Editor’s Note

A summer to make lifelong memories

Some of my favourite childhood memories involve summertime staycation trips to the seaside. Having grown up close to some of the most beautiful beaches along Waterford’s Copper Coast, these holidays were as much about the journey to get somewhere new as it was the ocean views. Blissful weeks in Cork staying in Trabolgan, popping over the Fota Wildlife Park before visiting the attractions on offer in Cobh and Midleton turned into carefree teenage summers in Co. Clare’s Miltown Malbay for the annual Willie Clancy Festival.

My more talented and musically inclined siblings enjoyed the classes, while I was free to wander barefoot along a golden sandy beach before heading for town’s market stalls to pick up a tie-dye sarong or silver toe ring.

Yes, there are always those special holiday memories that stay with you no matter how many years go by. This past pandemic year has tested us like no other in

times, it’s changed the way we think, live and travel. For a time, even, everything just stopped. And yet, despite all it has set limits on and stolen from so many, it has not been able to take away our desire for adventure, our wandering spirit.

This summer, Ireland will do what it does best by sharing its spectacular landscape and stunning coastline with us. In this special Coast-to-Coast Go Wild edition, we journey page to page from the Wild Atlantic Way to the Ancient East, sampling all that lies in between. We hope you enjoy our selection of people, places and possibilities to guide you on your next staycation.

Enjoy your memory-making adventure!