Bring nature into your home with the uplifting true story of the couple who lost everything and embarked on a journey of salvation across the windswept South West coastline. FROM THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR‘This is what you need right now to muster hope and resilience . . . a beautiful story and a reminder that humans can endure adversity’ Stylist’A beautiful book, it really lives up to … Stylist
’A beautiful book, it really lives up to the hype . . . an enjoyable, gentle yet moving read’ Pandora Sykes on The High Low
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Just days after Raynor learns that Moth, her husband of 32 years, is terminally ill, their home is taken away and they lose their livelihood. With nothing left and little time, they make the brave and impulsive decision to walk the 630 miles of the sea-swept South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset, via Devon and Cornwall.
Carrying only the essentials for survival on their backs, they live wild in the ancient, weathered landscape of cliffs, sea and sky. Yet through every step, every encounter and every test along the way, their walk becomes a remarkable journey.
The Salt Path is an honest and life-affirming true story of coming to terms with grief and the healing power of the natural world. Ultimately, it is a portrayal of home, and how it can be lost, rebuilt and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways.
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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, WINNER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY LITERATURE CHRISTOPHER BLAND PRIZE & SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2018 COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD & WAINWRIGHT GOLDEN BEER BOOK PRIZE 2018
GUARDIAN BEST BOOKS OF SUMMER
‘A beautiful, thoughtful, lyrical story of homelessness, human strength and endurance’ Guardian
‘Mesmerising. It is one of the most uplifting, inspiring books that I’ve ever read’ i
‘The most inspirational book of this year’ The Times
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The Salt Path follows a married couple who’ve faced catastrophe on a genuinely difficult journey walking the Southwest Coast Path. It’s a story about fortitude and possibility, about pain and healing, and true love of a sort you don’t see as often as you should, between two people who’ve spent a lifetime together and want more.
It didn’t make me want to walk the trail, but I did love armchair traveling with these two as they did. The author is an excellent writer with an eye for exquisite detail and understated portrayal of high emotion. So good!
Ray and her husband Moth have unexpectedly lost their home after a lengthy legal battle. Moth is then diagnosed with a rare terminal illness called corticobasal degeneration or CBD, and their income is reduced to £48 per week.
Instead of giving up on life, the couple decide to walk the 630 miles of the South West Coastal Path. They purchase a tent and cheap sleeping bags, and pack a minimum of clothing and necessities for the journey.
Despite the challenges of wild camping, a meager diet and tough walks, Moth’s symptoms start to improve.
The couple undergo both a physical and spiritual transformation as their journey continues amidst tourists enjoying an abundance of food but perhaps lacking in gratitude. The Salt Path reminds one of the important things in life.
The Salt Path is a memoir of a couple that has had tragedy knock on their door. Forced from their home and with a fatal diagnosis for him, the couple decides to walk the coast of England. The story is a great reminder to be grateful for what we have, a good lesson in how we perceive others, and the triumph of the human spirit to survive and thrive against adversity.
Wonderful book. Can’t recommend it highly enough!
I can’t imagine what it must be like to be made homeless, to be destitute and at the same time, learn that your husband has a terminal illness. That, for me, seems like too much for one person to bear and would surely come close to pushing one past breaking point
This is what happened to Raynor Winn and are the reasons for her and her husband, Moth embarking on a challenging hike with wilderness camping on The Salt Path, the coastal path that takes walkers around the sea edge of the counties of south-west England. Where most people would be shirking from a more difficult lifestyle, Winn embraces the unknown, immersing herself and Moth into nature, the elements and their unpredictability. In some ways, it seems a very strange thing to do, considering the circumstances and yet, for Winn and her husband, it is the making of them.
I liked this book very much. It was at risk of being samey as Winn charts her and Moth’s progress along the path and the set of unique obstacles they face but somehow, Winn manages to avoid this becoming a repetitive heavy read. They face the prospect of living on a shoestring; finding a place to pitch the tent night after night; dealing with the effects of Moth’s condition; seeking ways to escape the weather; keeping clean and discreetly disposing of natural waste, which is not always possible with early dog walkers.
Winn describes the natural environment so that you are fully aware of the sights and sounds around them, including natural encounters as well as those with other hikers and walkers on the path. There are instances of kindness and friendships made and I am sure that Simon Armitage must have benefitted from his mention in the book.
But there is also the judgement of others, one of the things that I found most interesting about the book. Raynor and Moth are essentially homeless and are on the path because they have nowhere else to go. They have a trickle of money which comes in regularly but is barely enough on which to subsist and they are worthy of respect, for not submitting to inertia or brooding as a result of losing their home. However, homelessness has a stigma and one of which they were regularly made aware.
