Retired at 55; ladies only travel

Thanks for all the thoughts; much appreciated.
Nellie I'll look at the sites you mention.

Sorry got the holiday site round the wrong way, should be 101 Singles Holidays.

I've been looking at a site called Singles 101 Holidays and there are some ideas on there that may be of interest, especially as you enjoy walking. Don't forget to check out Silvertraveladvisor.

I see HF also do combined walking/special interets holidays with cooking or bridge - sounds great to me, will investigate!

I am another who would recommend HF holidays. They have singles holidays, as well as general on which there are always singles and couples or groups, including a high percentage of 'women of a certain age'. As well as walking they do special interest breaks too. The prices appear high, but you don't need to spend anything extra. The packed lunches are spectacular!

Does it really have to be "Ladies only"?

Companies like Just You and Solo might have a solution for you. They do walking holidays in UK and in other countries for single people but you couldn't guarantee there would be no men present.

Explore and Exodus or HF good but I'm not sure if they do singles holidays.

I'm about to embark on my 5th trip with a Meetup group, they have lots of solo travel groups on Meetup, and I've travelled with confidence with them to Bulgaria, Latvia - tomorrow is Albania! Italy next month. Mostly women. Just You has some good places to go but are more expensive.

45+ Not Grumpy is a favourite, London based.

Yes, Mr B and myself always wanted to go to different places for our holidays. So he would have his 2 or 3 weeks trekking in Iceland and I would go to Turkey walking. I use to use Explore or Exodus and found them excellent with small friendly groups.

Just had a look at HF Holidays ; I always think good sign which I see 'Which'.

Am in a very similar situation. I went on a fantastic HF walking holiday to Austria this year.

No never heard of them so will have a look. Thanks

Have you looked at HF walking holidays? The groups tend to be a mixture of couples and singles, very friendly.