Over the space of a long weekend, Ray and Moth find themselves homeless, penniless and poleaxed by Moth’s terminal illness diagnosis. Rather than resign themselves to the benefits system and emergency temporary housing, they decide to walk the South West Coastal Path as homeless hikers, wild camping with the cheapest and most basic equipment and a maximum budget of £48 per week. They conquer the Minehead to Plymouth stretch before taking a winter break earning their keep on a friend’s farm, returning to Poole for the second leg in spring.
Raynor’s memoir is beautifully written, balancing pain, hunger and hardships with humour, hope and the kindness of strangers. I could feel the horizontal rain slicing my cheeks and the scorching sun stripping my skin. The descriptions of the landscape, flora and fauna, kaleidoscopic sunrises and sunsets made me see places I’ve visited before in a completely different light and to never take toilet facilities for granted.
“My thumb ripped through the waist of my leggings in the rush as I squatted behind the spikey sharp gorse with as much relief as Renton in the toilet scene of Trainspotting. Dog walkers. What is it about dog walkers?”
Their courage, resilience and determination shines through while the abusive, derogatory comments directed at them based solely on appearance and misconceptions highlights the plight of the homeless, treated like lepers or shrouded in a cloak of invisibility, misunderstood and unprovided for.
Inspirational, motivational and moving, The Salt Path is a lesson to us all. ( )

In the space of a week, Raynor Winn and her husband Moth were dealt two staggering blows. First, they lost their home in a court case concerning a business deal gone wrong. Then, just five days later, Moth was diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration, a slow-moving but incurable neurological disorder that would lead to dementia and also affect his mobility. With nowhere to live, a ruined credit history, and no job prospects, the couple decides to walk England’s 630-mile South West Coast Path, camping along the way. The route is extremely difficult, especially at the beginning, and they soon find they cannot afford even the most basic campsite, let alone decent meals.

And yet they manage, one day at a time. Surprisingly, the walk’s physical demands actually improve Moth’s condition, giving him new strength and vitality. They learn how to manage their daily needs with the very minimal government support that regularly lands in their bank account, often making difficult trade-offs. They occasionally benefit from the kindness of strangers, but more often are poorly treated by people and systems that cannot handle homelessness.

While their journey includes a lot of stress and grief, over time Raynor and Moth begin to envision a future for themselves and develop a plan, made possible by their strong commitment to one another and a fortunate chance encounter. ( )

A long distance walk undertaken by Ray and her husband when everything that possibly could go wrong in their lives had gone wrong. They'd lost the home which they'd lovingly built up over many years, their livelihood, and in Moth's case, his health. He'd just been diagnosed with a rare and terminal degenerative disease. They were the wrong side of 50 years old.

They decided, in one sense, to walk away from their problems. To walk the South West Coast Path. They equipped themselves on a minuscule budget with no experience on their side, and set off. Theirs was a new life of wild camping, few opportunities and little money to be well nourished. Dirty, unkempt and always hungry they survived, and increasingly thrived. Overwintering thanks to a friend who offered accommodation in return for physical work, they accomplished the second part of their journey in the spring, and by the end they had a plan, and a piece of luck.

This is part travelogue, including atmospheric writing about the terrain the pair tramped over: but mainly an account of the journey towards a new life of couple who rose above destructive and unimaginable adversity and found a new way towards their future. ( )

Raynor Wynn through some bad circumstances ended up homeless. Her husband Moth was terminally ill, and their friends and family were struggling too so they could only stay at homes short term. As their life came unglued and everything, they worked for was taken away, Raynor and Moth took all they could carry or afford and walked the Salt Path. The path is 630 miles long and is above the ocean and follows the South West Coastal Path and the English Channel. With a favorite guidebook, and the tiny bit of money they could get every few weeks for food, they pushed on. This journey is a metaphor for life that when the worst happens all you can do is put one foot in front of the other and move through it. There are lessons here, surrounded by beauty and the goodwill of some people they met along the way. There is ugliness too by some people and their preconceived judgement of homelessness. It’s not a long book only 270 pages. I couldn’t stop reading it sometimes crying, sometimes laughing always wondering where their journey would end. Hoping that Moth’s health would hold out and a miracle would arrive to give them hope. I just ordered her next book too. ( )

DNF. Just found the beginning too annoying. Instead of compassion for their plight, I was cranky about the decisions they chose. ( )