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.

Wow there are so many very mean people on this thread! And yes better to walk the SW path than sit around waiting for benefits. Walking is the best way to clear your head and those sceneries - humbling, awe-inspiring and blows you and your problems away! ;) I love walking the path, it's one of the highlights of my year!

They were on benefits though as far as I remember

I caught a few minutes of Raynor Winn on The One Show (flicking channels, obvs 😜). She was on with Jason Isaacs talking about the film.

Anyway, your woman and man interviewing her were all like, well Moth can't be here, which is a real shame as he's such a character, so charismatic etc....oh, no offence Raynor, I mean you are too, but Moth is something special...

cue a video message for Jason from Moth, Jason starts blubbing....

Big 'aahs' from the presenters

meanwhile, Raynor's on the sofa, 'hello???' (Gritting her Teeth, probs).

I mean, talk about salty (and I don't mean the path. I mean the One Show. To be clear).

I don’t think anyone has been mean about Raynor Winn for walking. They’ve commented that she comes across as quite unlikeable, and explained why. (And they were on benefits. )

I think various people have said various mean things (including about walking). I am inspired by someone's ability to turn their lives around. I don't find her unlikeable I have seen some interviews with her, including on Fearne Cotton's podcast. But to each their own, but it's an eye-opener to see how much negativity just about anything can generate. Even something apparently positive.

Finally got to see it today. I really enjoyed it and did find it inspiring. Went with a bigish mixed group and everyone loved it. There have been some harsh comments about RW, but I felt for them being at the shittest time in their lives, feeling helpless and vulnerable, worrying about Moth's terminal diagnosis and having to process it all while walking. I think I might have been a bit whiny too! On the whole they kept their chins up and got on it. I found the reactions of others to people down on their luck (both good and bad) interesting and believable. Like others on here I wish they had shown the place names and maybe anchored it more into the geography. Thanks to this thread was waiting for the pet rabbits! We all eye-rolled at that bit and the turtle, tropical fish and the beach full of seals. We've done bits of the SWCP on days out, but we'd like to go for a few days, but in the sunshine with a bed and hot showers!

Agree and in the end it helped him with his illness.

Went to see it today, and it was OK - but GA’s wandering accent really irritated me. Jason Isaacs was very good, but Gillian hadn’t seemed to quite settle on whether she was playing Raymor Winn as determined and steely, or timid and a bit thick! It annoyed me how uncommunicative the couple seemed to be: they didn’t seem to be able to simply talk to each other as normal people would. I wasn’t bored watching the film, though, and enjoyed it overall.

Re posters “being mean” - I don’t think it’s actually “mean” to discuss the plausibility of the book, is it? A lot of it does seem heavily fictionalised, and it’s true that her descriptions of the court matter don’t ring completely true. Objectively, they don’t seem to have set about any of it in a particularly sensible or practical way!

Oh talking of the beach full of seals, yes that can happen. However certainly not while a human is sitting on the same beach. And they definitely don't make that Urrr Urrr Urrr sea lion barky noise that people do when they think they're doing a seal impression. Seals occasionally make a moaning grumbling noise but they don't bark.

I think things like this was why the film annoyed me. Really lazy little bits that could have been accurate with a tiny bit more thought and care. I know I'm pedantic like that - but so are lots of people. If you're making a film which is largely featuring something so known and loved as the SW Coast Path and British wildlife, why not make the effort to get those little details right?

It can happen, there's a beach in Norfolk called Horsey Gap full of seals and loads of tourists right up close to them.

Yes but not in the SW it doesn't. Believe me, I know my SW seals 🙂.

And if tourists are going right up to seals on beaches,they shouldn't be.

But anyway....

