The Album That Followed Me Around the World

Hey from Nottingham!

Once again this week, I’ve been reminded of the power of experience. A couple of days ago, Mrs R and I took my parents to see one of my favourite bands at the Rescue Rooms, a small venue here in Nottingham. They’re called Stornoway, and they play folk music inspired (mostly) by nature.

The album that followed me around the world

I first heard them at Glastonbury Festival in 2011 and bought their first album, Beachcomber’s Windowsill, soon afterwards. Over the following years, that album came with me all over the world. I can still distinctly remember walking through the streets of Mumbai with it playing on my headphones.

They’ve released several other albums since, and they’re all good, but none has affected me in quite the same way as that first one. A lot of its songs are about a young man making sense of the world, growing up and finding his way into and out of relationships, which clearly resonated with me at the time.

But there’s more to it than that, and it isn’t really down to the band at all. When I hear that music, some part of me remembers the young man I was in 2011, standing half-drunk on scrumpy cider in the Glastonbury sunshine. Maybe, in that sense, it isn’t about the music at all. It’s about the memory of being there.

So after the gig, I couldn’t resist rushing to the merch stand, buying a copy of that first album and asking the band to sign it. In a way, I felt I owed it to my younger self.

Of course, the band will never know how many times I’ve listened to it over the years, although I did try to explain in the few moments it took them to sign it.

The books that stay with you

I suppose books work in much the same way. Sometimes a story simply fills a few hours, but other times it means a great deal more than that. Once you’ve read it, it becomes a touchpoint in your life. And sometimes, really, there’s no knowing which books will become those that stay with you.

I’ve been wondering whether the same will be true for the readers who shared our adventure in Lisbon in October 2026. As we walked through the Templar castle at Almourol together and scrambled through the grottos beneath Quinta da Regaleira, I realised that the story had stepped off the page and become something we’d all lived together.

I know that years from now, when I reread The Templar Enigma, I won’t just see the story. I’ll find myself back there with those smiling faces, standing between the castle walls in the sunshine.

That, I think, is the real power of experience. It’s bigger than any object, even though the object, like a signed album or a well-thumbed book, can carry you straight back to it.

Which is exactly why we’re doing it all again.

Our next Adventure Society Expedition

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The Adventure Society is my weekly newsletter. It’s your chance to travel to the places that inspire my stories, explore the real-world mysteries, and be the first to know when a new book is ready. So if you fancy stepping into the setting of one of my books with us in person, join the Adventure Society.