WEBVTT - Conversations with Cornesy - Raynor Winn 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.680 Hi, everyone, Welcome to conversations. Now. I've been very lucky. 0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:07.120 I've just seen a movie that's about to be released. 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.120 It's called The Salt Path and it tells the story 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:13.880 about raynal Winn and her husband Moths, who lose their home, 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:17.160 sadly lose their home and then faced with this prospect 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:21.680 of homelessness, decided to go walking as you do. And 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:24.720 it turned into an amazing film where which is beautifully 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:29.640 shot showing the coastline of southern England. And it turned 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:33.040 out to be very therapeutic for Raynhold's husband, who had 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:36.839 been diagnosed with a very serious illness. But very fortunate 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:40.080 we have Raynold joining us now. Raynal Winn, welcome to 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:42.160 the program. How are you great? 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:43.360 Thanks good for you to be here. 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:46.840 Can you tell us from where we are speaking to you. 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:52.879 I'm in Cornwall in the southwestern tip of England. 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:54.480 Is that home now? 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:58.680 It's worth of been since we stopped, since we finished 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:02.840 walking a path. Actually strange that your life just washed 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:06.240 me up here and I've not left. 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:09.840 That's interesting. Now when we look at your bio you 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.920 list to your occupation is listed as a British long 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:16.600 distance walker. I wonder how many people make their career 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:17.959 as long distance walkers. 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:21.880 Yeah, it's strange, isn't it. I don't know how that 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:27.119 made book. I do walk quite a bit, so maybe the. 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:30.520 I want to I want to start at the beginning, 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:32.319 but I think I have to start in the middle 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:34.160 when we when we go back to the movie, the 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.520 movie starts with you and your husband being kicked out 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:44.080 of your house or your farm, and it's a gripping, sad, 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:48.360 angry moment for I imagine for you and for him, 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:51.720 and for those of us who are watching. So can 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:53.120 you tell us what led up to that? 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.840 Yeah, moster night we met when we were teenagers. I 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:02.320 can remember I was sitting in the college canteen and 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:04.760 it was a really busy day. But as I looked 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:07.720 up across the canteen, it's really full, busy room. There 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:10.400 was a little partying in the heads along the opposite 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.640 side of the room, there was this young man in 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:18.560 a white shirt and just at that moment so I 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:21.839 saw him. It dipped a Mars bar, a chocolate bar 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:24.800 in a cup of tea, and I can remember thinking 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.520 what a weird thing to do. But strangely is I 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:29.960 watched him it was just like he's the one, I 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:33.680 just know it. And as I walked out of the room, 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:36.200 I looked back at him and he caught my eye, 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:39.680 and there was just that moment of knowing, that moment 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:40.600 when we both. 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:42.400 Just knew love it first sight. 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.560 That's definitely yeah. And through the years after that, we 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.800 just had this dream that we would find a place 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:52.799 in the hills, somewhere we could turn into a home 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:57.120 and live life on our terms. I think I was 0:02:57.120 --> 0:03:00.160 about thirty when we actually found that place. It was 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:04.120 an absolute ruin. The walls were falling in, roof was 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:07.640 caving in, but it was exactly what we'd been looking for, 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:11.280 and we spent the next thirty years of our lives, 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:16.480 twenty years, sorry of our lives, rebuilding that converting the 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:21.079 outbuildings into holiday accommodations so visitors could come and stay 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:25.480 and pay the bills, and our children grew up, then 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:28.680 they went to university. It was just it was everything 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:30.560 we'd ever hoped for, and we were living our sort 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:35.600 of idyllic life, I think. But during those years, we'd 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:40.440 had this financial dispute with a lifetime friend and it 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:43.560 resulted in a court case that's always being served with 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:47.080 an eviction notice from that home, and they gave us 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.760 a week to move out, a week to pack Goes 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:51.400 twenty years of life into. 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:52.440 A box and go. 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:58.240 And it was during that week that Moth had what 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:02.680 we thought was going to be routine hospice of appointment 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:05.840 because it has a problem with his shoulder. We thought 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:08.080 it was it had come from when he fell through 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.440 the roof when we were mending the roof, But it 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:12.920 turned out not to be routine at all because it 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:17.760 was diagnosed with a neuro degenerative condition called cortico base 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:22.839 or degeneration, and it's a really rare condition that has 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:27.880 no treatment and no cure. And I think it was 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:32.159 in that moment that all of our lives fell apart, 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:37.640 because we'd lost everything that we had worked towards, our home, 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:43.200 our business, everything that we'd built for twenty years. But 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.000 then we lost what we believed would be our future 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:48.440 as well, because that was being taken away from him. 