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Fast Company
a day ago
- Fast Company
How England's southwest coast has been a healing refuge for centuries
Moth Winn was diagnosed with a terminal illness at the age of 53 and in the same week he and his wife, Raynor, lost their home. As the bailiffs arrived, the couple made a remarkable decision: to take a 630-mile year-long coastal walk from Somerset to Dorset, through Devon and Cornwall. Their journey was first told in Raynor Winn's bestselling memoir The Salt Path, which has now been made into a film. In The Salt Path, Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs portray the hardship and hope the couple experienced as they walked through sunshine and storms with little more than a tent and a handful of cash. But their walk is part of a much older story. Without realizing it, Raynor and Moth joined a centuries-old tradition of seeking healing and transformation along the southwest coast. In the 19th century, people traveled to the coast because doctors believed sea air and seawater could treat illness. This idea became known as 'change of air' treatment and was widely prescribed to urban patients suffering from 'nervous disorders', such as stomach pains and chest issues. These seaside visits were understood as a form of medicine. England's westerly edge The South West Coast Path is the U.K.'s longest national trail. The route has over 115,000 feet of ascent and descent—the equivalent of scaling Mount Everest four times. It was officially protected in 1973 to preserve and improve access to the path and now attracts nearly 9 million visitors each year. But its origins lie in the working lives of local people, especially coastguards watching for smugglers and fishermen following pilchard shoals. In the 19th century, the region also became a destination for domestic tourists. It was made more accessible as passenger rail lines were extended to places including Plymouth and Penzance. Some visitors walked to explore unfamiliar landscapes, while others did so on medical advice. The seaside towns of Penzance and Torquay emerged as health resorts and by the first world war they were known as 'havens for invalids.' Between 1800 and 1854, Torquay's population grew from 800 to 14,000, mostly made up of medical residents on temporary stays. Healing in the elements Before the walk, Moth was diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration (CBD) after seeing a doctor about shoulder pain and tremors. CBD is a rare degenerative condition that affects the brain and gradually leads to difficulties with movement, speech, memory, and swallowing. When he began the walk, Moth's mobility had deteriorated and he was experiencing severe pain and numbness in his left leg. For the first half of the film, Jason Isaacs drags his foot along the ground to show this physical strain. The challenge of walking was made harder by the rugged terrain—steep hills, jagged rocks, and harsh winds. As Moth and Raynor walked, something unexpected happened. Moth's symptoms began to ease, his condition improved, and he eventually stopped taking pain relief. He believed the change was linked to the regular movement and the sense of purpose the walk gave them during a bleak period. He described walking as having a restorative power that offered him a new, unlicensed freedom. The idea that walking by the coast could have healing properties has deep roots. In the 19th century, walking was considered beneficial, but the emphasis was on gentle movement in clean air rather than endurance through rough landscapes. The air of Devon and Cornwall was praised for its soothing qualities and the climate for its warmth in the winter. Town planners even built flat promenades in seaside towns to make walking more accessible for people with chronic illnesses and low mobility. Spending time outside was considered particularly valuable for people suffering from tuberculosis. Before tuberculosis was known to be caused by bacteria, medical experts blamed it on bad-smelling air. Doctors suggested that city dwellers suffering with chest pains remove themselves from these dirty atmospheres and immerse themselves in the clean, salt air at the seaside. Nature plays a central role in The Salt Path. Its effect on the body is seen in Gillian Anderson's sun-scorched cheeks and wind-tousled hair. The sounds of birds and the sea accompany panoramic drone shots of the cliffs. The sea is a key character. Arriving at Minehead, the Winns take a photo to begin their journey: of 'the three of us', the couple and the sea. Victorian travel writers also insisted that in the southwest, 'The pedestrian must never wander more than a stone's throw from the sea.' When Moth swims in the sea, he is empowered in his own body and able to move without constraint. The seaside has carried health connotations since the 1700s. In the 18th century, doctors claimed that sudden immersion in cold, salty, and turbulent waters had therapeutic value for chronic illness. Today, open swimming remains a popular practice in the southwest and is praised for its mental and physical health benefits. As the film ends, we learn that 12 years after their walk Moth is still living with CBD and the couple still use long-distance walks to treat his symptoms.
