The Salt Path

{{Short description|2018 memoir by Raynor Winn}} {{about|the book|the film |The Salt Path (film)}} {{good article}} {{Use British English|date=April 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}} {{Infobox book | name = The Salt Path | image = File:The_Salt_Path.jpg | caption = | author = Raynor Winn | cover_artist = Angela Harding | country = England | language = English | subject = | genre = Memoir, travel, nature writing | publisher = Penguin Books | pub_date = 2018 | pages = 274 | awards = RSL Christopher Bland Prize | isbn = 978-1-405-93718-4 | oclc = | congress = | followed_by = The Wild Silence }} '''''The Salt Path''''' is a 2018 memoir, nature, and travel book by Raynor Winn. It details the long-distance walk along the South West Coast Path, in South West England, by Winn and her husband, Moth, after they lost their home, and Moth was diagnosed with fatal corticobasal degeneration (CBD). It deals with the theme of homelessness and the nature of home in the face of the unpredictability of life. It was shortlisted for the 2018 Wainwright Prize and the Costa Book Awards, and won the 2019 RSL Christopher Bland Prize. A 2024 film adaptation of the same name has Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs in the lead roles.

Some background events central to the premise of the book were disputed following an investigative piece in July 2025 by ''The Observer'', which stated that Winn lost her home after stealing £64,000 from her employer, and cast doubt on her husband's diagnosis of CBD.<ref name="Hadjimatheou 2025"/> Raynor has since denied these claims and said she was taking legal advice.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 July 2025 |title=The Salt Path: Raynor Winn hits back at claims she misled readers |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89eq12qvl5o |access-date=9 July 2025 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref name=statement9july />

== Book ==

=== Narrative ===

{{Quote box| |quote = I ... shivered inside the one-season super lightweight sleeping bag. Morning didn't come soon enough, and I was out moving as quickly as I could. But not as quick as a hairy Labrador/spaniel/terrier that dived through the sand, knocked the water off the stove and jumped into the tent, rummaging through the bags. Moth sat up as the hairball leapt all over him.   'There's no food in here, mate.'   He bounded out again chasing his master's whistle, skidding sand behind him.   'It's not a campsite, you know. You can't camp here. It's disgusting, sleeping in public.'   'Yes, good morning, lovely day again.'   The dog owner stomped on, as the hairball bounded after him. |author = Raynor Winn |source = ''The Salt Path'' |width = 32.7% |align = right }}

Raynor Winn (Ray) and her husband Moth, diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration (CBD), become homeless. They had invested a "substantial sum" in a company owned by a friend. When the company failed, leaving unpaid debts, the friend insisted they were liable for payment and took them to court. Unfamiliar with court processes and unable to afford a lawyer, they lost their case and their farm in North Wales.

Homeless and penniless, and with their weekly tax credits as their only source of income, they decide to walk the {{convert|630|mi|adj=on}} South West Coast Path. They discover that a rucksack feels a lot heavier when you are fifty than when you are twenty. They buy cheap rucksacks to replace their own antique ones.

They take cheap sleeping bags, a light tent from eBay, thin waterproofs, a lot of instant noodles, and hardly any money. The first night, on the edge of Exmoor, they take half an hour to put up the tent. The next day, aching all over, Ray develops an enormous blister, and they treat themselves to the only cream tea on the trip.

Another day, desperate for cash, they try to find a cash machine in a pretty village. Moth is mistaken for the poet laureate, Simon Armitage, who is also walking the path somewhere, and treated with humour when he denies it.

Gradually they learn how to cope with the vagaries of a long-distance walk, hills, heat, cold, rain, navigation, and the curious people, landscapes, and wildlife they encounter as they go. The hard exercise somehow helps with Moth's stiffness.

One night they stay in a campsite run by a ragged bearded man who takes pity on their aches and pains and gives them something to smoke that fills them with relaxed bliss. Walking past the outdoor Minack Theatre, and surprised by the crowds, they are given tickets by a couple in a Land Rover.