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.880 Well, I wanted to know, and never really explained in 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.400 the movie, is what was the business deal that went wrong? 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.080 Can you expand on that as well? 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.000 I've never really dwelt on that because I don't think 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:04.159 it's the priority really in what in this story because 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:10.000 the story was about the coast path, but everything, it's 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.960 just a friend, and then you find out in life 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:17.680 you probably shouldn't have trusted them. We all can do that, 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:21.120 can't we. But sometimes the outcome can be more extreme, 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:22.679 and it was in our case. 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:27.640 Could you lose your house and you get kicked out? 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:31.440 I mean that just seems so brutal. The bailiffs are 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:34.520 there knocking the door down to kick you out. 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:35.880 Yeah. 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:36.320 Yeah. 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.080 Early on in the film Starting a Book as well, 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:44.520 it starts at that point where we're standing under the stairs. 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:47.479 The bayliffs are knocking at the door, and we just 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.440 weren't ready to go. That's why we were under the stairs. 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:53.839 We weren't ready to take that step out of the 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:57.479 door because we knew in that moment as we stepped out, 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:00.560 we would never go back, never go back into all 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.920 those years of life. And also as we went out 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:06.520 of that door, we would become homeless because there was 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:10.479 nowherefforts to go. And that was the moment when I 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:14.520 saw a book in a packing case, and it was 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:16.599 a book about a young man who'd walked to the 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:20.920 Southwest Coast Path with his dog, and I think in that, 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:24.599 in that really brutal moment, it felt like the idea 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:28.040 of filling a rucksack and just going for a walk 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:31.479 following a line on the map would give us a reason, 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:35.320 would give us a reason to go forwards, a purpose 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:38.440 to go into the next day. And at that stage, 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.400 that's all it was. It was something that would readers 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:44.599 through the next day because it felt as if there 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.200 was no reason to go on really at that point. 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.800 But you needed some sort of preparation. Had to find 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:52.640 a tent, you had to find food, you had to 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:55.799 find nep sex. And did that take much doing? 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:00.080 I did. I mean, we hadn't walked any sort of 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.799 of like multi day distance since we were in iarly twenties, 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:07.640 and at this point I was fifty. So when we 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:11.720 got all our old equipment and looked at it, it 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:18.000 was actually not not carryable because it was so heavy 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.720 and we weren't twenty anymore. So we had to buy 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:25.080 a new tent, which we did. We bought it from 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:31.000 an online auction website and it became our home for 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.520 months to come. But we bought it for a few 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:40.080 pounds online, and then, of course, you know, we gathered 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.160 the other things that we would need and go were 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:49.920 very very basic, very rudimentary things. Probably the biggest mistake 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:55.400 we made was I saw these summer weight sleeping bags 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:58.440 in a supermarket that was so tiny and lightweight, and 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:04.520 it was like fantastic, easy to carry. Great, but you 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:08.160 know it's Britain. You never needs sleeping bag here. 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:14.960 What is quite gripping when you're trying to understand Moth's 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:18.000 condition and he looked like he walked with quite a 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:22.960 severe limp. It must have been so painful for him 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.160 to negotiate those climbs and the like. 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:31.440 Yeah, it was very difficult because part of good condition, 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:36.720 well the majority of the condition of CBD is that 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:43.800 it affects movement. It affects the signals from the brain 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:50.079 telling your body to move. And so his initial stages 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.680 with this condition were that he was struggling with his 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:58.120 left side, struggling to move his left leg properly and 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:04.360 that was really difficult. But he was also struggling to 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:07.280 even put his coat on without help. So carrying a 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:13.360 rucksack was really hard. Yeah, he was. He was finding 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.000 it very very hard to start with. You know, there 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:19.480 were days when many mornings early on in that walk 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:23.040 when he would have been in the tent overnight and 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:25.480 was so stiff in the morning he couldn't get out 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:27.920 of the tent. So there's a scene in a film 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:30.640 where Jillian pulls him out of the tent by the 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:33.959 sleeping bag, and that often happened many mornings. It was 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:36.000 the only way of getting him out was to pull 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:39.160 the sleeping bag out with him in it. Yeah, so 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:42.200 it wasn't easy in those early weeks. It wasn't easy. 