Bradley Beach often gets overshadowed by neighbors Asbury Park and Ocean Grove. Photo: James J. Connolly
What I love about the beach here is that the sand dunes and grasses provide a lovely viewpoint when you’re lying on the sand, making it seem like you can be just about anywhere. The dunes were installed in the 1990s to help protect the town from damaging winds and tides off the ocean. The decision to construct these dunes proved prescient, as Bradley Beach largely escaped the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Sandy on Shore towns in 2012.
My son Owen and I start our day with a bike ride on the boardwalk, which is permitted before 10 am. We like to ride all the way to Asbury Park and back—about three miles round trip—stopping for coffee at a boardwalk food stand (Bradley Beach’s boardwalk doesn’t have shops along it, as Asbury’s does.)
For a fabulous breakfast, we head to our favorite brunch place, the Buttered Biscuit (700 Main Street), for—you guessed it—homemade biscuits, plus eggs and banana-walnut pancakes. Get here early, because the wait can be long in the summer, and they don’t take reservations.
After our delightful meal, it is time to squeeze ourselves into our bathing suits and head to the beach, to sunbathe and swim in the ocean.
We decide to relax following our bike ride, but if we had wanted a little more exercise, we could have brought a volleyball to play at one of the nets set up on the beach. We’ve also often thought about trying a surfing lesson with the Summertime Surf School (732-599-2700), located on the beach on the Bradley Beach-Ocean Grove border.