The Sun
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
We walked 630 miles & lived in a tent after losing our home – now our life has been made into film with Gillian Anderson
WHEN a dog knocked Ray Winn's last nine pounds from her hands, she desperately scrabbled down a drain trying to salvage the dropped coins. But rather than helping her, the pet 's female owner poked Ray and grumbled, 'We don't have drunken tramps like you here. Get up.' 6 6 6 It was the ultimate humiliation for the mum-of-two, who became homeless after a court repossessed the Welsh farm home she lovingly renovated with her husband Moth. The couple, who made their living running holiday accommodation from the property, were left with nothing after an investment turned sour. So with nowhere to go, they decided to wild camp as they walked 630 miles along the South West coast of England, from Minehead in Somerset to Poole in Dorset, in 2013. To make matters worse, in the same week they lost their home, Moth was diagnosed with a rare and fatal neurological condition called corticobasal degeneration (CBD), which impaired his movement. Yet they set out determined to cover a distance which was the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest three times. Miraculously, Moth, 64, who had been given just six years to live at the start of the journey, felt fitter by the end of it and still goes out for walks 12 years on. 'People recoiled' Now, their incredible story of survival has been turned into a movie starring X-Files actress Gillian Anderson as Ray and Harry Potter actor Jason Isaacs as her husband. Called The Salt Path, it is adapted from 62-year-old Ray's book of the same title, which sold more than a million copies. Sitting in the far more comfortable surroundings of a central London hotel, Ray says: 'I hadn't really thought about homelessness until we came to the idea of walking that path. 'We did start out by being quite honest and saying, 'We've lost our house and we've got nowhere to go, so we're just walking'. Inside Gillian Anderson's 'Pleasure Empire' 'And people actually physically recoiled. It was shocking because, just a few weeks earlier, I'd been living an ordinary, standard life.' Recalling the woman who called her a 'tramp' in a seaside town along the way, Ray says: 'For a moment I didn't know who she was talking to. "Then I realised it was me. 'Just those few weeks earlier, she was the sort of person I might have been welcoming into our holiday accommodation, but now she had a completely different view of me.' Ray and Moth's story is one of sticking together through thick and thin. The couple, originally from the West Midlands, met in a college canteen when she was 18 and he was 20. They had two children, Tom and Rowan, and bought an old farm in Wales, which they spent 20 years doing up. Part of the property was turned into holiday lets, which became the pair's main income. But the decision to invest in a friend's company left them with nothing. After a three-year court battle, a judge decided all the couple's worldly goods, including their home, should be repossessed in order to help pay debts. All their savings had been spent on lawyers' fees and they had just £115 left in the bank. Then, in a cruel twist, a couple of days later Moth received a diagnosis for the mysterious pain he'd been suffering. Doctors revealed he had CBD, which normally carries a life expectancy of six to nine years. He had already been ill for six. Ray recalls: 'We could not take it in, because someone who had lived such a physical, active, vital life to be told that he had this dreadful degenerative illness, was almost impossible to take on board, that it could happen to him, to us. "I had been with him my whole adult life. I had never for one second envisioned life without him.' The couple asked the council for accommodation, but claim they were told Moth's condition did not merit it. Ray explains: 'We couldn't prove that he would die in 12 months, so there was no accommodation available.' The couple almost lost hope. Ray says: 'It felt as if life had just ended, as if everything had been wiped out from beneath us. "And that was simply losing the house. 'When we received Moth's diagnosis, it was as if the future melted away as well.' Fortunately, their children had already left home, so they only had each other to worry about. 