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.720 My guest on conversations today is rain Or when Raina 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.680 and her husband Moth start war and they don't start, 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.680 but they're their main characters in a movie called The 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:54.920 Salt Path. They walked the Salt Path, which is a 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:56.800 path in England. We're talking about that at bit more 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.520 and when he come back, there's a film made of it. 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:03.480 There's books being written and subsequently a couple of other books. 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:06.640 So back shortly, folks. Raynall Winner is my guest on 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:11.400 conversations now. Raynal is a well. She's described in Wikipedia, 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:14.280 if you can trust Wikipedia, as a British long distance 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:17.120 walker and writer. Well, she certainly is a writer because 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:20.800 her first book, The Sault Path, became a best seller, 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:23.360 and it's been made into a movie now. The movie 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:27.880 stars Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs. Gillian Andson plays Raynor's 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:33.320 part and Isaacs plays the part of Moth. What's it 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:36.840 like seeing yourself portrayed in a movie with and are 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:40.320 you happy with the performance and the and the casting. 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:43.920 Well, it's quite a weird thing, isn't it, having Jillian 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:48.040 Anderson portray you on the screen. It's not an experience, 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:52.120 that's for sure. I can remember when I was told 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:55.360 that it would be Jillian Anderson. I was a little 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:59.680 bit I don't know, is it going to work. She's 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:03.040 so good, glamorous. I just couldn't see how she would 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:09.280 capture me in that absolutely raw state. But as soon 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:11.880 as I saw her on set, I could see she 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:17.040 completely abandoned any idea of vanity and had thrown herself 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:22.440 into the idea of being raw and elemental and out 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:26.120 in the weather. And she did a brilliant job of that, 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:30.040 of capturing that sense of being lost in life. 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:33.080 And how did Jason Isaacs portray math? Were you happy 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:33.280 with that? 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:39.000 Well? Yes, completely. We met them for a day before 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:42.839 filming started, and I think I was immediately struck by 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:48.959 Jason Isaac's enthusiasm for life, and that is such a 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:53.920 part of moths character, that sense of enthusiasm and joy 0:11:54.160 --> 0:12:01.079 and just willingness to embrace the day. And yeah, completely, 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.640 as soon as you know he was, he was running 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:08.439 up and down the stairs, trying to copy Moth's movements 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.680 and jumping on and off our kitchen worktop. I realized 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:15.360 that he was going to be actually perfect. And another 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:18.439 moments in the film, just little moments when I looked 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.040 at the screen and just for a second I thought 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:24.120 it was Moth on the screen. So I can't have 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:26.440 done a bad job if I felt like that. 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:30.440 Surely Moth isn't his real name, Moth as in Moth 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:31.400 t h. 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:35.240 It's what most of his teenage friends have always called him. 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:39.360 So is it a secret? 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:42.640 Well, it's that's an abbreviation of his real name, so 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.600 you know, it's what we've always known about. So that's 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:46.520 who he is to us. 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:50.760 You can't you have to tell us his real name. 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:53.400 I don't, you. 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.680 Can be what can that be short for moths? 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:07.360 Anyway, it was great to see Jason on the screen 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:11.480 because there's a little scene later in a film when 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.360 it's a semed direct from the book when a lady 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.360 comes and talks to them and says, you know, you've 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:20.800 been out in the out in the wilderness, and you 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:24.480 can see it written all over you. You're salted. And 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:27.240 that scene in the book, when I looked at the 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:32.240 at the screen, just at Julian and Jason sitting on 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:35.560 the sand, there was just in that moment they really 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:39.199 captured that feeling of what it felt like to be 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:42.280 on that path, of what it felt like to be 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:46.480 out there weeks and weeks into that walk with nothing else. 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:48.440 And I think that was the thing. It wasn't just 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:50.880 like going for a walk, it was there was nothing 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:55.079 else that walk, those rocksacks, got tent, It was all 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:55.520 we had. 0:13:55.760 --> 0:14:00.600 So did you have a rustic or rule upbringing you 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:02.120 close to the land? 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:07.640 Yeah, I grew up on farm, so my whole childhood 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:10.800 was playing in the fields and in the woods and 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:16.760 and tracking rabbits and that that was my childhood. So 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:18.400 I think really. 