.
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