The Salt Path
by Raynor Winn Penguin, £9.99
THIS HIGHLY READABLE BOOK has
been rightly described as “a tale of hope over
despair”. hrough an almost unbelievable
combination of events including the ill-
advised backing of a business venture that
went belly-up, Raynor and her husband
Moth ind themselves evicted from their
own home and without any means of
support, apart from a measly £48 per week
from social services. And Moth has a
serious and debilitating illness.
Homeless, almost broke and in despair,
they look for a way of occupying time
together until their future direction
becomes clearer, and hit on the idea of
walking the South West Coast Path.
hey have never done anything like this
before but are taken by the idea of walking
to Land’s End.
So they set of from Minehead, under-
equipped and completely unprepared
physically. hey make just about every
mistake you could make, and the account of
their irst few weeks on the trail is moving
and funny at the same time. houghts of
giving up are discouraged; where could they
go if they did pack it in?
All the time lurking in the background
is the avuncular igure of Paddy Dillon,whose guidebook they are using. He leads
them along but at irst they feel he must be
a superwalker as they are only achieving
a quarter of his daily stages. heir reliance
on Paddy is touching, and a reminder of
the responsibility that all of us who write
guidebooks carry.
hey reach and quickly pass Land’s
End, taken aback at its commercialisation,
and get to Polruan before autumn fades
into winter. Much to the surprise of their
doctors, Moth’s symptoms almost disappear
while he gets itter. hey ind a temporary
home and some part-time work and the
following spring return, but this time to
walk west from Poole (reading Paddy in
reverse!) to complete the trail. By now they
are it and conident backpackers.
It is hard to believe that this is Raynor
Winn’s irst book. She has a natural style
and writes very honestly, keeping nothing
hidden from the reader. All of us will
identify with their early struggles on the
trail and will also recognise the characters
they meet – some of whom, on hearing
that the couple are homeless, become
distinctly unfriendly.
he ‘salt’ of the title refers not just
to the ocean they have as their walkingBook
NEWREVIEWScompanion but also to the tears shed for
times past that cannot be recaptured. By
the end of the book their life is taking a new
direction, and things are at last beginning
to look a little brighter for them.
heirs is a story that has, I feel, some
way to run – and I look forward to the
next instalment. Meanwhile, I am happy
to recommend part one to TGO readers.
here is something here for all of us.
Roger SmithQuest Into The Unknown tells the life story of
Tony Howard, an occasional contributor to this
magazine. Here is a man who, we quickly learn,
has lived life to the full; a man happiest when
travelling where few, if any, have been before.
In 1983, Tony watched Lawrence of Arabia and
he was hugely inluenced by the stunning scenery
the ilm depicted. Tony, Di Taylor, Mick Shaw and
Alan Baker travelled to Jordan to the Rum Valley.
They were immediately overawed by the scale
and immense beauty of what they found, and they
had, in many ways, found a second home.
Tony and Di returned again and again to
Jordan, trekking extraordinary landscapes,
viewing the remains of centuries of fascinating
history and enjoying much good climbing. Tony’s
descriptions carry the reader to remote camps
buzzing with activity and illed with Bedouin, a
colourful, hospitable people who made Tony and
Di so welcome. We follow the incredibly testing
journey towards the creation of the Jordan Trail.
Reading of Tony and Di’s expeditions, it is no
surprise that Jordan has become such a popular
location for the adventurers of today.The book also describes visits to other
countries, Tony’s climbing around the world with
close friends and the story of Troll, the climbing
equipment company which developed a range of
mountaineering aids including the revolutionary
‘belay loop harness’ the Troll Mark 5. We read
about n.o.m.a.d.s. (New Opportunities for
Mountaineering, Adventure and Desert Sports), a
company set up by Tony and Di to open up
adventure travel in countries which had not
previously been considered or promoted as
obvious destinations.
Quest Into The Unknown is a long and quite
intense read. Many pages are crammed with
remarkable detail and Tony and Di’s passion for
the unknown and their occasional encounters
with danger certainly push the reader deeper into
the text. This book offers a voyage into the social
history of many peoples. It would sit comfortably
in any library recording great exploration.
Noel DawsonQuest into the
Unknown
by Tony Howard
Vertebrate Publishing, £14.95
Published 4 April 2019 Read a longer version of this review online at tgomagazine.co.uk^Spring 2019 The Great Outdoors 25