Bray-Greystones cliff walk: ‘It’s a big attraction. We have got to get it reopened’

The 6km cliff walk from Bray to Greystones in Co Wicklow is one of the most popular walks on Ireland’s east coast. Developed in the 1840s as an access route for workers building the railway line, it has become an internationally renowned coastal walk in the last 50 years or so.

But for more than two years now, the walk has been officially closed due to risk of rockfall on the Bray side and subsidence close to the path in several places on the Greystones side. The loss of this popular amenity has led to frustration among locals and visitors alike.

Jane Beirne, a Bray resident and regular dog walker, says there are now plans for a walkway around Bray Head. “But a lot of people would like to see the Bray to Greystones cliff walk opened first before a walkway around the hill is put in,” she says.

The rich birdlife – cormorants, kittiwakes, terns and even migratory Brent Geese – and the views as far as Wicklow Head lighthouse to the south and Dalkey Island and Howth to the north are what make this walk so special. The train line runs along the coastline below the walk.

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Patricia Cooney, a walk leader from south Dublin walking on Bray Head earlier this week, says she is astounded the cliff walk has been closed for two years. “It’s a huge tourist attraction. I’m embarrassed to tell people that it has been closed for two years. In other countries with great walks like this one, there would be compulsory purchase orders for the land required,” she says.

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Cooney is leading a group of walkers in her Wednesday Walks for Women up to the cross on Bray Head and down to Windgates [a point about midway between Bray and Greystones] when we meet her. Her group are taking this alternative route because there is a barrier on the Bray side preventing people from accessing the walk. There are also prominent signs telling people that the cliff walk is closed due to rockfall.

Not so on the Greystones side where walkers regularly breach the barriers put up to deter them and walk until they meet the barrier on the Bray side. There are very few written signs telling people the cliff walk is closed on the Greystones side, except for a notice in Greystones Dart station.

Call it people power if you will, or foolhardiness if you prefer, but most days walkers are using this stunning section of the north Wicklow coastline.

Last Saturday, in the interests of research, this writer walked the whole route, starting in Greystones, and encountered at least 30 other walkers. There is clear evidence that barriers put in place to stop walkers have been broken down, trampled over or circumnavigated. On a wet day, someone could easily slip and fall into the crevice at two sections of the path where erosion has taken place.

“People told us it was closed but we thought we’d try it and if it becomes dangerous, we’ll turn around,” said one group of three English-language students on the walk.

This week, Stephen Fox, executive engineer in Bray Municipal District, met The Irish Times in the car park overlooking Bray next to the start of the cliff walk to discuss the delay in its reopening.

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“Throughout 2023, the council worked on getting the rock face assessed and a design for mitigation measures put in place. Now, because we only received one tender which is over the threshold [€200,000] of Government procurement for projects of this size, we have to do an open e-tender process to get the works done,” he explains.

Fox says the council hopes to get new tenders in by the summer. “Then we will put pressure on the winning bidder to deliver but meanwhile our main concern is the health and safety of the public which is why we have closed the walk.”

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Green Party TD for Wicklow Steven Matthews has taken a keen interest in the Bray-Greystones cliff walk for years. “I would discourage anyone from doing the cliff walk as there is real danger of rockfall on the Bray side and it is very dangerous to climb around and over the barriers along the route,” he says.

This is not the first time the cliff walk has been closed, due to previous landslides. Wicklow County Council has also had to move the route in from the coastline close to Greystones. This section of the path which currently runs through a field of rape seed oil remains open to the public as the first barrier is a little further along.

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A former worker with Irish Rail, Matthews explains that the current problems with erosion are caused both by sea storms and run-off from the land which slopes down to the sea. “Subsidence of the path on the Greystones side means that a new path will have to be built further in and this will involve land acquisition arrangements by negotiation or compulsory purchase orders with four or five landowners,” explains Matthews. The engineer for Greystones Municipal District was unavailable to comment.

“It’s a big attraction and a beautiful walk which is well-connected to public transport. We have got to get it opened again soon,” says Matthews.

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