The ‘Boys’ – four men in their late sixties – are off on their travels again. This time they are walking the Juliana Trail in Slovenia. So two of us ‘girls’ decide to come along for part of the ride – to Ljubljana and Bled, before going off on our version of the Grand Tour, to Venice and Florence.

We arrive in Ljubljana in pouring rain. We are staying in the centre and everything is walking distance. It really is a charming city, very Austro-Hungarian – in fact it reminds me of Brno, but with a lot more tourists.

We only have one full day so, after a good breakfast, we set off the explore. First to the market, stalls overflowing with soft fruits, vegetables and flowers – it is obviously a very fertile place.

From there its a steep climb up to the castle: no funicular for us thank you, following Lisbons’s disastrous crash, but given the mean age of the tourists here, I can see it’s a necessary form of transport! Luckliy the sun has come out and it’s balmy. We enjoy the view from the top of the tower over the red roofs of the city; then a tour round the museum: as John says , ‘It always starts with the Romans’ – and indeed it does. It is well-curated and fascinating to find out about the history of this tiny country of 4 million people.

Lunchtime finds us sheltering from a cloud-burst in a lively cafe by the river. From there we wander off to find the railway station to check out tickets for Bled the next day.

Slovenian beer is of course a great national treasure and many were drunk!

We find ourselves at the station early, but my overnight premonitions that we have booked tickets for the wrong train prove to be correct – the non-stop, fast train to Lesce Bled is an Austrian Railways international train, and not the train we have tickets for! Ross makes a quick detour and for the princely sum of 3 Euros each, we manage to board the ‘express’. As it happens, it runs late – and we later discover that there is a bus that goes direct to Bled itself which is much quicker! (Hilary and I take this on our departure!).

Pensioners go inter-railing!

A 20-minute taxi ride finds us in Bled itself. The Lake is so blue, courtesy of some life-enhancing minerals that a canny Swiss discovered and built a spa empire based on their efficaciousness. Our delightful pension, The Old Parish House, is not yet ready so we leave our bags and hike up the crag to Bled Castle. This is strategically-placed and overlooks the whole valley, affording magnificent views. There is of course another museum – starting with the Romans of course! The best exhibit was this bronze 6th century peacock, a symbol of eternity.

We find a jolly little lakeside restaurant and have a fish lunch and a spritz or two, before John and Ross elect to row us over to a nearby island, home to an imposing church. I later discover that this church owns our b & b and supplies all the cake and bread for its cafe.

We have a delicious dinner (the only good meal in Slovenia, which is not known for its cuisine – very stodgy, lots of pork, sausage, meat, all well-cooked! Here I have lake trout). Then we repair to a bar to await the arrival of the other two walkers, David and Adam, who roll up at about 10.30. Just in time for a round of slivovitz!

In the morning it’s time to part ways – the boys shoulder their rucksacks in fine humour, and stride off round the lake in bright sunshine. Hilary and I go to the bus stop – via a local sandwich shop for a sandwich a porter – and wait for a bus to take us back Ljubljana (only Euros 9), which eventually arrives and we are there in just over an hour. A quick coffee and then off to find our mini-bus to take us to Venice. All easy-peasy!