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.

I'm going to watch it with DS tomorrow night, and how I'm going to restrain myself from audibly pointing out all the bits I recognise I do not know. I just hope everyone else in the cinema (about a mile away from the SWCP) is going to be doing the same! 😆

I enjoyed the book but was disappointed with the film. I like Gillian Anderson but she bore the expression of someone permanently constipated for most of the film.

I live in the SW and have done a lot of the SWCP, especially the north section. The tally of miles walked which came up on the screen from time to time bore absolutely no relation to where they were on the path - a shot of them overlooking Bossington (which is on the very first stretch after you leave Minehead) was accompanied by the words '29 miles'!

Moth asks where they are and Raynor says 'Castle Rock' when they're clearly near Lynton - why?!

Plus there were shots of them walking the wrong way altogether, with the sea on their left instead of their right.

I just found it really odd, if you're filming a particular location - especially one so central to the whole story - why not reference it correctly? (And yes, I'm a pedant.......)

I've read all three books and am going to see the film tomorrow. I found the middle book less interesting and like a pp said a bit all over the place. I agree that there is a certain amount of middle class privilege in the choices that they made. The middle book has more of her childhood and their early relationship and I think it's fair to say they are both portrayed as quite bohemian/hippy/alternative so maybe an unusual reaction to their circumstances wasn't such an odd choice.
With Moth's illness, my Mum has a very similar one (PSP) and honestly medical understanding of it is quite limited. If you're interested you can look up the PSP association which Moth and Raynor support.

I think they lost their house (and farm?) because a 'friend' unexpectedly called in a loan, a terrible betrayal by the so called friend.

I loved the book and look forward to the film.

It is quite funny though that somebody can be homeless, destitute and terminally ill, and still get accused of having middle class privilege.

Love Dartmoor too. Grew up a few miles from it. When I was reading the book, I was looking forward to them walking the stretch from the Lizard Point on (which is so beautiful), but she skipped it and goes on to Helfotd (I think?) - was really disappointed. Obviously she can't pop in every place they walked through

Reading the book and having seen her being interviewed on TV a few times, I didn't consider her/them middle class (not that whatever social class they were in should matter IMO), they seem quite working class and I think her parents were tenant farmers and she and Moth bought a run down (if not derelict?) farm and spent years improving it. My best friend's stepdad and mum were tenant sheep farmers and he was a lovely man that would have laughed his head off at being called middle class. It seemed to be a hard life.

Agreed!

There was mention of being from Staffordshire but no explanation of how they ended up Devon/Cornwall.
So many clothes !!
I didn’t know there was tropical fish in the sea off Cornwall
2 hours of my life I’ll never get back - but the scenery was lovely.
I won’t be reading the book. It will annoy me too much
Gillian Anderson looks fabulous though.

I saw the film yesterday and was very disappointed
I found it tedious and many reviews say the same. I was very relieved when the film ended abruptly and they typed out what happened next.
i thought we were going to have to endure another hour of sighing and groaning !

Gillian Anderson sighs and groans a lot when she acts anyway,once you tune into it it's hard to ignore. I wish I'd remembered this before booking cinema tickets 🤣

I think Moth and Ray should self flagellate for indulging in middle class privilege. How very dare they??
ps who cares what class they are? How is this relevant?

I quite liked the Wild Silence for the descriptions of Iceland. By the time I got to Landlines I was getting really bored with the same old descriptions of problems with blisters and the same metaphors used over and over. I get the impression she started churning out books just for the money. I won’t be reading any future ones.

It seems to be used as a way to flagellate anybody trying to do anything nice- especially if that nice thing involves not spending a lot of money. How dare you enjoy life on the cheap, don't you realise that travel is just for us proper people! If you're poor, live in misery like poor people are supposed to, otherwise you're not doing poor properly!

It irritates me, because if there is one pastime that should be accessible to all, it's walking. And similarly, if there's one form of travel that should be accessible to all, it's long distance walking. I hate it when people try to gatekeep it. The Rambler's Association was started by factory workers who wanted to get out in the fresh air on their day off. As I mentioned upthread, I have seen quite a few people who I strongly suspect to have no fixed abode walking apparently long distance on the SWCP, and good bloody luck to them!

Thanks, I feared that might be the case! I'll m going to give them all a swerve!!

My Mum did go to see the movie, she's easily pleased, but even she said it got really repetitive & boring.

When I mentioned privilege in relation to their decision to walk the path instead of the emergency accommodation option, I was thinking more of relative freedom rather than class privilege; in that their children were independent and they weren’t caring for elderly parents or anything.

I didn’t get the impression from The Wild Silence that either came from a middle class background, but I think people will associate more hippyish, bohemian tendencies with affluence and privilege because so few people take risks and do things “out of the ordinary”/make left-field decisions without the safety net of wealth.

I typically love walking films/emotional journeys etc but there were so many gaping holes in the 'plot' the film just annoyed me. I haven't read the book. I feel I need to read the book to fill in the gaps.

@LoafofSellotapei just can’t unsee Maggie T when I watch her now. It’s annoying.

Why do people not think Raynor Wynn is her real name?

Some of the articles about them say that Moth’s real name is Ray - just seems odd if they are called Raynor and Ray but I guess it’s not beyond possibility! (Plus I came across a piece which gave his real surname as something different, though again there’s no reason why she would have to have taken his name.)

Regarding your second paragraph: And? Is it a sin to be middle class or bohemian or be in a position to make choices?

I don’t understand your point. It sounds like a criticism.

No, not intended as a criticism or judgement, just an observation and a suggestion as to why people might make that assumption about their financial or class privilege. I’m at odds with most posters in that I liked the book (not seen the film) and found the Winns interesting and quite inspiring. I’m not really interested in how the lost their home, but in how the risk they took in response paid off in terms of Moth’s health (at least in the short term) and launching Ray’s writing career.

I think it’s an odd thing to suggest, not that someone might have a pen name, but to try to imply something about their story and court case. I’m not sure what the point is. I wonder whether it’s a little bit of jealousy about the book being an unexpected success.

I loved the book and read it in a couple of days. It’s obviously marmite situation though as I sat and listened to four women on a train last week say they’d all either read some or all of the book and hated it. Can’t wait to see the movie.

We really liked the film, haven't read the book. I think it is inspirational how they turned things around, and spending so much time in nature and walking was so good for them in the end.