Raynor Winn:  The Salt Path - An Uplifting true tale. 9780241349649. Michael Joseph/ Penguin Random House, Hardback

“The Salt Path” is one of the most inspiring books I have read in a very long time. A tribute to resilience, perseverance, love and the human spirit, it is also incredibly well written. I cannot believe this is Ray’s first book, so wonderfully written with raw honesty. I am not surprised this has become a Sunday Times bestseller.  

When Raynor Winn and her husband Moth (yes, that is his real name), both just 50, lose their farm in Wales, their savings and literally everything they own due to a bad business decision into a longtime friends firm, they find themselves homeless after court fights have failed, eating up their last resources. That is enough to bring most people to their knees. But within 7 days of the court order to evacuate their home, Moth is given a diagnosis of a terminal illness, an incurable rare neurological disorder which eventually affects muscles and all organ control.  With nowhere to go, social services having failed them and having to subside on a tax refund payment of 48 GBP a week for both of them, they make the impulsive decision to walk the South West Coastal Path hiking from Minehead to Poole, Somerset to Dorset, and Devon to Cornwell.

Weak, unfit, one of them in constant pain, with no prospects, they start putting one foot in front of another, battling backpacks, heat, sunburns, blisters, sore muscles, torrential rains, wind, cold and wild camping at night. Most week’s rice and noodles are their diet cooked on a camping stove.  Their unbelievable life story hooked me immediately; I hiked and suffered with them in spirit, sometimes not knowing how on earth they persevered.  What touched me the most was the love and bond between them, the only thing they had to fall back onto after being together for 32 years.  Having lost all material riches, this richness carried them through the worst moments and situations. It is a heart breaking story at times, life affirming, a tale of the healing power of nature and a testament to what humans can endure if there is love and belief. 

I really took them into my heart desperately hoping there would be a cure for Moth and a good life for them both.  The royalty payments for this book should help.