The Republic of Ireland, 2009 —

On Saint Patrick's day, myself and a friend walked about five miles upstream on the River Nore from Kilkenny to the "Rock Bar" and a convergence of streams.

Well, we didn't find out about the convergence until another walk, up the other side, where the smaller channel flows into the bend of this one.

We walked more than five miles, that St. Paddy's day. We thought at one point that maybe we'd passed the country pub, and we went to the road. We turned left, the way we'd come, south-ish on the east-ish side of the river. It was the wrong decision. We had to backtrack, and walk the remainder as well, sticking to the road.

It was not safe. There is no room, on a normal Irish country road. After dark, you're worse again. Walking alongside a country lane is not safe even on a normal night.

The "Rock Bar" is a rural pub on a hill by the River Nore in County Kilkenny a few miles/kilometres on the upstream side of Kilkenny city, as they call it.

(Although Kilkenny is not much of a city by modern calculation, it's been one in name since King James I declared it so, when cities were smaller.)