The Salt Path

A friend lent us a copy of The Salt Path, insisting that we would love the read although its 'Sunday Times bestseller' claims didn't appeal to me munch. However, once my partner read and enthused about Raynor Winn's writing and journey, I was encouraged to try this book for myself. I was pleasantly surprised to find I loved it too! Winn was inspired by 500 Mile Walkies by Mark Wallington which I know I've read too, but so long ago that even my Goodreads doesn't know about it. Left homeless and almost destitute by the unjust English legal system, the Winns' decision to walk one of Britain's most physically difficult paths seemed to be madness, but turned out to probably be the best choice they could have made.

Winn makes a lot of very good points about homelessness throughout The Salt Path, especially about the way non-homeless people react to those they perceive to be vagrants. Centuries of propaganda have taught us to fear and villify people who have nothing, almost as though their status is a contagious disease. Raynor and Moth swiftly learned that letting others assume they had sold their home and were walking by choice made them brave adventurers and an inspiration. Admitting the reality of their situation had people immediately shunning the pair like they were lepers. As I remember from reading Down And Out In Paris And London, by George Orwell, societal attitudes are one of the biggest barricades to homeless people pulling themselves back up and, despite the problem increasing rapidly over the past decade and it genuinely being something that can happen to pretty much anyone, but the most affluent.

Moth's grim health diagnosis was perhaps a stronger concern though and I was amazed by how much of a benefit the daily walking regime was to his supposedly irreversible condition. A keen walker myself, albeit generally in places with fewer hills than the South West Coast Path, I can also attest to the physical and mental benefits of walking, but to see the transformation in someone who could barely shuffle at the start of their journey, was incredibly inspirational. Both my partner and I are now harbouring vague ideas of a similar undertaking, even though we are put off by the tent camping hardships that Raynor and Moth tolerated. It's a rare hike now though that one of us doesn't point to a secluded hollow, suggesting that a little tent could discreetly be pitched there for a night.

Raynor's prose is wonderfully engaging and I loved her poetic flights as aspects of the natural world around them capture her imagination. I read the whole book quickly - too quickly as it turned out because I was sad to see it finish. I appreciated her humour throughout as well as her honesty in portraying the realities of their situation. Hopefully The Salt Path's popularity will have gone some way towards undermining homeless discrimination in the UK as well as encouraging people to experience for themselves the benefits of regular walking in natural spaces. I'm now actively keeping a lookout for Winn's follow-up work, The Wild Silence, and I wonder if the couple have met Simon Armitage yet?

Never has a book filled me with as much rage as the beginning of this book did, the injustice of it all is heart-breaking. Ray starts off explaining how a friend for years invests some of their money, it goes wrong and he leaves them as the fall guys. A disinterested judge working with a failed justice system will not accept a piece of evidence clearing them as it wasn't submitted correctly...absolutely ridiculous...they lose the farm they lived on that was their life. To make things impossibly bad Moth, her husband gets diagnosed with a terminal illness. Whilst hiding from the bailiffs they get inspired to walk the South West Coast Path, even though Moth has been told to take it easy and to not walk too far....it's only 630miles long.

The Salt Path...which I would have called "Old People Walking" :-)...is one of the most riveting books on walking I have ever had the pleasure to read, I found every excuse I could find to pick it up to read a few more pages. It is a spiritual journey, a trial to see how much the human body can endure, it raises awareness of homelessness which is far more prevalent than our lovely Government would have you believe. Ray and Moth experience first hand the reaction of people when they learn that they aren't backpackers but are in fact homeless, the fear in their eyes is instant. There are shocking scenes, there is a desperation that almost makes you cry and there is a sense of humour that is charming. They meet some brilliant characters on their walk, a favourite of mine was the man so happy to see a Peregrine Falcon.

This is the best book I've read in 2019, the writing is wonderful and the hope it gives the reader feels really profound. It hasn't inspired me to camp wild though, I'll have to walk between B&Bs on walks of this length. Pick this book up and check it out.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/11/13/the-salt-path-by-raynor-winn/

After losing their home and business, Raynor and Moth receive more bad news. Moth is diagnosed with CBD. There's nothing they can do for him. When hiding out from the bailiffs, Raynor spots a guide to walking to South West Coastal Path. What if they just walk? Leave what's left of their life behind, and live in a tent.

Why does nature writing have to come with a helping of personal tragedy these days? I felt thoroughly depressed reading the introductory paragraphs. Sometimes the tragedy is just an aside but it really is dominant throughout their whole walk. An anecdote can't go by without reminding the reader of their lack of money, homelessness or Moth's failing health.

I can't deny that life struck some hard blows one after another. Going on a long distance walk is one way of not dealing with it. Raynor uses this book to talk about the unfairness of legal aid reforms and the state of homelessness in Britain. She does come across a bit like she thinks she's better than other homeless people, but maybe that's just how you feel when it first happens.

It's all from Raynor's perspective, and it would have been good to know a bit more about what Moth thought about it all. He's the one with a degenerative disease after all, and it's all about Raynor's feelings. What about the trip made his symptoms better? Was it the exercise he was told to avoid? Ceasing his prescription medicine? Or simply the removal of stress?

I picked this up because I'd quite like to walk the South West Coastal Path one day, I've walked bits of it and it ends not too far from where I live. This book did not really inspire me. The bits about the culture or history were brief and felt inserted into the narrative.

I got a bit irritated with their attitude to money. I'm assuming they went from comfortable to nothing overnight, but there's a lack of self-awareness in the writing. £48 a week isn't a lot for two people to live off, but it will go a lot further if you don't buy lunch in tourist cafes. I appreciate the need for some high calorie food and occasional indulgences, but they had cooking equipment, they could have made cheese toasties instead of buying fancy paninis.

A lot of people will find this book inspirational, but I was more in the mood for a book about escape to the natural world, not the struggles of the real world, so it missed its mark with me at this time.