A book which is testament to the power of the human spirit.
4.5 Stars. Bittersweet memoir about a couple who loses their home and receive an degenerative diagnosis all at once. With nowhere to go and no money, they decide to walk the 630 mile trail up the coast of Wales. The stories are sometimes hilarious and sometimes deeply sad as Moth, the narrator’s husband, begins succumbing to his disease. The story becomes hopeful and determined, eventually rising out of the despair they find themselves in. Just putting one foot in front of the other, no matter what, and hoping for the best doesn’t always work, but it can still be powerful. Ultimately, the story is about homelessness, people’s perceptions of it, and what “home” truly means. Uniquely insightful, heart-warming, tear-jerking, and hilarious. The narrator is clever and raw and always keeps the reader close. Remarkable memoir.
An amazing, inspiring book that motivates better than any highly acclaimed positive thinking coach.
“The Salt Path” is a story about the trip the author and her husband had made in order to escape homelessness, the loss of their cherished home they’d been investing all their time and efforts into for over 30 years, and the fear to lose the life itself. Not only did they have to fight the injustice of the court system, the betrayal of those they’d trusted, the financial difficulties, but, above all, they had to accept the news of Moth’s serious illness.
This is a story about will-power. And about the power of love. A lot of people seem to diminish the value of true love, they say it doesn’t exist. But “The Salt Path” shows how much the love and devotion of your life-partner can do to make your life not only better, but – possible.
I’ve read this book and took it very personally, since my own love story had started on the Coast Path, on the stony rocks of the Isle of Portland. My husband and me had walked miles along the island, had found all its secret small paths and coves. We had sunbathed on the rocks, looking at the Chesil Beach and watching people dive into the water between the rocks.
I heartily recommend this book to every memoir genre lover and to those, who need to find something to hold on to, while fighting against life’s troubles.
I’ve read it twice and will read it again. A story of hope when the whole world has failed you. Brilliant descriptions too.
‘Just days after Raynor Winn learned that Moth, her husband of thirty-two years, was terminally ill, they lost their home and livelihood.’
This was just the antidote I needed to 2020. Ray & Moth set out to walk the South West Coast Path, carrying only their rucksacks and camping wild along the way.
Their experiences are a moving indictment of attitudes towards age and homelessness (& how quickly we could all experience it) but also uplifting glimpses of the kindness of strangers.
Their story is so much more than that ‘though. This is an extraordinary account of enduring love, the beauty of nature, and the human capacity for resilience. For me, it lit a little flame of hope that even when the path is unclear sometimes it is enough to just keep putting one foot down after the other.
I loved this book and fell in love with the husband and wife. The book was inspirational, funny in spots, sad in others, but above all, it is real, a real memoir about real people on a real journey with an unpredictable end. Definitely worth reading and putting it at the top of your reading list.
Wonderfully written. Pictures painted with words! A very moving book.
The Salt Path is an amazing book, brilliant, 6 stars. Especially so because it is a true account of Raynor Winn’s unique and fascinating experience of living wild on the South West Coast Path with her husband, the huge misfortunes they suffered to come to such a living (from an idyllic and successful existence) – how unjust the law can be and treacherous friends. A tale of strength, reconciliation and resourcefulness and of getting to know another side of life and humanity and it seems that we are essentially not that different.
Ray and her husband walk away and keep walking, they bear their hardships and manage to find beauty in nature and friends along the path and to feel gratitude and then life opens up new possibilities, not going to give away any spoilers. Best book this year.Gillian Dance
Walk a mile in my shoes the saying goes and we do just that in this extraordinary and moving memoir. A couple in their fifties are made homeless and then there’s even worse news. Against advice and ill-prepared, they decide to walk the South West Costal Path. A poignant and life affirming true story.
An inspiring and life affirming read. When you are at your lowest ebb and all looks lost, life often has a habit of finding a positive response, however brief, however long; if you’re prepared to look for it. And this story demonstrates that in full. But I also loved the book, because I too love the South West Coastal Path. It is a key reason for living in Cornwall. It has much to inspire and fascinate along its way and it was great fun reading about the journey. I found it hard to put down.
For once, a bestseller lives up to its hype. This is a book of stories, as you would imagine the recounting of a journey would be. Of strange characters, dangers overcome, tender moments, against a background which, although short on facilities, is rich with breathtaking natural beauty. It made me want to get out there and reconnect with a foot-wide strip of soil that belongs to all of us, and with which too few of us are familiar.
This is such a wonderful, inspirational read. Ray and Moth, who have lost everything – home, possessions, even health – set out to walk the South West Coastpath, rough camping on the way, despite Moth’s deteriorating health. An object lesson in what’s really important in life – companionship, love, and memorable moments in time.