About the Book
In one devastating week, Raynor and her husband Moth lost their home of 20 years, just as a terminal diagnosis took away their future together. With nowhere else to go, they decided to walk the South West Coast Path- a 630-mile sea-swept trail from Somerset to Dorset, via Devon and Cornwall.
This ancient, wind-battered landscape strips them of every comfort they had previously known. With very little money for food or shelter, Raynor and Moth carry everything on their backs and wild camp on beaches and clifftops. But slowly, with every step, every encounter, and every test along the way, the walk sets them on a remarkable journey. They don't know how far they will travel, but - to their surprise - they find themselves on a path to freedom.
The Salt Path is an unflinchingly honest, inspiring, and life-affirming true story about coming to terms with grief and the healing power of nature. Ultimately, it is a book about home, and how it can be lost, rebuilt, and rediscovered in the most unexpected of ways.
About the Author :
Farmer's daughter Raynor Winn worked as a trainee clerk in a magistrate's court, while studying for a law degree in her spare time, until she traded in her urban life to acquire and restore a ruined farm in Wales. The farm became her home and her business for 20 years. Since her homeless period, she has become a regular long-distance walker and has written about her homelessness for Big Issue and Pavement magazines. A prolific reader and lifelong nature lover, Raynor now lives in Cornwall with her husband Moth and their dog. The author and her husband are planning further extreme walks.
Review :
A beautiful, thoughtful, lyrical story of homelessness, human strength and endurance
An astonishing narrative of two people dragging themselves from the depths of despair along some of the most dramatic landscapes in the country, looking for a solution to their problems and ultimately finding themselves.
A gem of a book
This is what you need to read right now to muster hope and resilience. A beautiful story and a reminder that humans can endure adversity
Ray's account of their incredible journey is a tale of triumph, of hope over despair
The landscape is magical, shape-shifting seas and smugglers' coves; myriad sea birds and mauve skies . . . It's a tale of triumph: of hope over despair; of love over everything . . . home was no longer about bricks and mortar. It was a state of mind
An inspirational nature memoir for fans of H is for Hawk about losing everything and finding yourself between the elements of sea and sky
The Salt Path is a life-affirming tale of enduring love that smells of the sea and tastes of a rich life. With beautiful, immersive writing, it is a story heart-achingly and beautifully told.
The most inspirational book of this year . . . In some ways The Salt Path reads like the ultimate drop-out odyssey, except that this journey isn't a life choice . . . What the book chiefly conveys is the human capacity for endurance and the regenerative power of nature . . . The Salt Path also serves as a reminder that Britain is a land criss-crossed by footpaths and that we take this 140,000-mile national glory for granted at our peril . . . The Salt Path has reminded me to scrape last year's mud from my walking boots and get rambling again. I hope it has the same impact on millions of others.
Moving and beautifully evocative
Uplifting and inspirational
An exquisite piece of writing
A remarkable and redemptive journey
This beautiful, meditative book should give us all a sense of our possible braveries: offering us an answer to the "what if?" questions - "what if we lost absolutely everything, what would we do?" . . . An extraordinary testament to love, hope and resilience.
A fabulous read, inspiring and life-affirming. If you're not already walking the coastal path, this book will make you want to set-off immediately. It is a hymn to the power of love, sear-air and the natural beauty of Cornwall to heal and nurture. It's an absolute joy
What an absolutely glorious and moving book. It deserves all its praise!
A triumph of love and hope and giving oneself up to the healing power of nature. Beautifully written with vivid imagery, what a heart-warming and glorious read
You lost me a whole night's work. This is a great read.
A beautiful ode to how nature can soothe and inspire hope with every step . . . this book is really special
Mesmerising. It is one of the most uplifting, inspiring books that I've ever read
Filled with wry humour, this is a wonderfully uplifting and touching book
This is a wonderful, heart-gladdening, life-affirming read. It will make you want to walk. What a gem.
The Salt Path broke my heart and put it back together again over and over. Beautiful writing, and such a sharp eye - both for nature and for people. It's hopeful and sad and honest and I LOVED it.
Harnesses the wildness of rock, sky and coastal walking in life-affirming prose
Radiant, soaring, heartstring-tugging
A remarkable account of the healing power of landscape and the resilience of the human spirit. I felt the rain on my face and heard the waves pounding on the sand.
Inspirational
The Salt Path pummelled me like Atlantic winds. It carried me along on a rain-soaked, sun-burnt, despair-infused, hope-driven walk. The writing is at times raw, poetic, funny, shocking. It is consistently honest, vulnerable, clear. I finished the book reminded of the importance of really hearing people's stories, of the healing power of the natural world, and of our individual and collective now.
A thoughtful, lyrical story of homelessness, strength and endurance
A moving true story
By turns inspirational and horrifying . . . [Winn] writes with a detail and a joy that tugs at the reader, lifting this beyond a mere travel memoir and all the privations and hardship to be something truly meaningful
Beautiful, sad, erudite and uplifting
An uplifting tale
Vivid . . .This is a book essentially about hope, but also about sheer gritty determination not to give in, to survive extreme discomfort, danger and sometimes disillusionment
An inspirational true story
It's a heart-warming, heart-wrenching story, told by Raynor in vivid yet plain prose. There are so many wonderful passages
Raynor's writing is beautiful. It's a heart-wrenching read at times, but you won't be able to put it down
We walk with Ray and Moth every step of the way, sharing the hunger, exhaustion, blazing heat and freezing rain in an account that is both lyrical and inspirational
An extraordinary memoir - moving, funny and uplifting
An inspirational and lyrically observed memoir on the regenerative power of walking in nature, as well as a reminder that material things are much less important than we sometimes think. If you love the landscape of the British coastline and are drawn to the philosophies of mindfulness and minimalism, this is a moving and reflective book to read during a break from your everyday life
A life-affirming story that examines grief and the power of nature
Poignant . . . It's far from a book without hope, and you'll be with Raynor and Moth every step of their walk along the South West Coast Path
A heart-wrenching, inspiring tale of one couple's enduring love for each other in the face of calamity and of their accidental odyssey along England's South West Coast Path
This uplifting tale of happiness in the face of adversity
