Come Walk the Salt Path With Raynor and Moth Winn and Me

Take a trip along England’s longest and best-loved trail

Raynon Winn was crouching under the stairs in her home, hiding from bailiffs banging on her door to take possession of her home, when the idea came to her to hike the 630-mile South West Coast Path along the English channel.

Raynor and her husband, Moth, were pressed together, two adults in their 50s whispering like naughty children, waiting to be found by the men in black.

That’s when Raynor spotted the book Five Hundred Mile Walkies in a crate, and for a moment the idea to hike the Salt Path didn’t seem quite so preposterous.

She put her hand on her husband’s hair. The man she had met when he was eighteen, and she remembered stroking his hair when it was long and salty blond and when it was full of building plaster and their two kids’ play dough.

Now it was grey and she just knew the way a woman knows things.

She just knew …

She just knew this was to way to work through their pain, fear, and anger that had brought them to this unexpected moment, hiding under their staircase.

She knew what she was about to ask her husband would sound ridiculous to him, but wasn’t it ridiculous to be hiding beneath the stairs from the bailiffs?

“We could just walk.”

“Walk?”

“Yeah, just walk.”

She had spoken into existence the preposterous idea. On the one hand, as she shared her idea with her husband in a hushed tone, she thought it couldn’t be that difficult: Just put one foot in front of the other and follow the map.

So why not?

On the other hand, walking every day over hills, beaches, rivers, and moors seemed about as likely as her husband walking out the front door, leaving the home where they had raised their two kids who were now away at college.

It was something someone else might do; but too crazy for her and Moth.

But why not?

Because they’d lost. Lost their house and livelihood as a farm and BNB.

Because they were lost. Homeless and penniless.

But she just knew …

But she just knew she and Moth should walk the 630 miles of the South West Coast Path on England’s longest footpath, and she realized at that moment one of the reasons was the bailiffs had seen her hand reach for the book.

They knew she and her husband were under the staircase.

There was no turning back. They had to leave their home, but before they crawled out from the darkness, Moth asked Raynor a question about her idea.

“Together?”

“Always.”

The bailiffs were about to bar them from their old lives, but they now at least had a new direction and a plan for their new lives, albeit a kinda crazy one.

They held hands and walked into the light

Who is down for this?

I love a good book, and this is the first chapter of Winn’s The Salt Path, a best-selling memoir in English in 2018 about Raynor and her husband’s journey walking the South West Coast Path after wrongfully losing their home.

I thought I’d try something new and different. Hopefully, you’re still reading this story. My idea is to read this book together with a small group of people and write stories about the book as we read through it.

A collaborative experience.

We could have fun reading and interacting with each other’s stories in the comments section or responding in story form to one another’s writing.

We could cherry-pick on each other’s ideas by quoting writers in the group and write five or ten stories about the memoir instead of just one story.

It could be a writing challenge — to read a lot more carefully and look for themes while collaborating together and creating a “series” for our stories.

I just did this solo, writing five stories about one book. It was a lot of fun, but I thought it would be even more fun to do it together with a group of writers.

What do you say?

If you’re a reader and like to read books, I think you’d enjoy this experience, and we might create a new genre on Medium to add to all the money stories.

Kind of like a Netflix series of writers interacting around one book.

I am proposing we could walk The Salt Path together with Raynor and Moth, to see the sights and go through the highs and lows emotions, and see where this leads our group.

Let me know if you’re interested in the comments, and I’ll follow up with you and provide a timeline and a loose organizational structure for the group.

Or I’ll be walking the Salt Path alone.

If I tagged you below, it’s because I think it’d be great to take this journey with you and others … but I’m open to anyone (non-tagged) who is interested.

Thanks for reading my story.

Shout out to Linda Caroll for introducing me to The Salt Path with her story.

Tagging: Michael L Butler, Deborah Camp, The Sober Vegan Yogi, J.R. Spiers, Susan Wheelock, Sieran Lane, Pam Winter, Lu Skerdoo, Janet Meisel, Klara Jane Holloway, Sreese, Lisa Osborne, Bernie Pullen, Mercedes O'Leary, Victoria Valentine, Gerald Sturgill, Evon, Sandy Maximus, Ginger Cook, Jane Kelley, Ruby Lee, Paul Walker, Hayden Moore, Janice Macdonald, Rodrigo S-C, Sally Prag, Sarah J Clarke, Kristina God, Yana Bostongirl, Nicole Hilbig, Diana Meresc, Bridie Dillon, Scott Younkin, Adelina Vasile, Andy SpearsKiKi Walter, Amanda Payne, Harold Zeitung, Mary DeVries, Carly Newberg, Sandy Gold, Taylor Davidson, Craig Stanland, Alexandra Christensen, Jan Sebastian, Megan Llorente, MarkfromBoston 🌻Ukraine, Ning Choi, Alan Simpson, Ryan Barnes, Nikki Volpi, Misti Lynn, C.A. Jaymes, Devette Lindsay, Nicole Dake, Marilyn Glover, JF Danskin, Mary Louisa Cappelli, Angie Mangino

You might also like:

Scot Butwell is a Bookaholic. He loves to write about books, personal stories, and sports on Medium. For $5 a month, you can receive access to thousands of stories on Medium and also make money by writing your own stories. If you use my link to become a Medium member, I will receive a small commission.