After the first section of the walk, Ray takes a job wrapping sheep fleeces, something she had done on a small scale on her farm. She finishes the intense first day's work covered in green slimy lanolin from the wool, her arms aching, and gets up at 5:30 am the next day to do the same.

On the last day, after walking the whole path in two sections, in two successive summers, they meet a stranger who offers them the tenancy of a flat, right where they are, at Polruan.

=== Route ===

Moth and Ray Winn walked westwards from Minehead, Somerset, via Exmoor and the north coasts of the counties of Devon and Cornwall to Land's End. From there they walked eastwards along the south coasts of Cornwall and Devon but stopped with her sister. The following year they started at the end point (Poole in Dorset) and walked westwards back to Polruan where they completed the walk.

{{overlay |image = Salt Path Winn 2018.png |width = 800 |height = 500 |overlay = no |legend1title = Map of Moth and Ray Winn's journey along the South West Coast Path |legend1start = 1 |legendbox = yes |overlay1form = image |overlay1colour = green |overlay1 = Minehead |overlay2 = Combe Martin |overlay3 = Westward Ho! |overlay4 = Hartland |overlay5 = Bude |overlay6 = Tintagel |overlay7 = Padstow |overlay8 = Newquay |overlay9 = St Ives |overlay10 = Land's End |overlay11 = Penzance |overlay12 = Kynance Cove |overlay13 = Falmouth |overlay14 = Gorran Haven |overlay15 = Polruan |overlay16 = Plymouth |overlay17 = Salcombe |overlay18 = Brixham |overlay19 = Dawlish Warren |overlay20 = Sidmouth |overlay21 = Lyme Regis |overlay22 = Weymouth |overlay23 = Lulworth |overlay24 = Poole }}

=== Publication ===

The book was first published in hardback by Michael Joseph in 2018, and in paperback by Penguin Books in 2019. It has original cover artwork (''Cornish Path'') in woodcut style by printmaker Angela Harding.{{sfn|Winn|2019|loc=Back matter}} Harding told the NHBS (formerly the Natural History Book Service) conservation group that the artwork was based on her own personal experience walking the South West Coast Path and camping in Cornwall when she was younger.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ketley|first=Hana|date=26 October 2021|title=Author Interview with Angela Harding: A Year Unfolding|url=https://www.nhbs.com/blog/author-interview-with-angela-harding-a-year-unfolding|work=NHBS|access-date=14 February 2025}}</ref> The text is accompanied by an outline map of the South West Coast Path showing the main towns along the route.{{sfn|Winn|2019|loc=Front matter}}

=== Translations ===

In 2019 a Dutch translation by Annemie de Vries was published under the title ''Het zoutpad – over oude wegen naar een nieuw begin'' ("The Salt Path – along old ways to a new beginning").<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.avontuuropreis.com/het-zoutpad-door-raynor-winn/ |title=Het Zoutpad door Raynor Winn |date=3 March 2024 |website=Avontuur op reis |language=nl}}</ref> It has been translated into many other languages including Bulgarian (''Соленият път'', {{ISBN|9789542848202}}), Italian (''Il sentiero del sale'', {{ISBN|9788807034664}}) and Slovenian (''Prežeta s soljo'', {{ISBN|9789619451182}})<ref>{{cite web |title=The Salt Path: Editions |url=https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/59753071-the-salt-path?per_page=100&utf8=%E2%9C%93 |publisher=Goodreads |access-date=10 July 2025}}</ref>

