There are dozens of books out there about long-distance paths. Writers tell of battling storms, relaxing in cosy B&Bs, being chased by bullocks or delighting in wildlife encounters. They don’t usually face castigation from strangers or need to count out pennies to calculate whether they can afford to eat.
Homelessness and degenerative brain diseases don’t usually figure either. But these were the realities when Raynor Winn and her husband Moth started walking the South West Coast Path in 2013, an experience Raynor wrote about in her bestselling book The Salt Path.
For the previous 20 years, the couple had lived on a farm in the Welsh hills; it had been their beloved family home as well as their source of income. Then they lost it all in a legal battle. At the same time, Moth was diagnosed with a rare brain disease called corticobasal syndrome (CBS). Doctors advised taking things easy. So the couple, in their 50s, bought a cheap tent and set off on 630 miles of rugged cliff hiking along the famous National Trail.
The Salt Path tells of this journey, the hardships they experienced but also the glories of the landscape and nature’s redemptive powers when you have little choice but to put one foot in front of the other and focus on survival. Described by The Guardian as a “beautiful, thoughtful, lyrical story of homelessness, human strength and endurance”, the book’s life-affirming story has proved a big hit, selling more than two million copies worldwide.
That success has had a profound impact on the lives of Raynor and Moth. Not long after publication, an appreciative reader asked if they’d take on the rundown farm he owned near Fowey in Cornwall. Their experience of restoring the Georgian farmhouse and of nurturing the land to benefit wildlife forms the basis of Raynor’s second bestseller, The Wild Silence. With a third book under her belt – Landlines – and a fourth due out later this year, the couple now live on Cornwall’s Lizard Peninsula.
“Life couldn’t be more different,” says Raynor, describing the journey from losing their home to becoming a full-time writer and the subject of a new film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs. “Before walking the coast path, we lived on a small farm we’d restored from a ruin. That was our life: the building work, then letting it out to visitors, growing vegetables, keeping chickens and sheep, our children growing up and going to university… But then we lost that. That was the lowest point in our lives. We had nothing. We’d lost everything we’d worked so hard to build.”
And then came The Salt Path. She describes the publication of the book itself as “an absolute miracle”. It was intended only as a gift for Moth. “As the CBS progressed, he was losing his memories of the path. I just wanted to capture it for him.” She printed it off, tied it with string and gave it to him for his birthday. A gift for her teenage sweetheart that went on to inspire thousands of readers.
What were their favourite parts of the path?
Many of those readers have since walked the coast path themselves, and Raynor has a key piece of advice for anyone doing the trail in one go: start in Dorset, not Somerset. “All the guidebooks tell you to start in Minehead, but that coast – Exmoor and north Devon – is the toughest bit.” Exmoor National Park is home to the highest point on the trail, Great Hangman Hill, which looms 318m over the Bristol Channel. Walkers starting in Somerset reach it on day three or four. “If I were doing it again – and I’ve promised myself I will do – I would start in Poole, so that by the time I got to Devon, I’d be ready for it; I’d be able to appreciate the beauty of it rather than just feeling the agony. ”
By the time she and Moth passed from Devon into north Cornwall, the trail was beginning to change them. “One of my favourites stretches – and one I often go back to – is from Zennor round Land’s End to Porthcurno and the Minack. We reached Land’s End on a wild, stormy day, when the sea was rolling in and breaking over those beautiful, blocky granite cliffs. I remember there were fish flying in the air!” She throws her arms up to convey the power and energy of the scene.
“It was the most incredible place: a turning point in the land, but a turning point for us as well. Up until then, we could still have given up, but there, in that wild weather, just the two of us on the very edge of the land, we realised how much that path had given us. How much hope we’d got back – something we thought we’d never feel again.”
Did she help adapt the book into the film?