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:20.600 Were about where about what part of. 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.400 England, So as far from the sea as you can get, 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:27.840 right in the center of the country, as far away 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.560 from the coast as you could be. So I think 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:35.960 something of that of that growing up in a landscape, 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:42.560 was in that decision two to go out onto the 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:48.200 headguns because maybe maybe that felt like going to a 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:53.880 safe place, because I understood nature more than I would 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:58.120 ever feel at home in the town or I mean, 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.480 moth have grown up on the edge of but in 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:05.640 his head, he'd always been absolutely drawn to the wild places. 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:09.480 So when we first met, you know, he really encouraged 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:11.640 me to go to the mountains, to go to the 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:14.840 coast guine, to go to the places that really inspired him. 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:21.240 Of very early years together were spent exploring Scotland in 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:25.120 the Lake District, the really wilder parts of the UK, 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:30.400 And I think that's what our relationship was built on, 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:35.960 was built on those early years of being out in 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:41.600 the countryside. And so I'm sure that that, you know, 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.920 was there somewhere in the background of that decision to walk. 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:49.960 As a young lady and a young girl growing up, 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:53.600 what ambition did you have you did you see yourself 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:57.440 as a marathon walker? Well? What did you want to be? 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:00.560 Absolutely when I was a child, I thought I was 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:02.800 going to grow up to be a writer, and I 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:06.360 really just thought I was going to have a book 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:08.680 with a penguin on the the spine. 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:08.880 Of the book. 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:12.840 But I never did write. I just life took me 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:15.400 off down another avenue, and I never did write anything 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.960 until I started to write The Salt Path. Yeah, it 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:21.600 was such a joy to put words onto a page 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:25.800 and to feel how you could how you could painter 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.840 scene with words. I just loved the process and it 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:32.720 was almost as addictive as a long distance walk. 0:16:32.800 --> 0:16:35.560 Then was it easy to get it published? 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:40.560 Well, I've been told by my publisher and my agent 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:44.640 to qualify anything I say about this by saying what 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:50.240 happened to me isn't normal. I literally I wrote it 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.480 four Moth. I wrote the Sort Path just for Moth 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:58.320 because he was starting to the illness was starting to 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:02.320 affect his memory, was starting to forget some parts of 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:05.720 that path, and it had been such an important, strong, 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:09.320 powerful moment in our lives. I needed to hold it 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:12.560 for him, to capture it so that he would always 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:15.320 have it. And that's all I was doing with it, 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:18.600 you know. I literally wrote it, printed it on a 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:22.320 home printer. It started out black, ended up pink because 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:24.800 the printer ran out of ink. I tied it up 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:27.199 with the string, gave it to him for his birthday. 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:31.639 That's all it was at that stage, but I remember 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:34.440 my daughter was staying with us because it was his birthday. 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:36.720 She read it before he did, and she said, you know, 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:40.320 it's not bad. You should do something with it. And 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:43.400 I really thought she meant, you know, get a binder 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:47.760 or put it in a folder, because I couldn't imagine 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:51.080 doing anything other. But eventually I did look for an 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:56.119 agent and found one that I thought would be okay. 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:59.560 Sent you know, as you do three chapters and this 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:03.080 is not this And just a few days later she 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:04.440 got back to me and said, kind of sing the 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:09.080 rest of the manuscript. Within a week she said she 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:11.720 wanted to represent me. And then just a couple of 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:16.160 months later we had an offer from from the publishers 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:19.359 and I've got a penguin on the spine of my book. 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:22.600 How amazing is that? You dripped about that as a 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:28.440 little girl. Yeah, And then the film rights followed. Did 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:29.520 that take you by surprise? 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:35.560 Absolutely? The Sapath had been published for a few months 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:39.680 and we started to get some interest from a few 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:45.760 producers who wanted to option the film rights. I didn't 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:48.879 understand anything about film really, I'm not really sure if 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:53.040 I do now, but I certainly didn't then, but it 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:56.680 does seem that many books get optioned, but very few 0:18:56.720 --> 0:19:01.479 get made into a film. So we we we agreed 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:05.960 to option the film rights with absolutely no expectation of 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:11.760 ever seeing a film made. So when it did finally 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:16.840 come to to good point where things started to move 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:19.320 and it was actually going to be made, it did 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.880 feel a bit like, oh, hold on, because it's actually happening. 