Book Review - The Salt Path - Raynor Winn
In ‘The salt path’ just days after Raynor learns that Moth, her husband of 32 years, is terminally ill, their home and livelihood is taken away. 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.
They have almost no money for food or shelter and must carry only the essentials for survival on their backs as 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.
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone….
As usual in my book reviews, I try to crowbar in some words by well known hiker and wild camping enthuasist, Bob Dylan. These seemed a good opening salvo to begin with as Ray and Moth have only their backpacks and each other and decide on walking the South West Coast path because they have nothing else to be at. It turns into a journey of transformation, a story of redemption via nature.
Nature
As you’d expect, there’s a lot of ups and downs in this journey. Moments of oneness with nature then followed by spells where it looks like they have come to journeys end, especially when money is running short or winter is approaching. But all the time they’re surrounded by nature’s beauty, which Ray describes with wonderfully lyrical writing, especially the sea, always an ever present.
‘On a basic level, maybe all of us on the path were the same; perhaps we were all looking for something. Looking back, looking forward, or just looking for something that was missing. Drawn to the edge, a strip of wilderness where we could be free to let the answers come, or not, to find a way of accepting life, our life, whatever that was.
Or maybe just walking because they had nothing better to do.’
I was really struck by the difference the trip made to Moth’s health, as he has CBD, a degenerative, terminal brain disease. At the start he struggled but ultimately his health seems to miraculously recover. It of course highlight the restorative properties of nature, but also movement and having a purpose, putting one foot in front of the other.
I have two doctors – my left leg and my right leg – GM Trevelayn
There’s also the meditative aspect of the trip – after a while, the two become observers:
‘Our world was changing, the edges fading as our journey drew us on between sea, sky and rock. Becoming one with the wild edge we inhabited, our fetch redefined by the salt path we trod.’
It made me think of the camino de portueges, part of which I completed a number of years ago – I met peregrinos recovering from illness, others thinking of changing things in their lives and hoping for answers along the way. Some doing it simply for the exercise. But everyone on the same cobbled path, with the North Atlantic ocean on one side and the unspoilt Portugese countryside with it’s sleepy villages on the other
Everything is stripped back – with all your belongings on your back or body, you’re focused on moving. That evening, you’d hope for somewhere safe to sleep and a warm meal. Wake up and repeat. All the stuff you’d left behind in the real world, a lot of it seemed to drop away. It hadn’t, of course – you’d just gained a different perspectives on things.
(Why is it called the salt path? Honestly, I’m not too sure. It just seems to be an alternative name for the 630 mile South West Coast Path, that goes from Somerset to Dorset, via Devon and Cornwall. If anyone knows the answer, please let me know in the comments below. I thought it might have been an old supply/trading route.)
Homelessness
There’s also an ongoing thread about homelessness throughout ‘the salt path’, and the hostile reactions of some people along the way. Sleeping in public is disgusting, they were told on one occasion. It was also noticeable that moth gave some of his food away a few times – as usual it seems ‘Those with the least to give always give the most.’
It’s also funny; there’s the torrential rain on the tent that seems to start and stop quickly, and a perplexed Ray looks out of the tent to see a dog trotting away, or the co-ordinated attack by the seagull on a much prized pastie. Another recurring joke was the number of times Ray was disturbed by dog walkers whilst squatting in the morning.
They also meet some kind hearted people along the way, including some wise souls, one in particular who says ‘ ‘its touched you, its written all over you, you’ve felt the hand of nature. It won’t ever leave you now – you’re salted.’ And that’s something that the writer really gets across, how the journey has changed them and gave meaning to their lives.
I felt a bit fatigued by some of the descriptions in the latter stages but I thoroughly enjoyed ‘the salt path,’ with some wonderful passages of lyrical description and I found myself swept along by this story of a middle age couple who lose everything and, with one of them terminally ill, set out with no plan but manage to find something deep inside themselves by getting in touch with nature.
The Salt Path Summary
You’ll enjoy this if you like nature or travel writing, or just want to read a personal and inspiring story, that is beautifully written, about human strength and endurance.
Book review - The salt path by Raynor Winn
275 pages, Paperback
Published March 22, 2018 - Penguin