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.