To the waters and the wild

Cookery schools, river walks and wildlife parks — Kilkenny has a lot to offer, says John Tynan.

FOR ME, Kilkenny will always be associated with Ireland’s first Pub of the Year. In truth, the fact it carries my name was the only reason I ventured into Tynan’s Bridge House Bar in the 1990s, and it was obvious that its 300-year-old charm was reason enough for the accolade. No superpub was this.

As such, warm memories of the Marble City. Nevertheless, I ventured into the land of the Cats this time in trepidation of a clawing, conscious that Cork had shown the county’s hurlers to be mere mortals after all.