The Salt Path

A Memoir

By: Raynor Winn

Narrated by: Raynor Winn

Length: 9 hrs

Publisher's summary

"Polished, poignant...an inspiring story of true love." (Entertainment Weekly)

A Best Book of 2019, NPR's Book Concierge

Short-listed for the Costa Book Award

Over 400,000 Copies Sold Worldwide

The true story of a couple who lost everything and embarked on a transformative journey walking the South West Coast Path in England

Just days after Raynor Winn learns that Moth, her husband of 32 years, is terminally ill, their house and farm are taken away, along with their livelihood. With nothing left and little time, they make the brave and impulsive decision to walk the 630 miles of the sea-swept South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset, through Devon and Cornwall.

Carrying only the essentials for survival on their backs, they live wild in the ancient, weathered landscape of cliffs, sea, and sky. Yet through every step, every encounter, and every test along the way, their walk becomes a remarkable and life-affirming journey. Powerfully written and unflinchingly honest, The Salt Path is ultimately a portrayal of home - how it can be lost, rebuilt, and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways.

©2019 Raynor Winn (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“The Salt Path is an unputdownable tale and a temple to equanimity.... It will change you.” (Wall Street Journal)

"Winn's chronicle is filled with beauty, humor, and surprises. Glorious landscape a given, the loveliest scenery is the pair themselves, their affection and easy camaraderie treasures to behold. Facing grief, harsh elements, starvation, and judgment about being homeless, they relish growing feelings of achievement and purpose. When, miraculously, Moth starts to feel better, their future grows more unclear. The Salt Path is a great travelogue of surroundings, passersby, and local merchants, but its heart is in Winn and Moth finding meaning in the chaos." (Shelf Awareness)

"Readers are immersed in a grueling and transformative adventure. Like the Winns, one feels 'salted' by the experience, however vicariously, drawn to the edge in defiance of fate and in search of a new life. They found it as well as a measure of acceptance, and their story is indelibly told." (Kirkus)

A Gripping Memoir

The Salt Path, by Raynor Winn, was an excellent book. I was fascinated from the very beginning, and found it difficult to stop listening to it. Ms. Winn told her story in a wonderful performance; there were dramatic moments, marvelous descriptions, history and geography lessons, and many human and humorous passages. I am amazed by this memoir, and would recommend it to everyone.

Thank you for sharing your story

What is the story of Hope, As a Bike Packer I found your story inspirational

The story

It took effort to get past the monotone reading to enjoy the story
It’s so well written needs to be well read too

Moving

A very moving account of the author’s journey to awakening.
I loved her narration. Loved all of it!

A cute story of making the most with the hand you are dealt

Raynor and her husband’s long walk following a business deal gone sour, provided plenty of great tails and laughs. I am very curious of how they could have lost all that they did when it seems like they were duped. Loved the premise but truthfully would have preferred a different narration. Personal opinion entirely.

A Transformation of Resilience

A beautifully written, touching, heart wrenching, uplifting. Raynor’s descriptions are truly inspired. She was able to transport you to wherever they landed.

Inspirational, grounding, humbling

This book could not have come at a better time in my life. I lost my job this year, broke my hand, and got in a car accident. It felt like everything was dissolving away and I’d be left with nothing. Thankfully, with my husband by my side, a little faith, and the motivation to keep putting one foot in front of the other, I carried on. This book is a stand out amount a crowd of books about how “everything will be fine”. It stands out because it isn’t some 20-something girl who doesn’t know herself. It’s a couple who could be your parents, aunt and uncle, or you someday. People who made all the right choices in life and still ended up homeless, penniless, hungry… and dying. It puts your life in perspective and reminds you to be kind to everyone. At the end of this book, I want to offer help to anyone I find on the street, I want to understand their lives, and am even more impressed by those who don’t have such difficulties befall them. Great read, excellent narration, and a paradigm shifting story.

Difficult narration of a good story.

I struggled to finish this book. Why would anyone hire a narrator, even if it were the author herself, who had a speech impediment? It was difficult enough to listen to the British accent, but to add on top of that foreign names, and unclear speech delivered in a somewhat monotone voice,, made it very difficult. I wish I had read the book instead of listening to it. The story, though somewhat morose, was interesting. It is certainly a story of human persistence and redemption. I will never again by an audible book, without sampling, the narrator first!

Excellent balance between introspection and discovery

I’ll be walking bits of the Southwest Coastal path in Cornwall soon, so that’s what stirred my interest, but now I want to hear more from this talented writer about her and Moth’s further adventures. Read this in part on Kindle and listened in part on Audible which is a good way to do it to learn the pronunciation of the unfamiliar words. So much of her I can relate to — she seems like family!

Loved ever minute of this book!

I just love the way she writes… So descriptive I can smell and taste and feel everything she does.
I recommend you read this book with no expectations. Just experienced it for what it is.