Haven’t read the book, saw the film, loved the scenery and am now completely cured of any desire to walk the SW path 😂Agree with others re lack of other people- on the path or beaches! Also, did you see how she ate that pasty? 😱😱

I could show you a dozen near- totally deserted beaches in Cornwall in high summer. If you were willing to walk a few miles on the coast path...😉

Hmm, only on the rainy days when the world and his wife are in Padstow I suspect! I’m actually in Devon so have done several bits of the walk here and in Cornwall over the years, so will maybe do more of it piecemeal than one trek!

Nope, sunny days too. Which bits of the SWCP have you actually walked? 🤔

@WestwardHo1

It's not just men who seemingly won't go and see female-led films.

Ballerina (the new spin-off in the John Wick) franchise with Ana de Armas as the lead has been a bit of a flop. Also the vast majority of the audiences who did go were men!

I know my SW seals too. You may get the occasional mum who has her pup on a daft place like a public beach. Or a knackered seal having a rest after stormy weather. Both scenarios are very rare. You can also see seals swimming in the sea but a group of seals on a beach with people also on it - I have never heard of that happening.

And @WestwardHo1 is absolutely right you should not go near a wild seal. RSPCA advice is: pay 'attention to any signs up on the beach. Always keep at least 100 metres away - that’s about the same length as a full-sized football pitch. Use binoculars to watch them, and keep dogs on a lead or leave them at home if you can'.

I know you were talking about men in general @WestwardHo1 @BeachLife2, but I saw it with DH and BIL because they wanted to.

I loved both the book and the film. A friend I went with found it a bit boring but I was spellbound the whole way through. It all worked; the acting (Anderson and Isaacs were very good,) the scenery, the natural world (that peregrine) and the soundtrack is sublime.
A fine adaptation and highly recommended.

I went last night and enjoyed it but found aspects of it extremely irritating. (Like why did they not consider the obvious thing of tides before camping on a beach?)

Lovely scenery. Conformed for me that I never want to walk long distances. Wondered why their relatively independent young adult children could not sling them a tenner or two so they could eat something other than noodles. But overall liked the theme of 'life sucks right now but this too shall pass'.

Maybe their kids didn’t realise the extent of their poverty?

I saw the film yesterday, I haven't read the book. Both myself and DP loved it, it was exactly what we were hoping it would be. I'm very into walking and have walked plenty of segments of the SW path. I would love to take enough time off work to walk the whole thing. I loved the scenery and the depiction of the coastal towns, I found people mistaking Moth for a famous poet funny, I found the film in general to be uplifting and inspiring.

I understand people disliking wild campers who leave rubbish and don't bury their poo but hopefully Ray and Moth were being more responsible. I agree that they had some privilege, their kids were grown up and were quite stable in terms of uni and accommodation so they had more freedom than many other people would. They had a friend who offered them accommodation over the winter which wouldn't be an option for many homeless people. But I still find their story of dealing with adversity inspiring, even if they did have more options than some other people do.

I do actually know of someone who was reasonably wealthy before losing everything due to a to a dodgy investment. Yes it might show poor judgement but it can happen, most of us don't make perfect decisions all of the time.

I enjoyed Gillian Anderson's performance. I enjoyed most aspects of the film, I'm really glad I went to see it and am now tempted to read the book.

I finally saw it . Surprisingly I enjoyed it despite GA's dodgy accent ,all the huffing and puffing, ridiculous tropical diving scene and the Disney bunnies. Will have to agree to disagree about the seals as friend I went with says she's seen them on the beach in Cornwall, not right up close but close enough. Definitely think they should have named the places along with miles walked. Stunning scenery. Apart from Atonement I think it's the only time the film has been better than the book.

I also felt sorry for the friend who gave them a place to stay, found her paid work and was portrayed as unpleasant
This. There's a real woman out there - 'Polly'. I think the author has behaved pretty shittilly towards here. But that's how RW comes across, very me, me me.

Well- looks like those who were suspicious of the truth behind this story were right after all.

observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-real-salt-path-how-the-couple-behind-a-bestseller-left-a-trail-of-debt-and-deceit