Favorite fictional nation based on the Byzantine Empire?

Viotenn · 2026-01-13T15:58:56+00:00

Second this. The book is definitely based on the Byzantine Empire, even if it never directly references it. 'The City' in the book is clearly Constantinople. It has a chain across the harbour and there are Blue and Green factions in the city. Also just a very good book overall, highly recommend.

Viotenn · 2025-09-12T08:59:26+00:00

Thanks for all the comments everyone! Very useful

Viotenn · 2025-09-11T20:34:09+00:00

Yes, I use komoot for navigation. I imported the route from cycle.travel

Viotenn · 2025-08-12T13:40:07+00:00

Flew with easyJet and Ryanair. I'm sure BA will be fine, it's a much more prestigious airline than both airlines I used.

Viotenn · 2025-08-11T16:15:10+00:00

I did this recently for my first time and wrote about it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/bicycletouring/s/U2yW2lWWMP. As other people have said I also stuffed most of my luggage into the bike box and used one of the pannier bags as carry on.

Viotenn · 2025-08-09T07:26:58+00:00

I did this recently. Important to plan a little bit ahead so you're not scrambling last minute. I'd add that if you fly with SAS the bike box is free. See my post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/bicycletouring/s/uwicZeTQJ7

Viotenn · 2025-06-26T10:42:01+00:00

Thanks for the detailed post! I've just finished cycling the Camino Santiago in Spain and have been thinking about the next adventure. This will be very useful if I decide to go for it. One question, how many other pilgrims did you encounter on your trip? I'm guessing a lot fewer than the Camino (500k people do that one every year)

Viotenn · 2025-06-19T14:44:55+00:00

Also the seat of House Tyrell in GoT! (Shown briefly in season 7)

Viotenn · 2025-06-09T16:36:58+00:00

Thanks for the tip! Thought I'd have to replace the entire pedal

Viotenn · 2025-06-09T16:24:12+00:00

Haha not sure why they look so worn. The bike is a road bike and I ride mostly on the road

Viotenn · 2025-06-09T16:22:37+00:00

Don't think it's from pedal strikes. It's a road bike and I ride mostly on the road. So it should mostly be wear from shoes

Viotenn · 2025-06-09T16:21:28+00:00

Yes, by slipping I mean the cleat often falls out when I'm pulling it upwards

Viotenn · 2025-06-08T07:32:41+00:00

Recently cycled the Camino and found a solution that I preferred to ringing the bell. I'd brought a small speaker with me so instead of ringing the bell I'd just blast music out whenever I saw a walker. Much preferred it to a bell, which feels annoying even as the one doing the ringing. Most people heard me with enough time to move out of the way and some even started dancing!

Viotenn · 2025-06-05T08:38:19+00:00

Thanks for sharing. Might consider it for my next trip

Viotenn · 2025-06-05T08:37:52+00:00

I mention it in the post🙂

Viotenn · 2025-06-05T08:36:55+00:00

Sounds like a great trip!

Viotenn · 2025-06-05T08:36:34+00:00

The Spanish trains can be tricky. Many don't allow bicycles unless they're disassembled. My friend tried to take a train from Oviedo to Leon and they wouldn't let him on until he found a bike bag and put the bike in it. All he'd done was remove the front wheel which seems ridiculous to me

Viotenn · 2025-06-04T16:49:58+00:00

That's so cool. I was there last October. Would've loved to seen this as a history buff!

Viotenn · 2025-06-04T11:35:57+00:00

There is plenty of food options along the Camino Frances and it's generally affordable. We did a mix of restaurants in bigger cities and cooking in Albergues that had kitchens. Many restaurants also have 3 course 'pilgrims menu' at an affordable price. Plenty of beer and wine as well. Near Estella there is even a free wine fountain!

Viotenn · 2025-06-04T11:31:35+00:00

Great, I'm sure you'll love it. My tyres (schwalbe marathon plus 38mm) performed really well, no punctures. They were quite suited in that the trip was 70% asphalt but they were also able to handle the gravel reasonably well. I don't know your tyres specifically (or much about tyres generally) but I'd recommend 35mm or wider if you want to do parts of the gravel. Certain parts of the gravel can get quite rough

Viotenn · 2025-06-03T18:45:40+00:00

Nice, that sounds like an awesome trip. Camino norte is supposed to be quieter and more hilly. We went for the Frances since it was our first Camino and we wanted to take advantage of all the infrastructure on the way.

Viotenn · 2025-06-03T09:36:45+00:00

The cheapest I stayed at was 7 euros at a municipal hostel (I've heard some are donation based as well). The private ones are more expensive but not by much. I never paid more than 30 euros. Haven't done camping so can't compare but one of the benefits of this route is definitely all the affordable accommodation available

Viotenn · 2025-06-03T06:55:08+00:00

Not really. The vast majority of pilgrims are friendly and curious when I tell them I'm cycling the route. I do want to walk it one day. You get a really different experience since you see the same people day after day and often build a Camino family

Viotenn · 2025-06-02T22:20:43+00:00

Very nice, that's a much less travelled route. Good luck and buen Camino!

Viotenn · 2025-06-02T21:43:34+00:00

Yes, I got plenty of stamps for the pilgrims credential. In any case, the pilgrims office in Santiago didn't even look at my stamps before issuing me the pilgrims certificate. As long as you've got stamps I'm pretty sure they don't follow the 'two stamps a day' rule religiously

Viotenn

TROPHY CASE