== Reception ==

=== Praise ===

Sam Wollaston, writing in ''The Guardian'', comments that the story "sounds very gloomy. The book isn't though, nor its writer."<ref name="Wollaston 2018"/> Instead, the book is "funny, sometimes uplifting", as it weaves its story around the boundary between life and death.<ref name="Wollaston 2018">{{cite news |last=Wollaston |first=Sam |title='Nature was my safe place': Raynor Winn on homelessness and setting off on a 630-mile walk |work=The Guardian |date=6 December 2018 |url=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/dec/06/home-is-a-state-of-mind-you-dont-need-walls |access-date=28 April 2024 }}</ref> P. D. Smith, reviewing the book in the same paper, writes that "Their journey is filled with as many ups and downs as the undulating cliff-edge route."<ref name="Smith 2019"/> Smith adds that the "wonderfully uplifting and touching" book is full of "wry humour".<ref name="Smith 2019">{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=P. D. |title=The Salt Path by Raynor Winn review – walking to freedom |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/07/the-salt-path-raynor-winn-review |work=The Guardian |date=7 February 2019}}</ref>

''Kirkus Reviews'' notes "Many people's uncharitable reactions to their homeless state—one would think they were lepers"; but that there were equally often "unexpected gestures of generosity".<ref name="Kirkus 2018"/> It comments that Winn's prose is at the outset "mercurial", taking time to "settle down and achieve simplicity and clarity of observation".<ref name="Kirkus 2018"/> The review expresses doubt about the credibility of some of the "vignettes" describing coastal nature and "the enchantment of moments in the wild", but suggests that these will be forgotten as the reader comes to "admire the couple's fortitude and resiliency."<ref name="Kirkus 2018">{{cite web |title=[Reviews] The Salt Path: A Memoir |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/raynor-winn/the-salt-path/ |publisher=Kirkus Reviews |access-date=28 April 2024 |date=12 November 2018}}</ref>

Canon Mike D. Williams of Exeter Cathedral writes that the book is made by the quality of its writing, and the stories of the people that Ray and Moth meet: "Those who treat them as tramps, those that show kindness and generosity."<ref name="Williams 2024"/> He notes how Moth several times shares his "meagre rations" with other hungry and homeless wanderers. The book is, he writes, about the coast path and its people, but its central theme is "the courage, resilience and grit of two people who, out of love for each other, keep putting one foot in front of the other."<ref name="Williams 2024">{{cite web |last1=Williams |first1=Mike D. |title=Book Review: The Salt Path by Raynor Winn |url=https://www.exeter-cathedral.org.uk/news-events/latest-news/book-review/ |publisher=Exeter Cathedral |access-date=28 April 2024 |date=5 January 2024}}</ref>

The neurologist Rhys Davies, in ''Advances in Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation'', comments that the journal did not often review bestselling books, "still less travel books", but adds that ''The Salt Path'' has "a neurological twist", given Moth's diagnosis of corticobasal degeneration.<ref name="Davies ACNR"/> Mentioning the value of laughter as "the best medicine", he describes the core theme of the book as a demonstration of "the indomitable human spirit".<ref name="Davies ACNR"/> He finds the Winns presented a "compelling (if not scientifically irrefutable) case for the benefits of positive action and of physical therapy, even for the ghastliest of neurodegenerative conditions."<ref name="Davies ACNR"/> He recommends the book as a "feel good" read for clinicians, and its positivity as being potentially beneficial for patients diagnosed with terminal neurodegenerative conditions.<ref name="Davies ACNR">{{cite web |last=Davies |first=Rhys |date=13 April 2020 |title=The Salt Path |url=https://acnr.co.uk/book-review/the-salt-path/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250223232710/https://acnr.co.uk/book-review/the-salt-path/ |archive-date=23 February 2025 |access-date=12 February 2025 |website=Advances in Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation |publisher=Advances in Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation Volume 19 Number 3 |pages=23 |issn=1473-9348}}</ref>

