Vrsic pass-Sleme-Planica Valley-Kranjska Gora. 11 miles

I have to confess we did cheat a bit on this one as we caught a bus up to the Vrsic Pass. I’m so glad we did. We both had had more than enough walking by the end.

At the bus stop we got talking to some other Brit walkers. They had the same walks book as us and I thought we’d probably have a lot in common but they were very competitive and I can’t be doing with that. Shame.

The walk starts at the pass and then you take a right turn signposted to Sleme. It’s quite steep but nothing terrible. There’s a saddle at Vratica where the path divides. Unless you are an experienced mountaineer or bonkers, do not go left. It leads to something called the Hanzova Pot. We saw some people on it and they were struggling. It looked terrifying. There was a helicopter circling later in the day and I hope it wasn’t for them.

As we followed the path, we saw loads of people. More than we have in our whole trip in fact. Lots of children, babies being carried on parents backs, grandmas and Grandads.

We noticed this before in Slovakia. Everyone climbs mountains. In Slovenia they say you are not a Slovenian until you climb Triglav.

We had our lunch at the summit of Sleme (1911m) and what a view! Steve tried his latest gadget out – a selfie stick that attaches to a walking pole. Problem was the walking pole is in the photo too! Another gadget bites the dust.

We saw our Brit fellow walkers arrive just as we finished our lunch. I must admit to a certain smugness as they had told us they usually walked faster than the times given in the book – not as fast as us though! Hee hee!

The hardest bit of the walk was the descent into the Planica Valley. The path was steep and full of loose stones. We kept stumbling all over the place and it was very tiring trying to keep upright. As we got to the point where we could see the valley, we realised we had to cross an extensive snow field. Not what you want to do on tired legs and no spikes. Anyway we made it but by the time we got back we couldn’t wait to get our boots off.

Why do we do it?

Because the mountains are so beautiful and powerful. It reminds me of how insignificant we are , little ants, scurrying around doing things that most of the time aren’t important . It gives perspective.

It’s also the best feeling having a cold beer and peanuts when you get home.