CYCLING IN THE GREEK PELOPONNESE

We left Rosie 'Motor-Home Alone' and cycled out mid-morning in perfect conditions – warm sun and a back wind. After climbing the 400 ft hill, negotiating Vartholomio village and crossing the Pineos River, we reached Gastouni (16 km) and paused to post a few letters. Here we joined the New National Road, the main road south from Patras, and rode its broad shoulder for 40 km to the Eurospar supermarket just before Pirgos, where we stopped for coffee and cheese pies in the snack bar (total less than £2.00 for lunch).

On through Pirgos, past the turning for Olympia at Krestena and along the side of Lake Kaiafas where there is a thermal spa. Here the road runs further inland through wooded hills. A striking sight was a line of processional caterpillars crossing the New Nat Rd!

We reached Zaharo (= Sugar Town) by mid-afternoon. The hotel near the railway station, recommended by our Rough Guide, was closed but the nearby Nestor Hotel (described as 'clean but spartan') had a double for 7,000 drachmas (about £14). Breakfast was 1,000 extra, so we made our own. The room was indeed cold but at least the water was very hot.

Overcast and dull with a little rain mid-day, but warm enough with a light back wind. Continuing south, we bought coffee in Kiparissia and then toasted sandwiches for lunch in Filiatra – the home of a Greek-American doctor, who returned from Chicago in the 1960's and put a miniature Eiffel Tower and a globe at the entrance to the town!

Down to the coast again at the little fishing harbour of Marathopoli, where we looked for 'Gable Moon', the catamaran of our friend Geoff, but he'd caught a favourable wind and gone. At Gialova on Navarino Bay, 4 km north of Pylos, we stopped for a brew-up with our trusty Camping Gaz stove (known as a 'Globetrotter', which it has). Then a climb and a drop to the large port of Pylos.

The final 16 km was a hard climb to about 700 ft before the descent to the delightful little port of Methoni at the south-west corner of the Messinian Peninsula. We found the Dionysos Hotel on the main street ('small and welcoming, son speaks English'). The son was away and his parents didn't, but we managed to make ourselves understood and were given a room for 5,000 dr. When we returned from our souvlaki and chips supper, we found a present of biscuits and oranges on the table.

After a brief look at the outside walls of the massive Venetian Castle, which covers the headland at Methoni, we turned east, riding through steep hills via the hamlet of Evangelismos to meet the coast again at Finikounda. This is a lovely little fishing village, its bay popular with windsurfers in the summer. After excellent coffee and cakes in the Medea Café overlooking the water, there was another hard climb over the ridges. Black clouds topped the distant mountains but the rain held off and the wind stayed behind us.

We dropped down to sea again on the east side of the Peninsula at Ag Andreas, where we had a picnic lunch by the little harbour in sunshine. Then it was easier riding, north up the coast of the Bay of Messinia to Petalidhi, where we rested in another fishing harbour. The lanes had been very quiet but we met traffic after Rizomilos, where we joined the main Pylos-Kalamata road. Along this we passed gipsy women gathering firewood and dragging it to their makeshift plastic shelters, a couple of lads selling flowers at the roadside (it's Valentine's Day!) and old women selling fruit by the orange groves along the way to Messini.

After the modern town of Messini (Ancient Messini, or Ithomi, lies 20 km or so inland), the highway to Kalamata was unpleasantly busy with noisy lorries, past the airport and into the metropolitan shock of Kalamata. We rode out along the waterfront, past expensive hotels and the overgrown Camping Elite we had once squeezed the motorhome onto, and continued for another 10 km to Avia. Here there was a very welcome (nameless) restaurant/hotel with a 5,000 drachma room, complete with sea-view balcony, shortly before Camping Avia. Downstairs, the owners lit a fire and cooked us a meal of stewed steak and onions with chips. Very kind, since we were the only guests.

Our hardest day so far, with 3 major climbs, but what a finish! After the final climb, from sea level at Neo Iteo up to Areopoli, we had booked bed & breakfast in the Pirgos Tsimova, built in 1700 - a 300-year-old Mani Tower right by the cathedral belltower.

The morning began with a 'short cut' from Avia across the hills (steep enough to enforce walking) to join the main Kalamata-Kardamyli road after a hard hour. Lunch was a toasted sandwich in Kardamyli, made by a woman from Prague who had married a Greek she met in London. She spoke perfect English and sat with us outside the café, reading Marcel Proust!

The second hard climb followed, along the west coast of the outer Mani Peninsula to Iteo, with its magnificent castle. A swift descent to the shore at Neo Iteo before the last climb to Areopoli, gateway to the inner Mani. We were ready for the pizza, which we found at a restaurant on the large central square, followed by enormous chocolate éclairs from the bakery.

Our en-suite room was one of two on the top (third) floor of the Pirgos (= Tower) Tsimova. We had to leave the bicycles in a shed across the street and struggle up the narrow spiral staircase with our pannier bags, but it was worth the effort. For the first time, we had an electric heater and a TV, as well as lots of fussy furniture and ornaments and a balcony looking out to sea. All this for 8,000 dr (about £16) including breakfast of coffee, bread and marmalade.

Being Sunday morning, we were woken by the Cathedral bells on a level with our tiny window, then entertained by the church service, broadcast over loudspeakers, as we ate breakfast in a downstairs room which doubles as a Mani Museum! A good start to the day!

