BB2420
: What the Helles?
Wednesday
12th June 2024
Helles is the name of a
traditional German lager, especially popular in Bavaria.
They tend to be flavoursome, mildly sweet and light-coloured, with low
bitterness.
Robinsons is the name of a
brewery that originated in my home town of Stockport.
I remember the distinctive smell of hopsregularly lingering in the air; perfuming would be too kind a word.
I hadn’t realised that they had started
brewing Helles until the other day when I received an e-mailshot announcing the
chance to win 52 pints of Helles to enjoy at your local over the next 12
months.
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Our aim today was to
visit Sour Howes and Sallows, two modest hills separating the Troutbeck
and Kentmere valleys. When I saw the
advert, I thought it was too good an opportunity to miss- the Queen’s Head at
Troutbeck is a very nice destination and….. it’s a Robinsons pub.
We booked in for a late lunch
then left the cars in the car park. The
intention was to walk through the village down to the church. Mike and I set off at a sensible pace, Stuart
and Stan dawdling behind us. On reaching
the Mortal Man we wondered where the helles were they? What the helles were they doing for them to
take so long? Mike went back along the
road, returned and reported that they were nowhere to be seen. What’s more, neither was answering their
phone. The only possibility seemed to be
that they had decided to take the more direct footpath down to the Church. We were speeding down there to catch them up
when at last telephonic communication was achieved. Where the helles had they been? Somehow, they had been so engrossed in
conversation that they wandered up a driveway to a farm before realising they
were climbing the wrong hill. At last we
were able to reunite and resume our expedition.
We took the usual, steep, slate-cobbled path.....
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..... eventually to cross what the OS map calls "Garburn Road (Track)"
and enjoy the views up the Troutbeck
valley.....,
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.....
down to Windermere.....,
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.....
and over to the Lakeland panorama.
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The ascent to Sour Howes is full of false
summits but not so intense as to frustrate greatly.
![](bb2420/BB2420-(22).jpg)
We encountered a man with two women and had a
long chat with them whilst having a coffee break at the summit. They were from Banchory, on the River Dee in
Aberdeenshire, and this was the last day of their stay in the Lakes. They then set off in the direction of Sallows,
as did we a little later.
Sallows is a more mundane top,
easily reached from this direction. We acknowledged
our new friends in the distance as we saw them heading west, below us on the
Garburn Pass.
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After topping out, we likewise
dropped down to the Pass and made the steady descent, enlivened by
turning off to drop down the steep path to Limefitt.
Generally, we don’t like ending a walk with a
climb but as we were on a mission to win a year of Helles, there was no option. It had to be uphill back to the Queens Head.
The lad behind the bar greeted
us warmly and asked what we would like.
“What? The Helles of course.” We explained that we were intent on winning
the competition. He invited us to take a
seat and brought the drinks to us. The
Helles wasn’t exactly served in a Stein but it was certainly in a very heavy glass. Perhaps it should have been brought by a wench
in a dirndl balancing eight on her arms but remember this was from Stockport,
not Munich.
I’m not normally a great fan
of lager, I find it usually served so cold that it has no flavour. However this was just right and
flavoursome. As it says on their
website: “Sweetness balanced with a light bitterness, delicately hopped, clear
& light, it’s the epitome of a thirst-quenching lager bier”.
It was while we were enjoying
the Helles that our new friend came over.
They had had the same thoughts about an appropriate post walk
destination.
The BOOTboys blog was
mentioned and I promised to feature him and post his picture- here he is: SANDY.
Hi Sandy- it was good to meet you and your ladies. Next time you are in the area, let us know so
you can be inaugurated as a BOOTboy.
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The landlord brought the meal
we had ordered and said that the barman had mentioned that we intended to enter the
competition. “That’s Great,” he
said. “You must come back on Friday.” “Why?” we asked. “Well, the promotion doesn’t start till then!”
I checked the faint, small print. He was right.
Wrong day. What the helles were we doing there today?!?
Don, Wednesday 12th
June 2024
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