6 And as the bailiffs rapped on the door, Ray spotted among their boxes of belongings a book called 500 Mile Walkies, about a man who completed the South West Coast Path. She suggested they attempt the same adventure. However, the pair quickly realised that living in a tent out of despair rather than choice made them social lepers. And they faced a struggle to get by on just £40 a week, meaning they had to ration their food carefully and would forage for berries and mushrooms. Their basic meals included dried food such as rice or pasta, with tinned tuna an occasional treat. But Ray longed for 'the basic stuff' rather than material things. She says with a smile: 'The thing I missed the very, very most was a flushing toilet.' 'Future to embrace' Often, the couple had to relieve themselves in the bushes, and showers were a rare luxury. Wild camping is not legal in most of England and Wales, but as they could not afford official camp sites, they had to put up with locals complaining about the places where they pitched up. It also meant Ray could appear unkempt, leading to harsh criticism, as she received from the judgmental dog walker. But despite their ups and downs, the lengthy trek showed Ray and Moth that they may have a future to embrace after all, as he grew stronger day by day. Ray says: 'The moment Moth rescued our tent from the tide, we realised how much his health had changed, from not being able to put his coat on without help at the beginning of that walk to just running up the beach with a tent above his head. 'I am coming to understand the power of moving, what it does to our body, and that our bodies are capable of repairing themselves in ways we maybe don't fully understand yet.' Having to lug everything on their backs meant the couple only carried the essentials, such as cooking gear, first aid kit and clothes. Ray says: 'We left behind more or less every material thing that we owned.' But the long journey gradually helped them come to terms with losing their home. Ray says: 'The path didn't wipe it all out, it just made it possible to live with, to carry it more easily. 'As time went by, it was less about the tent, it was actually the path that really became home.' Once winter set in, wild camping became impossible and the couple found a shed to stay in. But they restarted the following summer, completing the full route. 6 Afterwards, Moth returned to university to study sustainable horticulture and landscape design and they were able to live off his student loans. Ray had written a diary of the walk for Moth and was persuaded to send it to publishers. It was a big hit in 2018 with many celebrity fans, including Gillian Anderson, who said: 'I bought Ray's audiobook and was profoundly affected by it.' Soon afterwards film-makers soon started knocking. Recalling their reaction at learning Gillian Anderson would play her, Ray said: 'I was quite shocked because she's just so perfect and beautiful and utterly glamorous. 'And I remember going into the house to tell Moth, and I think he misheard me, because he said, 'Ooh, Pamela Anderson '.' Later, watching the film with friends and family meant sitting through a sex scene where Gillian and Jason get very physical in their sleeping bags. Ray said: 'I did have to warn them. I did tell them that they were watching Gillian Anderson, not me, so that was fine.' The couple now live in Cornwall on a farm, having been allowed to stay there by a wealthy fan of The Salt Path book. They continue to do long walks, including a 1,000-mile trek three years ago through Scotland and into England. Moth's health has deteriorated, but much slower than medics expected. It is unclear how he has managed to defy his bleak prognosis. Ray says: 'These illnesses that come under the umbrella of CBD, they don't receive much funding because they are so rare, and so we understand very little about them.' Readjusting to normal life has not been easy, and Ray would sometimes sleep on the floor at home because it had become so familiar. Her attitude to rough sleeping has also changed, as she came to realise there are so many reasons why people are homeless. Some of the people the Winns met during their coastal journey, living in 'cars, trailers and hidden places', were workers on minimum wages. She says: 'Now I don't see homeless people, I see a person whose life has taken a turn for the worse. 'If there is anything that I hope people take from this film, I would really love it if they walked out of the cinema, and saw someone in a doorway, that they would see them slightly differently, maybe just as an individual, not a difficult statistic.' The Salt Path is in cinemas from Friday.
