The Julian Alps start on the borders of Austria and Italy – a ski resort in the winter and a fabulous centre for walking the rest of the year and end at Lake Bohinj, by far the least spoilt and the most peaceful of Slovenia’s two most famous lakes. The scenery is dominated by the jagged edges of the mountains towering above you but the walk, from Podkoren to Bohinj, is gentle, focusing mainly on the meadows that lie just above the valley floor.

As you walk along the supply trails that lead to the Isonzo front (made famous in Hemingway’s ‘A Farewell to Arms’), where more than one million soldiers were killed in World War 1, you will also get a taste for the remnants of a once major cheese-making industry.

I always enjoy spending several days in the remotest of valleys looked after by local people who are in the vanguard of the slow-food revolution, specialising in fresh, local produce and a few surprises, whilst imbibing the gentle culture of this little country.

Journey’s end is Lake Bohinj, a magical and mysterious lake.

Written by  Simon Scutt.

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