After an easy ride down the west side of the Mani Peninsula to the little port of Gerolimenas, we stopped to brew up by the shore. For a couple of choc-chip cookies, we acquired a faithful (if unlovely) female stray dog, who followed us (doggedly) for over 16 km, up hill and down dale, as far as Lagia where she tried to share our picnic in the church square. We only lost her on the long fast descent from there, and we felt very guilty watching her recede in the distance, still struggling to keep up. Hope she found a home.

The atmosphere round this stark peninsula was brooding, with dark clouds and mist on the barren hilltops and few signs of life. We had turned north up the east coast and the kindly wind had turned to a southerly, still behind us – amazing luck! The long ups and short downs became very tiring and we were glad to find a simple room over the Taverna by the little harbour in Kotronas. It was rather musty and uncleaned, but had hot water and a sea view from the balcony.

No meals were on offer, so we ate our emergency tin of corned beef. It had proved a hard day. We were comforted by a phone call to Margaret's Mum, who reported that the weather in England was very cold with gales. She'd received the letter and photos, posted in Gastouni as we set out, after 3 days – something of a record for the Greek postal system!

We woke to rain and a hailstorm, but it was sunny when we set out, along the new link road north to Skoutari rather than returning to Areopoli. The surface was good hard-top for the first few miles, turning into a pebbly track with steep ups and downs. At Skoutari we brewed up on the porch of a tiny locked church, peering through the broken glass in the door to see its old walls and barrel roof, dark with orthodox murals.

Joining the main road from Areopoli, we reached Gythion (the port of Ancient Sparta on the Laconic Gulf) after 32 km. Here we raided an ATM (money machine) and bought more supplies, sat on a park bench in the sunshine eating pies and buns from the bakery, and enjoyed coffees at a smart café. Barry had split a front tyre on the Skoutari track, but we found another at the little cycle shop near the Post Office. All seemed to be going well.

Only 30 miles to go to Sparta – 30 miles of climbing up a busy main road, as the sky blackened and rain fell. Then Margaret had a rear puncture on the wettest, emptiest stretch of road, but we found a bus shelter by the entrance to an army camp, changed the inner tube and made it to Fair Helen's city. The puncture was caused by a lack of tread, so we replaced the worn tyre and got another spare at Sparta's excellent cycle shop (the best we know in the Peloponnese).

The Hotel Cecil (recommended by RG) was closed, but the nearby larger Hotel Apollo had a good room with central heating, TV and a balcony view of the snowy Taigetos mountain range for 6,000 dr. We finished the day on a warm note, with a good blow-out at the Business Pizza Place just round the corner. Their pizzas are made in front of you and baked in a wood-fired oven, with an excellent salad to amuse you while waiting.

A very hard day, as it rained steadily most of the time and we climbed all of the time! Riding a quiet road heading north-west, Barry said 'We'll brew up when we reach the top', which we never did! Margaret had another rear puncture in the cold rain, and the new tube Barry fitted immediately went down again! A second new tube proved better and we pushed on, now very cold, wet and hungry, hoping to find a café in Georgitsi village after a long climb but there was nothing at all.

The next village, Agoriani, had a general store with old lads playing cards round a wood-burning stove. Escaping the rain at last, we bought bread, biscuits and a tin of Spam. The kind owner fetched us plates, cleared a space by the stove and made us coffee.

Reinvigorated we rode on, following the school bus from Sparta for the next 3 km to Longanikos, dropping the kids off in these remote mountain villages. Then the road was wonderfully empty, passing the Ambelaki Moni (a convent we had visited on our motorbike last Easter). At Leondari we talked with a woman from Rotherham who was helping her mother-in-law with the goats. She had been out here for 10 years and said it was a hard life.

Finally, thankfully, we reached Megalopoli. We found the bike shop (where we'd once had a couple of motorbike spokes replaced) and bought 2 more cycle inner-tubes. It was bitterly cold outside and there was talk of snow. Across the street at the 'Pizzeria 4 Stagione' we ate our best Spaghetti Bolognese ever, with a thick cheese topping baked in the pizza oven. Then we inspected 2 small hotels (Pan and Paris), preferring the latter which had a nice warm room. It lacked a TV, so we missed our weekly episode of 'Chicago Hope' but slept well enough without it!

Day 8 88 km MEGALOPOLI – KRESTENA 6 hrs riding

Bright and dry at last, if cool. After shopping at the supermarket next to the Paris Hotel, it was a wonderful ride north to Karitena. We brewed up below its hill-top castle (as pictured on the 5,000 drachma note), overlooking the medieval bridge over the Alfeios, below the new bridge.

Then the road got harder, climbing (steeply at the end) to Andritsena, after 46 km. Very cold rain began to fall, both hotels were closed, but we eventually found a humble restaurant serving chicken and potatoes, with coffee brought from the next-door Kafenion. Fed and warmed, we set off for the next place with a hotel, 42 km further at Krestena, largely downhill.

The Hotel Athina was more up-market and expensive (too near Ancient Olympia), but there was no choice and it was a welcome sight for what should be our last night of the tour.

An easier day, sunny and dry with a cold wind from the north-east. We soon rejoined the New Nat Rd and rode north-west via Pirgos, stopping again at the Eurospar supermarket for their excellent coffee (only 150 dr each!). From there, we struggled against a head wind for 40 km until we turned off into Gastouni.

Here we lunched on burgers and chips in 'The Break', learning that we'd just missed our friends from Camping Aginara (it's Thursday, market day). We reached Ionion Beach early in the afternoon, to find all was well at our motorhome.