=== Disputed narrative ===

Chloe Hadjimatheou, writing in ''The Observer'' in July 2025, wrote that some of the events in ''The Salt Path'' were not factually accurate. Ros Hemmings, the wife of Raynor Winn's former employer, stated that Winn, whose name at that time was Sally Walker, had embezzled money from the Hemmings family company run by her husband. Winn borrowed money from a distant relative, partly to repay the Hemmings' company. The loan was secured against her house. The loan was later transferred by the relative to a third party and she was sued for repayment. In addition, she had a mortgage against the house; the loan and the mortgage together were worth more than the house, and it was repossessed.<ref name="Hadjimatheou 2025"/> Hadjimatheou reported that the new owner of the Winns' house had received debt collection letters and bills "addressed to Sally and Tim Walker".<ref name="Hadjimatheou 2025"/> She reported that the "nine neurologists and researchers specialising in CBD" she spoke to "were sceptical about the length of time he has had it, his lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them".<ref name="Hadjimatheou 2025">{{cite news |last=Hadjimatheou |first=Chloe |title=The real Salt Path: how the couple behind a bestseller left a trail of debt and deceit |url=https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-real-salt-path-how-the-couple-behind-a-bestseller-left-a-trail-of-debt-and-deceit |work=The Observer |date=5 July 2025}}</ref>

In response to the ''Observer'' article, Winn stated that the report was "highly misleading", and said she was taking legal advice.<ref name=mcintosh7july>{{cite news |last=McIntosh |first=Steven |title=The Salt Path author defends herself against claims she misled readers |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2z0707mlgo |work=BBC News |date=7 July 2025}}</ref><ref name=mcintosh9july>{{cite web |date=9 July 2025|last=McIntosh |first=Steven |title=The Salt Path: Raynor Winn hits back at claims she misled readers |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89eq12qvl5o |access-date=9 July 2025 |website=BBC News}}</ref> Penguin Books stated that it had done "all the necessary due diligence" before publishing the book.<ref>{{cite news |last=McIntosh |first=Steven |title=Penguin says it did 'all necessary due diligence' with The Salt Path |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89eqpk9pjvo |work=BBC News |date=9 July 2025}}</ref> On 9 July 2025, she issued a statement online in which she contested ''The Observer''{{'s}} claims; she included copies of letters from Moth's doctors.<ref name="statement9july">{{cite web |last1=Winn |first1=Raynor |title=Statement |url=https://www.raynorwinn.co.uk/ |access-date=10 July 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250709192217/https://www.raynorwinn.co.uk/ |archive-date=9 July 2025 |date=9 July 2025}}</ref> Further articles in the ''Observer'' alleged that parts of the book misrepresented some of the people whom Winn met and wrote about in the book, and cast doubt on the veracity of her account. Via her lawyers, Winn responded by stating that she stood by her "honest account".<ref>{{cite news |date=3 August 2025 |title=The Salt Path: portrayals that left a sour taste |url=https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-portrayals-that-left-a-sour-taste |access-date=29 August 2025 |work=The Observer}}</ref>

After the ''Observer'' piece, other newspapers and journals discussed the book, and the wider question of truth in memoirs.<ref name="White Independent July 2025">{{cite news |last=White |first=Adam |title=When it comes to the Salt Path scandal, we only have ourselves to blame |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/salt-path-raynor-winn-allegations-b2786412.html |access-date=11 July 2025 |work=The Independent |date=11 July 2025}}</ref><ref name="Jones Spectator July 2025">{{cite news |last=Jones |first=Nigel |title=Why we wanted to believe The Salt Path |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-we-wanted-to-believe-the-salt-path/ |access-date=11 July 2025 |work=The Spectator |date=8 July 2025}}</ref><ref name="Knight Guardian July 2025">{{cite news |last=Knight |first=Lucy |title=Inside the Salt Path controversy: 'Scandal has stalked memoir since the genre was invented' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jul/10/inside-the-salt-path-controversy-scandal-has-stalked-memoir-since-the-genre-was-invented |access-date=11 July 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=10 July 2025}}</ref><ref name="Thomas-Corr July 2025">{{cite news |last=Thomas-Corr |first=Johanna |title=How the Salt Path fiasco happened — insiders on the crisis in publishing |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/salt-path-scandal-how-it-happened-raynor-winn-wn0rb7w5n |access-date=11 July 2025 |work=The Times |date=10 July 2025}}</ref> BBC News corroborated much of the detail in the ''Observer'' article.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dunstan |first1=Gemma |last2=Davies |first2=Greg |last3=Lloyd-Williams |first3=Ffion |date=19 July 2025 |title=Trusting The Salt Path author was our biggest mistake, family says |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80p2pzgpmgo |access-date=19 July 2025}}</ref> Amelia Fairney, a former communications director at Penguin Books, argued in ''The Observer'' that publishing often favours profit over truth, and compared Winn to American author James Frey, whose 2003 addiction memoir ''A Million Little Pieces'' was extensively fabricated.<ref>{{cite news |last=Fairney |first=Amelia |title=The Salt Path revelations should be no surprise to anyone in publishing |url=https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-revelations-should-be-no-surprise-to-anyone-in-publishing |access-date=12 January 2026 |work=The Observer}}</ref>