Aside from checking the script and visiting the set, Raynor had little input into the making of the film that tells the story of their months on the trail. Her face lights up as she recalls the moment when she learned Gillian Anderson – celebrated for her roles in The X-Files, The Crown, crime drama The Fall and many more on both stage and screen – was going to play her. “I was in the garden when I took the call. My immediate reaction was, ‘Oh, my God! She’s so glamorous!’ I went inside and told Moth, and he said, ‘I don’t know if that’s going to work.’” He’d thought she’d said Pamela Anderson of Baywatch fame.
The one thing Raynor did feel strongly about was geography. “It needed to be filmed on the coast path itself, because that, for us, was the whole point of the journey. It was like the third character – Ray, Moth and the coast path.” One location she felt worked particularly well was the Valley of Rocks near Lynton, a striking landscape where feral goats roam among rock towers perched on cliff edges. “I hadn’t been back there, so watching the characters, Ray and Moth, walking over the headland, wearing clothes similar to ours, same rucksacks, was like being shunted back in time. I felt this huge maelstrom of emotions like I’d experienced when we first walked the trail. It was unexpected and overwhelming; I had to stand back from the filming for a while and let it settle.”
What did she think of the film?
That rush of emotions returned again when Raynor first saw the film. “I ran out of tissues, that’s for sure!” she laughs in recalling her reaction.
“Gillian Anderson really embraced the role and Jason Isaacs was brilliant in the way he captured Moth. There were points when I looked away, then glanced back at the screen and, for a second, I thought it really was Moth. It was fantastic to see how they’d captured the essence of the path. It wasn’t just a route they were following; it was something that was almost embracing them. I thought that was beautifully done.”
She hopes other people will feel the power of the landscape when they watch the film – and the power of nature to transform lives. “But the biggest thing I hope they take away is that they see homelessness differently; if they walk out of the cinema and see somebody in a shop doorway, they see them as a human being with their own story rather than a statistic.” Raynor believes the book has already had an impact in this sense, but realises change won’t happen overnight. In one chapter, when she falls while trying to retrieve precious fallen coins, she is abused in the street as a “tramp” by a woman walking a dog. “We’re full of preconceptions of what homelessness is and about people who become homeless, so it’s a long journey to changing mindsets.”
The film should also raise awareness of CBS. This progressive, life-limiting neurological disease causes a gradual decline in movement, memory and speech. Raynor says the book has been quoted among physiotherapists and occupational therapists who understand the need for movement in treating the disease. When Moth was first diagnosed, though, he was told to avoid getting too tired and to be careful on stairs. “That’s understandable, as those with the condition do need to take the greatest care but, alongside that, maintaining muscle strength for as long as possible is vitally important.”
She hints that some of these issues will feature in her fourth book – as yet unnamed – due out in September. “It’s very much about our connection to nature – and the power of movement.” Researchers are investigating this, but further work needs to be done to link these studies and produce a more rounded approach to treatment.
What are Raynor and Moth doing now?
Last year, she and Moth walked part of the 185-mile Thames Path to raise money for PSPA, the charity that raises awareness, supports sufferers and funds research into CBS and progressive supranuclear palsy, a closely related illness. This gentler riparian ramble was a contrast to the coast path; it was more about seeing how people connected with this limited “artery of nature” and was also a response to Moth’s deteriorating health. “You’ve got to adapt to your strengths and weaknesses and not let those weaknesses stop you doing what you want to do. You can walk down a river instead of over the mountains, for example,” she adds, comparing the Thames Path with the subject of Landlines – a gruelling journey they made through the Scottish Highlands and down the length of England.
Meanwhile, Raynor’s rucksack is packed, ready for her next long-distance adventure. There’s a glint in her eye as she anticipates lacing up her walking boots again and opening herself to all the trail has to offer, but she’s unwilling to share more details. Maybe we’ll find out when she writes her fifth book.
The Salt Path will be released in UK cinemas on 30 May. The paperback book is published by Penguin Michael Joseph (£10.99).
Inspired by Raynor and Moth's journey? Why not try:
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Main image: Jason Isaacs, Raynor Winn, Moth Winn, Gillian Anderson on set at Valley of Rocks. Credit: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
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