A celebration of the South West Coast Path in words and music
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630 uninterrupted miles of coastline, crossing wild headlands with the calls of oystercatchers and the smell of salt laden air ever present.” The South West Coast Path (SWCP) is thus described by Raynor Winn, who walked every single mile with her husband Moth in 2013. Faced with homelessness after a business deal turned sour, they took off with just a few belongings and a tent. Their journey was the subject of The Salt Path, Raynor’s best-selling memoir, published in 2018; its sequel, The Wild Silence, explored what happened before and after. Together they have sold over a million copies worldwide, the author praised for her lyrical descriptions of the environment and her frank depiction of the reality of homelessness. One reader who was captivated by The Salt Path was Deborah Knight, agent and manager of The Gigspanner Big Band - a collective of high-profile names on the
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Issue 72 | June - July 2022
folk-roots scene, including Steeleye Span fiddle player Peter Knight and Bellowhead melodeonist John Spiers. While on the SWCP herself, it occurred to Deborah that such a well-trodden trail must hold many more stories of love, loss and the natural world – and that these might be found in the traditional songs and tunes handed down through generations and logged by Victorian song collectors such as Cecil Sharp. This seed of an idea has developed into an exciting collaboration between author and band. Saltlines travels the length of the coast path in July, starting in Somerset and ending in Dorset, taking in three Cornwall venues on the way: St Endellion Church, Princess Pavilion in Falmouth and the Minack Theatre in Porthcurno. Folk songs chosen for their resonance will be interspersed with Raynor’s words, written especially for the occasion. Folk music fan Raynor was “touched and honoured” to be approached. “I thought
about it for five minutes, then said yes, absolutely yes,” she laughs. “How could I turn down the chance to work with names that light up the folk music world? I followed them, and they in turn were inspired by my book, so it’s a two-way collaboration.” However, “this is not The Salt Path set to music”. While Raynor will draw upon her own experiences of the coast path, hers will be just one of many stories to be told during the evening. “Like the songs, the words will reflect the path and the South West, our history and traditions - some that still exist, others that are slipping away - a feeling of our past and present,” she explains. “It has been a revelation, liberating even, for me to be able to concentrate my thoughts and words into a shorter form. Also, while The Salt Path was a personal reflection on my own life, it’s been a pleasure to look beyond that and see the path in an external way, finding its essence within these stories.
