IAOI 03 – Cork

It was dark when Adrian finally found us a B&B to stay at, in Cork. The Belvedere Lodge took in these weary travellers and we were not disappointed. Very reasonable room rates, lovely friendly staff to welcome us and very comfortable rooms. It was a bit like an Escher painting though and finding our way from the bedroom to the front door meant that one missed footing and you could probably fall downstairs and end up back in your bed!

Still not really having a plan we wandered Cork-wards and stumbled across a little bar called KLM that looked more like someone’s front-room.

Feeling duty bound (being in Ireland) we ordered two points of Guiness and settled in a dark corner to drink them. Pretty soon we agreed that the ale had a slightly ‘off’ taste, like the pipes had only just been cleaned and there was still cleaning fluid in the pint. The bar owner pulled us two fresh ones and they were just the same. He then suggested we switched to Beamish, which we did and oh what a draft that was! We stayed on the Beamish all night (and into the ealry hours of the next day) and played many frames of pool. The bar staff talked to us all night and told us the tales of the sea-faring folk of old and showed us the many items of memorabilia that adorned the bar, each with its own story.

Its a gift when you find a pub like that and we fully intend to go back, next time we are in Cork.

One thing we did find out the next day is that Beamish is brewed in Cork and so they probably didn’t want us drinking the Guiness anyway!