Touring the Peloponnese

[borisface]

Hi, I'm planning a week tour of the Peloponnese in mid-April. Flying into Athens, getting train to Corinth and starting from there. Map has now arrived so into some serious planning. Aim to do c. 100k per day but this can be revised down if necessary as looking at the map it looks more mountainous that I had thought. Info is fairly scarce found a couple of websites but they don't seem to answer my specific questions. If anybody' s been can you let me know

a) what is weather likely to be like (i.e. is it going to be very cold at altitude c. 1500m+ perhaps up to 2000m) in mid April will we be ok with long sleeves and a lightweight goretex?
b) is 100k per day realistic given the terrain - we're taking mtbs with panniers. I'm pretty fit, I do TTs, my companions don't. Planning a combination of on/off road but mainly on road.
c) Are dogs a problem?
d) Any tips/suggestions/places to avoid.

Thanks
Chris

[DaveGos]

Not done Peloponnese, but cycled not far away around Evia and the mainland from there and I remember that there did not seem to be any flat. Not like most areas where even if hilly you do alot of not too hilly though valleys. It seemed to be always randomly up or down. Dont rember any problems with dogs

[jphil]

Did a tour of peloponnese about 10 years ago now in July-August loved it weather hot as you would expect. April should be a bit mixed weather wise, but much better than uk! Dogs not an issue but we mainly cycled on the road, dogs are normaly attached to chains around farms in the med but there are always exceptions!My route was into Athens from old airport out of Athens to Corinthos quite interesting then we made our way along the north coast which was quite nice as it hugs the coastline and there are plenty of little places to stop off then we did a full anti-clockwise route along the coastline via Patras- Kylini-Pirgos- Kiparissia-Pilos- Methoni-Koroni-Kalamata-Areopoli-Githio-Neapoli-Monemvasia-Leonidio-Nafplio Boat to Spetses-Hydra(nice harbour) Poros - Pireaus Athens.I really enjoyed the trip Greece was alot cheaper then. Greeks are very friendly and I felt very safe there, many greeks dont lock their bikes up and I can remember them looking strangely at me D locks and all!The north coast stands out and most of the coast is quite scenic Monemvasia is a lovely place.Get a good map from Stanfords london I remember we used the Hellenic Army Geographical map number 5 for the Peloponese, most signposts are in old greek but fortunately the easier to read stuff is underneath. Feel free to ask further questions it was a great trip I will repeat in the future.

[psmiffy]

I did a circumnavigation of the Peloponese about 4 years ago in April and I did a tour around the north of Greece and then back to Athens along the north of the Polopenese the year before in late April/early May - my observation was that in the high central parts of P there was still a bit of snow about (I could see fresh snow on the tops)- around the coast the weather was like a nice not that hot English summer day with occasional bad days - very heavy rain/hail - not many days that I did not ride in shorts - the highest I got was about 1200m - a bit chill at night camping but OK

If you are camping there will be a few sites open. The train from the airport to Athens was easy enough. (although finding the ticket office at Athens was trickier) Athens to Corinth train easy enough, Corinth Station is perched above the entrance - there is a lift down

I do not remember any dogs therefore they are probably not a problem

[borisface]

Thanks for your replies. A couple more q's if you don't mind:

Are the roads quiet - I assume so looking at the number of towns/villages?

What sort of mileage did you manage a day?

What did you do about accomodation? We're not planning to camp.

Thanks in advance for the replies. Really excited about the trip not really been to Greece before and the lack of info intrigues/excites.

[jphil]

Roads were pretty quiet most of the traffic was along the northern coast as there is a link between Athens- Patras via ferry port to Italy, but most lorries take the express road which runs parallel to the coast. Mileage per day 60-100Km depending on the Ouzo the night before we were on a 4 week trip so had plenty of time. Accomodation is the same all over the Med ask go into a bar / restaurant / taverna someone is always keen to earn a few euros or know a relative friend etc one night we stayed in a pension a french couple were doing up they asked us just close the door when we left in the morning cost us next to nothing in drachmas.I do hope you get some blue sky I didnt see any clouds all month in july/ August.Feel free to post any other questions.

[iviehoff]

I hope your map is the one branded "Road Editions", sheet number 5, 1:250,000. If you haven't got that one, get it, regardless of the fact that you have another one. It's worth having two maps for a second opinion anyway in a country like Greece, but the "Road" maps have substantially less fiction on them than other maps of Greece.

Forget camping, at least in campsites. There won't be enough open to make it worthwhile. Camping is for foreign tourists who come in high summer. You'll have to plan carefully to get to somewhere even with rooms, as it really is very sparsely populated in areas.

The weather in April in Greece, and similar Mediterranean locations, is unreliable. You can have some fairly cool and damp weather from time to time. Other times it can be really rather warm.

There are some quite high passes you can cross in the Peleponnese, and they are worth doing. At an altitude of 1200m I have seen ice unmelted in a shady spot at the roadside, at lunchtime, in October. Leaving our lodgings earlier in the morning at a lower altitude, it was about 3C, and foggy, and I felt distinctly underdressed. 20 mins later we were in the sunshine and it warmed up fast. It can certainly do all that in April too.

We did about 90-100km a day on that tour, but it was damn hard work as we usually did a high pass most days, and sometimes there was a nasty wind blowing in the wrong direction. And we did sections of unsealed road too.

[tawc]

Re: cycle touring in the Peloponnese. When taking your bike on the train from Athens Airport to Corinth is it advisable to take the bike as it was packed during the flight or can one take the bike unpacked and fully set up?