Times
24-05-2025
- Times
Inspired by the Salt Path? These are the best sections to walk
The much-awaited film adaptation of The Salt Path, Raynor Winn's life-affirming memoir about how she and her terminally ill husband Moth discovered the regenerative power of nature on the South West Coast Path, hits cinemas on May 30. They walked its entire 630 miles from Somerset to Dorset (which with its various ascents adds up to 115,000ft of climbing, like scaling Mount Everest four times), wild camping most of the way, living largely on tinned tuna and packet noodles. For those who are inspired by their story and the scenery described, but not inclined to emulate their experience exactly: follow this guide to the best bits. I've walked almost every inch over the past 20 years or so and these are four of my favourite walks. If you're lucky you may end up like the Winns, who were told by a fellow walker: 'You've held the hand of nature. It won't ever leave you now; you're salted.' This article contains affiliate links, which can earn us revenue Praising north Devon's lack of infrastructure is hardly the sexiest of sells but I never walk this quiet coast without giving thanks for the absence of a motorway that keeps the bucket-and-spade brigade at bay. For me, its real treasure isn't its golden beaches but the exquisite temperate rainforests of the twin towns of Lynton and Lynmouth. Their ancient oaks are festooned with Hansel-and-Gretel mosses, delicate ferns and coral-like lichens that feel as magical as a Lord of the Rings set. From Lynton, walk down through steep, dappled paths alongside the Lyn River, which provides natural air con by smashing into boulders and throwing up cooling spray. In no time, you'll emerge at Lynmouth's pretty harbour. It's acceptable to cheat at this point and hop on the Lynton & Lynmouth Cliff Railway, the world's highest, totally water-powered funicular (£3.75/£2.25; to get back to Lynton. Remarkably, it still uses the same ingenious method to transport holidaymakers back up the 500ft to Lynton as it has since 1890: water. Tanks of river water empty and fill to counterbalance the funicular's two carriages, which are connected by a cable and pulleys, dragging one up as the other lowers. Old-fashioned works beautifully in this neck of the woods; just check out the tea-shop decor. Don't have a cuppa here though, save yourself for a sugar hit en route. From Lynton you could add on a three-mile (ish) circular walk through the inscrutably eerie Valley of Rocks. Its giant Jenga stacks of slate and sandstone are mesmerising, as is the clippety-clop commute of its resident wild goats. A word of praise for these wiry ruminants, introduced in the Seventies. Their insouciant poise as they munch on nothing much on alarmingly sheer cliff faces would make Cirque du Soleil acrobats spit in jealous rage. Also competing for your attention are far-reaching views over the Bristol Channel and the Lee Abbey Tea Cottage ( Go on, you've earned your scones (it's clotted cream first then jam in Devon, by the way). Keep Braunton Burrows, a 45-minute drive from Lynton, in your top pocket for another day. It serves up four miles of the wispiest, most romantic dunes imaginable, providing the perfect foil to those rugged cliffs. Bolstering north Devon's claim as the coast with the most, it also has heavenly beaches and devilish surfing at Woolacombe, Croyde and Saunton Sands as well as the soulful peace of the Hartland peninsula. Stay at Bath Hotel, which has a ringside seat over Lynmouth's harbour, a Victorian-style dining room, a cracking boozer and 20 quirky bedrooms (B&B doubles from £115; The fishermen's cottages and cobbled lanes of St Ives are as pretty as a picture but usually sardine-squidged with arty emmets (one of the more polite nicknames locals have for tourists) visiting Tate St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, while its chunk of the coast path is often blissfully empty. To walk it, I'd suggest staying at Gurnard's Head and jumping on the A16 bus to St Ives where you can pull on your boots and grab a homemade brown bread ice cream from Palais Provisions — for energy, you understand, not gluttony. The hike back to Zennor, while a truly spectacular six or so miles, is reasonably challenging, so you'll need it. • Read our full guide to Cornwall You'll be bathed en route by the famously celestial light that lured artists such as Hepworth to this coastal knuckle. That luminosity showcases these thyme-scented headlands, wrapped in wild gorse perfectly, and never fails to lift my spirits. I love how their sharp-angled granite cliffs dip down to rocky coves where you may spot the odd seal. I can definitely guarantee you a mermaid sighting. St Senara's Church has hunkered down in Zennor since the 12th century and is home to a mermaid who's not going anywhere — she's carved into a bench end. Continue on to Gurnard's Head, a narrow headland which, if you've had sufficient pints of the Cornish Thundercloud Hazy IPA (a hefty 5.5 per cent), may indeed bear a vague resemblance to a fish's