A documentary film, ''The Salt Path Scandal'', hosted by Chloe Hadjimatheou and based on her ''Observer'' investigation, was broadcast on 15 December 2025, on Sky Documentaries.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ewens |first=Hannah |title=The Salt Path Scandal: Everything we learn from new documentary, from the 'confession letter' to the bombshell tip-off |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/salt-path-scandal-raynor-winn-documentary-letter-gillian-anderson-b2885193.html |newspaper=The Independent |date=16 December 2025 |access-date=20 December 2025}}</ref>

== Awards ==

''The Salt Path'' was shortlisted for the 2018 Wainwright Prize,<ref name=penguin/> and the 2018 Costa Book Awards<ref name=penguin/> in the biography category. The Costa judges described it as "An absolutely brilliant story that needs to be told about the human capacity to endure and keep putting one foot in front of another."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.costa.co.uk/media/513661/full-book-awards.pdf|publisher=Costa Book Awards|title=2018 shortlists for all categories |date=22 November 2018|access-date=11 July 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123022921/https://www.costa.co.uk/media/513661/full-book-awards.pdf|archive-date=23 November 2018}}</ref> In May 2019 ''The Salt Path'' won the inaugural RSL Christopher Bland Prize.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rsliterature.org/2019/05/rsl-christopher-bland-prize-2019-winner-announced/|work=Royal Society of Literature|title=RSL Christopher Bland Prize 2019 – winner announced|date=29 May 2019|access-date=15 September 2022}}</ref> The book was a ''Sunday Times'' bestseller in 2018.<ref name=penguin>{{cite book |url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/309419/the-salt-path-by-winn-raynor/9781405937184 |publisher=Penguin Books |title=Raynor Winn {{!}} The Salt Path |date=31 January 2019 |access-date=15 September 2022}}</ref> In September 2019 it was the number one bestselling book in UK independent bookstores.<ref name=bookseller>{{cite news |last=Wood |first=Heloise |title=Raynor Winn's next novel revealed at Michael Joseph showcase |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/raynor-winns-next-novel-announced-michael-joseph-showcase-1089881 |work=The Bookseller |date=27 September 2019 |access-date=15 September 2022}}</ref>