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:27.439 What is this going to mean? Yeah, well, there were 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:30.040 quite a few years in between the option and the 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:32.600 film actually get made, but apparently that's the way it 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:34.520 goes in films, very slow business. 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:38.159 Rain Or Win is my guest, folks. Her book was 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:40.240 called The Salt Path that's been made into a movie. 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:43.040 You must see it. It's quite gripping and it's quite 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:46.119 inspiring actually because you feel the pain. You feel the 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:49.800 pain of climbing hills and sleeping out and I don't 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:53.760 know how you actually walk so far carrying begpecks Back shortly, folks, 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:57.320 welcome back the conversations everybody. If you have just joined in, 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:01.600 I'm chatting with rain Or Win. She's in Cornwall as 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:05.240 we speak, down at the south of England, and we're 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:08.200 talking about a movie that was made subsequent to her 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:11.439 publishing a book called The Salt Path about her and 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:16.800 her husband Moths diagnosed with a really serious illness. I'll 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:20.119 just see if I'm actually pronounced a quarterboat, quarterco base 0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:23.760 or degeneration. And they lose their home in a business 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:27.240 deal or an arrangement that went poorly for them, so 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:30.720 in desperation they start walking. I just can't imagine walking 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:32.399 the distances you did. I mean, you can go for 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:34.439 a walk, and you might go for a go for 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:37.680 a weekend, but you're the Salt Path was is that 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:40.280 five hundred odd miles. 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:42.320 Six hundred and thirty miles that's got on a scent 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:45.760 because aparently equivalent to climbing. Ever, it's nearly four times, 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:47.720 so you can tell it goes up and down quite 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:47.960 a bit. 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:51.560 Well, that's the thing that puzzled me when you see 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:55.439 the movie where Moth starts off and he's dragging his 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:58.520 leg and he's dragging his lenk the whole way through. Firstly, 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:02.200 did the did the actor Jason Isaacs, did he get 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:05.200 the movement accurate? Is that? Is that? How? 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:10.680 Talking to Math and lots of time exploring how that 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:15.280 condition affected him at that time, but he also spent 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:19.960 quite a bit of time talking to PSPA, the charity 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:24.640 that supports people with DBD, and another very closely connected 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:30.080 illness PSP, and from that he built a picture of 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:35.840 of the movements of people with cort co based or degeneration, 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:42.600 and he he worked quite closely with Math on movement 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:47.240 and that was that was really worthwhile because although the 0:21:47.320 --> 0:21:51.399 movements that he portrays might not be one hundred percent 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:56.480 accurate to how Math moved, they do portray that illness 0:21:56.640 --> 0:22:00.480 really well and as such it was it was really 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:03.520 strong picture of the condition. 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:07.720 There's interesting parts. I mean, I know I've seen the 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:11.720 movie and our listeners probably haven't yet, but you seem 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:16.200 so destitute, had no money at times, you were starving 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:19.600 at times. How did you survive and what was that 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:21.639 like the prospect of no money and no food and 0:22:21.680 --> 0:22:23.280 you're on the walk. 0:22:23.520 --> 0:22:26.920 It was pretty desperate at times. We had really quite 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:29.639 poor equipment as well, because we hadn't had much money 0:22:29.640 --> 0:22:31.960 to buy it with, so I think probably one of 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:37.840 our worst mistakes was buying goes super thin, ultra lightweight 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:41.480 summer sleeping bags. So we were cold quite a lot, 0:22:41.640 --> 0:22:45.320 but we had hard money. Were we started out with 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:48.320 about forty pounds a week, and then it rapidly went 0:22:48.359 --> 0:22:51.600 down to about twenty five a week. And on the 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:56.440 Southwest coast, which is very tourist built area that sort 0:22:56.480 --> 0:22:59.560 of exists on its tourism, twenty five pounds a week 0:22:59.600 --> 0:23:03.479 for two people doesn't go very far. There's a scene 0:23:03.680 --> 0:23:09.080 in the film where where the couple have forgotten to 0:23:09.119 --> 0:23:12.960 cancel their house insurance and so a standing order takes 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:17.639 all their money out of the account, and Durian Anderson 0:23:17.760 --> 0:23:21.320 goes to a bank teller and asks for the last 0:23:21.359 --> 0:23:24.359 one pound thirty eight out of the account, and that 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:28.080 did actually happen. But we took that one pound thirty 0:23:28.119 --> 0:23:31.359 eight out because it equated six packs of noodles, which 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:35.560 we worked out we could just survive for about five 0:23:35.640 --> 0:23:38.800 days on those packets of noodles. One packet a day 0:23:38.840 --> 0:23:42.560 between two of us was just through that and an 0:23:42.560 --> 0:23:44.920 awful lot of hot water to keep the hunger at bait, 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:48.639 and we could just about get by. So hunger was 0:23:48.720 --> 0:23:51.440 such a big deal to start with. It was anyway, 0:23:52.119 --> 0:23:58.800 because we don't usually really face real hunger in Western society, 0:23:58.840 --> 0:24:02.840 do we in our civilization? And you know, if we 0:24:02.880 --> 0:24:05.639 are really hungry and there's nothing much in a house. 0:24:06.320 --> 0:24:08.960 You can always usually get a cracker or a bit 0:24:09.000 --> 0:24:11.560 of toast, but when you've got no money and there's 0:24:11.680 --> 0:24:15.680 no food, yeah, hunger can be such a really painful thing. 0:24:15.720 --> 0:24:20.200 It's actually surprising how painful hunger can be. But after 0:24:20.280 --> 0:24:23.560 a while, it's like your body adjusts and it stops 0:24:24.359 --> 0:24:28.400