head. Never mind, it's a fitting finale, with the remains of an Iron Age fort to admire for good measure. • 37 of the best hotels in Cornwall Stay at the Gurnard's Head, a clifftop pub with rooms near Zennor that's a magnet for walkers and foodies for its landmark location and superior dining (try crispy red gurnard with fennel or monkfish tail with lobster) and wine list (mains from £15; B&B doubles from £168; Branscombe is the Fortnum & Mason of chocolate-box villages, fitting for this sweet five-miler along the Jurassic Coast. Wind your way through the village, passing its working 16th-century forge and on through woods to reach a shingle beach that's a cockle-warming nostalgia hit of beach huts, with the bonus of a humongous 13,500kg anchor, commemorating the MSC Napoli grounding here in 2007. To the west the shoreline sports the rusty-red remnants of a desert formed 230 million years ago that swishes around to Sidmouth, but I'm partial to the deliciously syrupy dollops heading in the other direction, deposited by tropical seas a mere 85 million years ago. Storms and landslides have made this section as tipsy as a priest at a wedding, with the cliffs slip-sliding drunkenly towards Beer. No not another drink, Father, the name of the next village on, which has lashings of children's storybook cuteness. After a wickedly steep climb up East Cliff, the path levels out. Then just as your breath returns to normal, prepare for it to be taken away again, figuratively speaking. Hooken Undercliff is an extraordinary gash, created more than 200 years ago when a 10-acre tract of the cliff's brow made a bid for freedom, but only got as far as 200ft down. It is now a dramatic portal to a lost world of eye-catching ferns and flowers that have made a home among the chalk pinnacles and columns entangled in its fragments of fields. It's so charming that you'll be tempted to take root too, but walk on to witness the cliffs turn dazzling white and eventually drop into Beer. All things considered, it would be rude not to stop for a pint, and the Barrel of Beer pub never knowingly undersells its USP, encouraging passers-by to have a beer in Beer at the Barrel of Beer. Appropriate merch readily available, natch. I had a gin and tonic — I'm a born rebel. There's a luxuriously wide and well-sheltered beach, where brightly coloured fishing boats loll on the pebbles: stranded by the retreating tide or passed out from too many pints, you decide. Check out the stall on the slipway where the fishermen sell that day's catch. We've had amazing crab from them. Return to Branscombe via the easier, grassy top path. Stay at the 14th-century Masons Arms in Branscombe, a low-beamed beauty, serving tasty food, topped off with excellent service and 28 boutique bedrooms (mains from £15; B&B doubles from £110; Lyme Regis is a seaside beauty, with Battenberg-coloured townhouses tumbling down to the Cobb, its 13th-century harbour wall, which curves hypnotically into Lyme Bay. Jane Austen regularly took holidays here and to celebrate the 175th anniversary of her birth this year, the National Trust has guided walks along the Cobb in August, with readings from Persuasion, which had Lyme as its backdrop (free; This is also the UK's fossil capital, and I've had endless, absorbing shoreline rambles, hunting for ammonites and finding only 'beef' (rubbish). From almost everywhere in town, the incredible hulk of the Golden Cap cliff beckons in the distance. Give into temptation — the seven miles to reach it are a 3D lesson in natural history that would have turned me into a geography teacher had I visited during my formative years. It ticks off shingle beach, river, woodlands, hills and traditional patchworks of fields before finally arriving at Golden Cap. Its 627ft summit is the highest point on the south coast and, on a clear day, your reward for making it to the top are fabulous views to Portland Bill, Start Point and even Dartmoor. Fortunately, the X53 bus will take you back to Lyme. Stay at Lyme Townhouse, which has seven cheery bedrooms in a grade II listed Georgian home, a ten-minute walk down to the beach front. There's no evening restaurant but don't miss the Dorset breakfast (B&B doubles from £185; • Read our full guide to Dorset• 14 of the best hotels in Dorset
Times
22-04-2025
- Times
Movie magic hides the darker side of Devon
'Are you mad?' asks their daughter. But what do you do when you're in your fifties if you lose your home and all your worldly possessions and the next day your husband is diagnosed with a rare terminal brain disease? Raynor and Moth Winn decided to walk the South West Coast Path from Minehead in Somerset, through the North Devon villages and towns of Porlock, Ilfracombe and Barnstaple, on to Cornwall, ending up at Poole in Dorset, via Land's End. It is a 630-mile path along some of the country's most stunning beaches, cliff heads, ancient forests and fossilised rocks. They sustained themselves with pasties and fudge, bathing in the moonlight in hidden smugglers' coves. Now Raynor's book about their journey, The Salt Path,
