The Salt Path. A Book Review.
- Claudia
- May 15
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 2
Inspirational. A beautiful account of two people's journey into the unknown. A journey no one could possibly imagine. The Salt Path was sad, funny, heartfelt, intriguing, informational, and so much more.
In The Salt Path, Raynor and Moth have had a turbulent few years: their house is being repossessed after a long legal battle, and Moth has been diagnosed with an incurable disease. Left with nothing, they decide to walk the South West Coast Path, because surely that's better than being stuck in a B&B for months, waiting for a council home to become available? Walking for months, meeting people from all walks of life along the way, and camping wild (because there’s no money for campsites), changes how they view life.
Life is now, this minute, it's all we have. It's all we need.
The Salt Path is an interesting mix of Raynor and Moth’s experiences walking the coastal path and facts about homelessness and the area they've covered – some of which will make you think twice (for example, whether you should be eating cabbage grown in Portreath!).
I reserved a copy of The Salt Path (on BorrowBox) after a family friend recommended it when she realised we lived on the Wales Coast Path – Thank you, Jolanda. She said it was an amazing read, and I must say, I’m happy she recommended it. I truly enjoyed Raynor’s writing. It was an effortless and enjoyable read. It's not a day-by-day diary; instead, Raynor covered the events that shaped them on the path and how they felt about their changing circumstances.
No one sits on a stool to milk a cow any more, especially in an open field. Then she waved at me. Oh fuck, she'd seen me squatting in her field.
Don’t get me wrong, The Salt Path isn’t a ‘I was walking, and I saw unicorns and rainbows' kind of story. It’s a true account of how the system failed Raynor and Moth, how desperation forced them onto a certain path, and how they found their way back to loving life and being able to picture a ‘happy’ future for themselves.
From the very beginning, it seemed they couldn't catch a break. Whether it was the judicial system failing them or how, when people learned they were homeless, they treated them differently. The Salt Path gives you a lot to think about.
'So how come you've got so much time? I wish I had that much.' 'We're homeless. We lost our home and we've nowhere to go, so just walking seemed a good idea.' It came out of my mouth without a thought. The truth. But as the man reached out and pulled his child towards him and the wife winced and looked away, I knew I wouldn't be saying it again. He called for the bill and was gone in moments.
Now that I finished reading The Salt Path, I would love to find out what happened next; did their lives change for the better? Luckily for me, Raynor Winn wrote a follow-up book, so that's going on my TBR list.
You can find The Salt Path here.
In case you want to keep reading Raynor Winn's journey after finishing The Salt Path, here's a link to book 2: The Wild Silence.
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