The Salt Path

[Mothership4two]

Anyone planning to go and watch this? And did you read the book? I am hoping to go in the next couple of weeks. There are four of us going, two have read it and two haven't. Looking forward to the scenery as much as the story.

Exactly. They also lost me at the beginning because apparently they could have even won the court case but filed documents late and then lost. They had so many advantages in life and were frustratingly ditzy and daft. They certainly had some big challenges with the husband's illness, and it was great that the walking helped him get much more well for a while, but I just thought even so that while the SW coastal path has its moments but it's hardly crossing the Alps.

Also they were both about 50 and look pretty youthful from the photos (still) and make it sound like they were Methusalah in the book- and I mean outside of the mobility issues caused by the illness. I'm glad things worked out for them and that she has a writing career now and wish them no ill whatsoever, but it was all a bit middle class and meh for me.

Yes - I just couldn’t relate. Of course awful things happen out of your control like the illness but their utterly daft management of their own affairs then the “woe is me we’ve lost everything” just grated on me. And the book made it seem as if they were in their 90s not 50s!

I found the book monotonous and dull and I just didn’t ‘like’ the couple . Walking the coastal path seems a very strange reaction to losing your home , most people would be doing their best to get accommodation and back on their feet not live rough on pennies for months . A couple of friends saw the film and said it was ok . Like PP above felt the wrong actors and Gillian’s voice all wrong , high pitched and breathy ??

I didn't mind the first book but hated the sequel hugely. Not sure about seeing the movie, it's probably no.

I’ve not read the book, but intend to watch the film at some point (whenever it’s available for streaming). DH and I are intending to walk as much of the England coast path as we can - the nice bits, staying in hotels not backpacking! - and are already familiar with and love the first stretch of the SW path from Minehead.

I really don't understand the dislike for them as a couple.

Some people are naive and have poor judgement in financial and business matters. It might be frustrating as a reader, but I don't see it as some kind of moral failing in their part. Just because they were foolish to put themselves in that position in the first place doesn't mean one can't feel sympathy for them for being ripped off by their friend.

And as for them not resigning themselves to a small, restricted life on benefits, watching Moth's slow and painful descent into illness and death, isn't is obvious why they chose a different path, despite the day-to-day hardships? And that choice is fully vindicated by the way Moth responds to the physical challenge.

I'm thinking of seeing the film. I enjoyed the book on the whole, though I did find Winn irritating and entitled at some points. I couldn't get into the sequel at all and didn't finish it.

I was ambivalent about the book, don’t understand how they walked so far on half a Cornish pasty and some bits of seaweed not to mention a degenerative physical condition but am planning to see this just because the male lead is a middle aged heart throb ❤️

I didn't like the book either, I know a dirge is a song but to me this book was a dirge. I found her really dislikeable and it must have been awful for him, dragged around in ill health, sleeping on the ground and not eating anything vaguely nutritious. I felt like it was all about what she wanted to do really.

I didn’t read the book but thought it was the most miserable film ever! Plod plod plod misery misery misery plod plod plod

I read the book at the very beginning of my own 73 day trek around the path, whilst hunkering under my tarp to sit out a severe three day storm.
I would love to see the film, but I now live out of the UK and am unsure if it will be shown here.
My mother has seen it and she loved it.
My own very different story, "I'm no Shakespeare: Walking the South West Coast Path", written in a typically stoically humourous mumsnetty style, is available on Kindle and as a paperback

I was thinking of going to see the film, mainly because of Jason Isaacs 😍 but I think I might wait till it comes in the TV.

I saw the film last night and have read the book years ago so can't remember it well.

I enjoyed the film overall.

However, I was a bit dubious how Moth went from being diagnosed with a terminal illness, limping very badly and could barely walk a mile or carry anything, to being fit and essentially illness and limp free at the end of the walk.

I also found Gillian Anderson a bit irritating, maybe the accent and sad facial expressions.

There was no accountability on either of them for losing their lovely family home. It was all let's ignore it and keep walking.

They seemed to just drift away and let their teenagers figure out their own paths while barely being contactable. Questionable parenting skills.

They didn't walk that far each day though. The first day was something like two and a half miles in an entire day!

^There was no accountability on either of them for losing their lovely family home. It was all let's ignore it and keep walking.

They seemed to just drift away and let their teenagers figure out their own paths while barely being contactable. Questionable parenting skills.^

This!!

I also find it astonishing that there was no better alternative through any kind of welfare, benefits, charity, family friends or their young adult children, given Moth's illness. I get that much is inaccessible without an address, but they had family didn't they?

However, I was a bit dubious how Moth went from being diagnosed with a terminal illness, limping very badly and could barely walk a mile or carry anything, to being fit and essentially illness and limp free at the end of the walk.

Neuroplasticity. There’s plenty of evidence that neurological conditions can be improved through physical activity, as the body is used, the brain finds different ways to connect when neurons have been damaged. The pathways need to be continuously reinforced though to keep them in place, it’s use it or lose it, and of course, this is a challenge with progressive conditions where capacity is constantly being reduced.

And with his disease being so rare, it's not so surprising that there things the doctors didn't know about it.

I posted on a thread when the book came out saying this kind of stuff about the house etc and was basically told I was being 'mean'

Glad to see others thought the same.

I actually enjoyed the book, that I said, I read it in the heart of Covid when I was walking everywhere myself.

The movie... one comment - WTF was going on with the rabbits?!!! Did they empty Pets at Home on to a cliff top?!!!

I enjoyed the book but didn't really rate the film. It went on a bit. It didn't help that the row of people behind me didn't shut up throughout going on about the various locations and their experience of them. I've never known people talk for so long.

My dad had a rare-ish neurological condition and he was just basically told there was nothing that doctors could do and sent home and told to speak to the occupational therapist about stair rails and a bath seat, etc. There are physical regimes that could have helped for his condition, but not on the NHS, and it takes a lot of commitment.

How is Moth now is he still going? I'm wondering how his illness fared and if he still walks etc

I was tempted to go and see it after watching the trailer, but was put off after hearing her being interviewed on radio 4.
The pretext for loosing the house doesn't ring true. She came across as privileged but spinning a woe is me tale for cash.

Didn’t like the book. Found her extremely irritating. Met her in real life & stil found her irritating. Will go & see the film out of interest.

I kind of liked the book - I love the romanticism of just upping sticks, leaving behind the day to day and doing a long distance walk. I'd love to do it myself. However I did find a lot of Winn's musings quite repetitive and I couldn't relate to the way they left their children to it - as a parent I don't think I'd be able to do that. In a way there wasn't much of a story either, more of an account of their journey.

The bit that annoyed me was when they went to stay with their friend for the winter and helped renovate the house/barn. They complained so much! I didn't think it was unreasonable for them to do a bit of work over the winter, at least not Winn anyway. And I didn't really get why Moth struggled so much with that work yet walking was so good for him?

Anyway I would like to see the film.