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Am off to Crete for a week in June for non-riding/sightseeing purposes and it seems foolish to go not to have a little potter around Greece whilst I'm there.
While looking at places to visit in a touristy (hopefully non-tacky) way it occurred to my that they've got some mountains there and I've got some mountain bike - maybe the 2 should meet 🙂
Anyone got experience of MTB in any region of Greece? I was a regular at Switchbacks/SB DH for some years & quite like being driven up, but also see value in winch & plummet style escapades.
I spend about 20 weeks a year in the south Peloponnese, about an hour's driving south from Kalamata. I find plenty of good riding around there, as I'm in the foothills of the Taygetos range, but it's mostly long climbs on dirt roads followed by descending on a mix of dirt roads, goat tracks and paved mule tracks (Kalderimis). There is no established mtb trail infrastructure in these parts, and very little with much " flow" but if you like rocky, technical descending then there are loads of walking trails, some marked, some not, and every year I try to clear some more stuff local to me. I would say that pretty much everywhere that I ride has never seen a bike before. So, technical as you like, dry and usually very grippy with big penalties for getting it wrong.......
To get to some of the higher stuff, up around 1500+ metres, sometimes involves a bit of carrying and sometimes it's difficult to put together decent loops as the whole area is so deeply indented by deep valleys and ravines - sometimes you just have to be content with up and back.
Like everywhere, local knowledge is pretty much essential but, once people get over the bemusedment of seeing a bike where bikes have never been seen, shepherds and farmers seem only too happy to suggest routes for a crazy foreigner to try.
Sounds perfect! Fancy a riding buddy for a week?
I'm out there from around the middle of May to almost the end of July and them from the middle of September to the end of November. If you'd like some more info about anything (travel, accommodation, photos etc) then don't hesitate to drop me a line, my email addy's in my profile. I'd be only too happy to have some company, as long as you can put up with an old duffer long past his best.......
It's a really cool area, I'm in the best village, Platsa, with some excellent trails right from my door (and an excellent bar) and it's only 400 metres above the coast, where there are more excellent bars, especially Niriides (Aggi's) in Aghios Nikolaos.
Old duffers are the best! You can keep me entertained with stories of "the good old days" and how the blitz spirt bonded your community together through the war. I, in turn, shall educate you on modern music such as grime and keep you entertained with my non-stop bantz.
You seem to have a thing for bars 😀
I'll be in touch...
You can get from Crete ( from Kissamos, west of Xania) to Gythio (Laconia) by ferry but only, I think, one day a week. To fly I reckon you'd be looking at going to Athens (Elef. Venizelos) and then either driving down (about 3.5 hrs) or getting the bus (1 hour into Athens, 3-4 hours to Kalamata and 1.5 hrs from there to Stoupa or Aghios Nikolaos.
The inter-city buses will carry bikes, those from the airport won't though.
"Non-stop bantz", hmm, I'll look forward to that then.......