Coffee & Chat with Raynor Winn

The Salt Path is the remarkable and life-affirming true story of one couple’s 630-mile journey around the South West Coast Path. It is a beautiful, powerfully honest and deeply moving memoir about overcoming adversity, the redemptive qualities of walking and nature, about survival, the meaning of ‘home’ and above all, about love.

In one devastating week, Raynor Winn and her husband Moth lost their home of 20 years, just as a terminal diagnosis threatened to take away their future together. With nowhere else to go, they decided to walk the South West Coast Path: a 630-mile sea-swept trail from Somerset to Dorset, via Devon and Cornwall.

This ancient, wind-battered landscape strips them of every comfort they had previously known. With very little money for food or shelter, Raynor and Moth carry everything on their backs and wild camp on beaches and clifftops. But slowly, with every step, every encounter, and every test along the way, the walk sets them on a remarkable journey.

The Salt Path is a piece of nature writing in the form of a memoir. Born out of extraordinary circumstances, this book gives insight to one woman’s journey that spans not only the entire South West Coast Path but also an emotional journey of redemption. In The Salt Path Raynor Winn allows us to discover the healing powers found in nature and the simple act of walking forward.

Since completing the South West Coast Path, Raynor Winn has become a regular long-distance walker and writes about nature, homelessness and wild camping. She lives in Cornwall with her husband Moth and their dog, Monty, still on the South West Coast Path. The Salt Path is her first book and it was published by Michael Joseph in March 2018.

• A Sunday Times Bestseller
• Shortlisted for the 2018 Costa Biography Award
• Shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize
• Shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Memoir Of The Year

“A beautiful, thoughtful, lyrical story of homelessness, human strength and endurance” Guardian

“Uplifting and inspirational” Woman & Home

“An absolutely brilliant story that needs to be told about the human capacity to endure and keep putting one foot in front of another.” 2018 Costa Biography Award Judges

“An astonishing narrative of two people dragging themselves from the depths of despair along some of the most dramatic landscapes of the country, looking for a solution to their problems and ultimately finding themselves.” Independent
“A remarkable and redemptive journey.” Financial Times, Summer Books of 2018

“The most inspirational book of the year… The Salt Path has reminded me to scape last year’s mud from my walking boots and get rambling again. I hope it has the same impact on millions of others.” Richard Morrison, The Times

“Beautiful, meditative book… An extraordinary testament to love, hope and resilience.” Greg Wise, actor and co-author of Not That Kind of Love

“An inspirational nature memoir for fans of H is for Hawk about losing everything and finding yourself between the elements of sea and sky.” Waterstones

“A fabulous read, inspiring and life-affirming… It is a hymn to the power of love, sea-air and the natural beauty of Cornwall to heal and nurture. It’s an absolute joy.” Cornwall Life