A Year of Reading: The Salt Path by Raynor Winn, reviewed by Katherine Roberts

Non fiction this month, and to celebrate summer we have two different books about walking the UK's South West Coast Path. This scenic 630-mile coastal route winds its way from Minehead in Somerset around the edges of Devon and Cornwall and finally along the Jurassic coast to Poole in Dorset. Despite living in a seaside town on the route, I confess I've walked very little of it, just a few miles of local footpath on my way to somewhere else. But, of course, books about walking the 'Salt Path' are rarely just about the walking.

The Salt Path
by Raynor Winn

Raynor Winn's The Salt Path has recently hit the big screen, although the book is worth seeking out too as the film version only covers part of the whole. This is the story of Raynor and Moth, who become homeless when they have to leave their family farm. With their children grown, and Moth having had a life-changing diagnosis with advice to "be careful on the stairs", they decide to pack up their belongings and simply walk. They start out from Minehead following the guidebook with just £40 a month to live off, wild camping on the way.

Moth's condition makes the path particularly challenging, but they are determined to reach Land's End, at least. There are moments of tenderness and human kindness mixed with drama against the ever-changing scenery of the south west coast. Humour, too, such as when a well-heeled family from London mistake Moth for the famous poet Simon Armitage, who was also walking the SW Coast Path at that time. One night, while camping on the beach, their tent ends up in the sea, and the onset of winter forces them to accept basic accommodation on a friend's farm in return for their labour to make it habitable. Miraculously, with all the walking and sea air, Moth's health improves, and they both reach the end of the path with fresh hope for the future.

Whether you believe their story to be 100% true or not (the details of how the Winns - not their real name - actually lost their family home are glossed over, sparking some recent controversy in the media), this is a powerful and moving memoir of an unexpectedly homeless couple seeking a new direction in life. Whatever the details behind their story might be, it's a good read.

This month's second title is a book I've already mentioned here on Authors Electric: The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May.

The Electricity of Every Living Thing
by Katherine May

This one is the story of a mother of a young son, who gets a late diagnosis for Asperger's Syndrome. She lives four hours away from the SW Coast Path in Kent, which means that walking the route is a challenge restricted to brief holidays in Devon and Cornwall. Her husband (referred to simply as 'H' in the book) provides backup transport and childcare so that Katherine can tackle sections of the path, mostly on her own but occasionally with friends.

Katherine has felt all her life that she is different, since she feels electricity coming from everything and everyone. This makes her hyper-sensitive to noise, and sometimes she cannot bear to be touched, all of which are challenging for her marriage and other relationships. As well as covering parts of the Coast Path, her memoir also includes sections of the North Down Way - which, being more local to the author's home town, is where she walks when she can't get down to Devon. The actual path does not matter, yet it's clear that the Devonshire coastline (particularly the South Hams) has a special place in her heart, because that is where she reports feeling happiest. Similar to the Winns, walking helps Katherine come to terms with her diagnosis by giving her time and space to think in an increasingly noisy and electrifying world.

 

So does the Salt Path work its magic on all those who walk it? Have you set foot on the SW Coast Path, maybe even completed the whole 630 miles? Let us know!

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Katherine Roberts grew up by the sea in Devon and Cornwall, where a childhood of searching rock pools for strange creatures inspired her award-winning debut Song Quest.

Song Quest
(Book 1 of the Echorium Sequence)
by
Katherine Roberts

Some free short stories by Katherine, including an early appearance of the merlee in Song Quest, can be found on her website at www.katherineroberts.co.uk