== Impact ==

In March 2018, BBC News showed an item about Moth and Raynor Winn's journey from crisis to coastal path.<ref name="BBC video 2018">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-cornwall-43546949 |work=BBC News |title=How crisis led couple up the coastal path |date=28 March 2018}}</ref> By 2022, ''The Daily Telegraph'' reported that Raynor had sold over a million copies of her books. ''The Salt Path'' was followed by two more books, ''The Wild Silence'' (2020) and ''Landlines'' (2022).<ref name="Lytton Telegraph 2022">{{cite news |last1=Lytton |first1=Charlotte |title=Homeless, sick and facing bankruptcy: What became of The Salt Path couple: When their lives unravelled, Raynor Winn and her husband Moth went on an epic hike; a decade and two bestsellers later, they're still going |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/life/homeless-sick-facing-bankruptcy-what-became-salt-path-couple/ |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=28 August 2022}}</ref> ''The Wild Silence'' both continues the story, telling how the couple get the opportunity to rewild an old farm in Cornwall, and brackets ''The Salt Path'' with prequel detail of how they came to lose their farm.<ref name="Norris NYT 2021">{{cite news |last1=Norris |first1=Kathleen |title=No Longer Homeless or Hiking, Raynor Winn Is Still in Thrall to Nature |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/06/books/review/the-wild-silence-raynor-winn.html |work=The New York Times |date=6 April 2021}}</ref> In 2024, BBC News ran an item about the couple's intention to walk the 185-mile Thames Path to publicise Moth's neurological condition, corticobasal degeneration.<ref name="BBC News Thames Path 2024">{{cite news |title=Thames Path walk for couple raising awareness of rare condition |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-68725597 |work=BBC News |date=4 April 2024}}</ref>

Deborah Sharman, a social work educator at the University of Wolverhampton, compares and contrasts Winn's autobiographical account of homelessness with the work of Adam Burley, a clinical psychologist who focuses on homelessness in Scotland. Sharman remarks the Winns' social situation and their determination to avoid dependence on friends or "the system."<ref name="Sharman 2022">{{cite journal |last=Sharman |first=Deborah |title=Cuthill, Fiona (2019). Policy and Practice in Health and Social Care Number Twenty Seven/Winn, R (2018) The Salt Path |journal=Social Work Education |volume=41 |issue=5 |date=4 July 2022 |issn=0261-5479 |doi=10.1080/02615479.2021.1973355 |pages=1063–1065}}</ref> Sharman compares this choice to be independent to the relational approach to providing care by Burley. She states that he argues that the health care system itself appears "'phobic' about developing dependency, actively striving to make people independent and in so doing continues their isolation and inability to function."<ref name="Sharman 2022"/>

== Film adaptation ==

In 2023, a film adaptation was made, with Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs in the lead roles.<ref>{{cite news |last=Barnes |first=Dan |title=Gillian Anderson, Jason Isaacs filming Salt Path in Chepstow |url=https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/23604960.gillian-anderson-jason-isaacs-filming-salt-path-chepstow/ |work=South Wales Argus |accessdate=30 June 2023 |date=21 June 2023}}</ref> It premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September 2024<ref>{{cite web |title=TIFF Adds 20 More Movies To Lineup With 'Saturday Night', Jacob Elordi & Daisy Edgar-Jones' 'On Swift Horses', Max Minghella's 'Shell', 'Megalopolis' & More |website=Deadline Hollywood |first=Anthony|last=D'Alessandro |date=13 August 2024 |access-date=13 August 2024 |url=https://deadline.com/2024/08/toronto-film-festival-lineup-additions-2024-1236038779/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Schoettle|first=Jane|date=2024|title=The Salt Path|url=https://tiff.net/events/the-salt-path |work=Toronto International Film Festival |access-date=13 February 2025}}</ref> and was released in the UK on 30 May 2025.<ref>{{cite web |website=UK Cinema Release Dates | title=The Salt Path |url=https://m.filmdates.co.uk/films/1011046-the-salt-path/?cookiesAlert=close |access-date=23 January 2025}}</ref>

== References ==

== Bibliography ==

* {{cite book |last=Winn |first=Raynor |title=The Salt Path |publisher=Michael Joseph |date=2018 |isbn=978-0-2413-4964-9 |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Winn |first=Raynor |title=The Salt Path |publisher=Penguin Books |date=2019 |isbn=978-1-405-93718-4}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salt Path, The}} Category:2018 non-fiction books Category:British memoirs Category:British travel books Category:English-language non-fiction books Category:Hiking books Category:Memoirs adapted into films Category:Works set in England Category:2025 controversies Category:Literature controversies