AN author has spoken of the therapeutic quality of the South West’s wilderness as she welcomes a new film (starring Gillian Anderson) of her and her husband’s hiking odyssey.

Salt Path film location with Jason Isaac, Ray, Moth and Gillian Anderson. Picture by Steve Tanner (Black Bear).
On location on the coast path, the actors and the people they were playing. Left to right: Jason Isaac, Ray, Moth and Gillian Anderson (Steve Tanner/ Black Bear)

The film, The Salt Path, is based on the 2018 book of the same name by Raynor Winn, which relates the emotional story of their long-distance coastal walk.

Actors Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson star in writer Raynor Winn's story of her long-distance walk. Picture by Steve Tanner.
Actors Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson star in writer Raynor Winn's story of her long-distance walk (Steve Tanner)

Raynor (Ray) and Moth Winn, of Cornwall, walked the the 630-km South West Coast Path at the lowest point in their lives – after he received a life-limiting health diagnosis and they were evicted from their home after a financial dispute.

Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson star in The Salt Path, a story of Moth and Raynor Winn's South West Coast Path walk, based on Ray's book of the trek. Picture by Steve Tanner
Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson walk the beach in The Salt Path (Steve Tanner)

They took the decision to walk the infamously rollercoaster coast path, camping along the way over a year – because they had “nothing to go back home to or for”.

A book by Cornish writer Raynor Winn is the story of The Salt Path - a film staring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs (pictured).
A book by Cornish writer Raynor Winn is the basis of The Salt Path - a film staring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs (pictured) (Steve Tanner)

This was a particularly difficult challenge for them, not only because of the lengthy and hilly cliff terrain but also because Moth had just been told he had a terminal condition, leaving him at times unable to move properly.

Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs taking a break as walkers Raynor Winn and husband Moth based on their South West Coast Path walk. Picture by Steve Tanner.
Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs taking a break as walkers Raynor Winn and husband Moth based on their South West Coast Path walk (Steve Tanner)

Against all the odds, however, the extreme physical exertions seemed to help Moth. In the film, Jason Isaacs who plays Moth (with Gillian Anderson who plays Ray) is seen gradually getting more mobile with his heavy rucksack.

He sometimes could not get out of his sleeping bag or tent or even eat properly without Ray’s help. However, on one dramatic night he even rescues their tent from the waves as the tide comes in higher than they expected during a night spent on the beach. The walk, it turned out, helped him regain his mobility.

Ray said the real star of the film was the scenery: “The South West Coast Path is an amazing setting – we have fantastic actors playing the title roles, but the real star is the route with the dramatic cliffs and the ever-present sea and horizon.”