The good news is that The Riddle of the Sands is – like Kidnapped – both mappable *and* ‘re-playable’, so you can travel along with the book pretty much in real time. And this is a FANTASTIC landscape to travel through – scenic, challenging, strange; full of history, some troubled; full of people, mostly friendly.

I’ve decided, though, after some brief discussions with local sailors (in my terrible broken German – another issue in itself) that doing the whole trip by sail is fraught with difficulties. Yes, there’s the obvious obstacle of me not really being a sailor and not having a boat. These minor issues could be overcome.( I could buddy up with proper sailors out there and borrow or hire a boat, no problem.)

No, the bigger issue is the *weather*. If you don’t believe me, check out my Nordeney video:

Sometimes it’ll just not be possible or wise to set out just because the book says it’s time to go. Sometimes we won’t have the wind that Carruthers & Davies have. There may be occasions where we can’t moor exactly where we want to. I feel stupid for not having thought of these things before. It shows what a landlubber I am.

On the other hand, I do now feel very confident that there is a *fantastic* cycling & hiking holiday to be had following the RotS route from the coast, so I think for next year I might be on safer ground to simply buy a bike, name her Dulcibella and get going that way (subject to offers from sailors…)

Certainly, this trip has brought into focus something I kind of ignored with Kidmapped when I set out, but which has been itching away at me increasingly since then; chiefly, what am I expecting other people to do once a trail is blazed? Thanks to this trip I’m starting to think a lot more practically about the different kinds of tourist or ‘bookmappers’ I’d like to design my journeys for.

At the moment I think there are at least five categories:

• Real time full route bookmappers: these are people who want to travel exactly on the date as mentioned in a book, for the duration of the book, and travel in pretty much the same way as the characters in the book. (er… that’s just me then)
• Fair-weather/year round full route bookmappers: these are people who might want to travel the full route the book defines, but can’t do it on the precise dates mentioned in the book and might want to travel in a way that’s a bit more comfortable than described in the book.
• Part-time bookmappers (real time & fair-weather): these are people who can’t take the time out to do the whole trip but might quite like to do one bit of it – either as the book describes or in a more comfortable/practical mode.
• One day bookmappers (real time & fair-weather): these are people who are already planning or have a trip to a region covered in a book and fancy spending a day or two following a trail. Maybe it’s a family outing or something for a couple to do together.
• Armchair or bus-seat bookmappers (print & online): these are people who aren’t so interested in walking, cycling or sailing but just want to get into the book in a way that’s different – more digital, lively & shared. Maybe they’ve got the book on their smartphone and don’t want to just read it, but want to look at vids, listen to audio, check out maps, share comments, link to pics, location info, local history etc. Perhaps the smartphone app could inspire a trip, converting armchair bookmappers into part-time or one-day bookmappers.

What’s emerging for me by researching a second bookmapping project then is that instead of getting my rocks off thinking about type 1 & 2 people, I should really be sorting out what tools & materials (and ‘experiences’) I could be providing for the type 3, 4 & 5 people. So instead of being a digital storyteller, I’m becoming a package holiday designer and bespoke travel book publisher? Plus ca change – as the creative thinking evolves and the technology changes, so the business models shift. Like the sands.