John Millen, one of our most experienced UK walking guides, was moved to read The Salt Path when he heard author Raynor Winn talk on national radio about her inspiring journey walking the South West Coastal Path in England, at a time when one of John’s close friends happened to be walking the same route to combat depression. 

 

The Salt Path is a beautifully written, page-turner of a true story about a couple struggling to come to terms with their lives, who decide to go on a journey of self-regeneration by walking the South West Coastal Path in England. It’s about the state of the mind, the state of modern Britain, and the sometimes raw beauty of Devon and Cornwall.

Days after ‘Moth’ is diagnosed with a terminal degenerative disease and is told that he may only have a couple more years left in him, he and his wife Raynor are evicted from their home. The slightly overweight couple in their 50s have already lost their farm, business and all their money in legal costs and are now on the verge of homelessness. With the odds stacked against them, and against the wishes of their loved ones, they decide to walk 630 miles (1014kms) from Minehead in Somerset to Poole Harbour in Dorset on the South West Coastal Path, with only £115 in their wallet and a tax rebate income of £48 a week. They have so little money that the cream tea they splurge on on the second day is their first and last.   

This is not a guide book in the traditional sense, but explains the process of walking the path under the most primitive conditions, with minds haunted throughout by the what ifs? and what’s next?