Loved!! ( )

I bought this book for its lovely cover and title. It's a charming book full of weather, wind and water. Mainly a book about the writing of another book [b:The Salt Path|38085814|The Salt Path|Raynor Winn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520119402l/38085814._SY75_.jpg|59753071], as well as describing a hike in Iceland. But not having read The Salt Path, I think it stands on its own. I enjoyed Raynor Winn's writing with its layers of effortless metaphor.

She's able to move through time and space lightly. A heartfelt, sometimes molecular, song to her relationship with her husband Moth, for whom she has begun to grieve. I see it now as a desperately sad (almost clinging) story of love and loss.

I looked back to Moth, but he wasn't at my shoulder. Two hundred metres behind , a figure stood on a boulder; he wouldn't have been visible if it hadn't been for the blue cover of his rucksack. Green waterproof arms outstretched, wrapped by the wild air, in a moment of acceptance of the raw blankness of the landscape. I closed my eyes feeling the same wind he did, imprinting the sight of him as he would always be for me; free in the wide embrace of the natural world. (p. 243)

Raynor Winn also introduced me to the ancient celtic idea of 'thin places' where the veil between this world and the eternal world is thin. A thin place is where one can walk in two worlds – the worlds are fused together, knitted loosely where the differences can be discerned or tightly where the two worlds become one.

I'm now looking forward to [b:The Salt Path|38085814|The Salt Path|Raynor Winn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520119402l/38085814._SY75_.jpg|59753071] because I once did a six day walk (in bare feet, sleeping rough) along the inter-tidal zone between Point Lonsdale and Apollo Bay on the south-west coast of Victoria. My walk was only about 200km and there was no path. For me, it was all about distant headlands, tides, winds and weather - about which Raynor writes so beautifully.
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THE WILD SILENCE gets off to a Rock and Tent opening which felt oddly contrived unlike the beginning of SALT PATH.

Next, the horrors of the gamekeeper are introduced. Not compelling reading for any animal lover.

The sadness of her Mother's dying was strangely interspersed with meeting and marrying Moth.

Thankfully the publication of THE SALT PATH gives them enough money and fame so we don't
have to go down the No Money No Food poverty chain which wore thin in the first book.

The plot picks up as Moth start to regain his health on the rental farm they are restoring and
the join up with their old PATH friends, Dave and Julie, as they go WALKING again with Paddy Dillon.

Iceland descriptions are enthralling.

(Though readers may well tire of again hearing about pee-ing and toilet blocks.) ( )

A very worthy follow up to ‘The Salt Path’. Interesting insight to what happened to Ray and Moth after the end of the last book. Enjoyed the beautiful writing. ( )

After walking the South West Path around Cornwall, Ray and Moth settled in Cornwall. Moth went to uni to finish his degree but Ray was a bit at loose ends, so she wrote The Salt Path. This led them to a new home and more walking.
Ray writes so lyrically and descriptively. She captures the world around her in such a lovely way and it makes the reader feel like they're meandering around the farm or woods, or hiking in Iceland with her.
In some ways, I feel like she's charting pieces of my life. I read The Salt Path before I hiked Offa's Dyke Path on my own. I read this book while dealing with my son's diagnosis of PLS and it has encouraged me to push him to read about Moth and his struggles and triumphs.
I look forward to more from Ms. Winn and I encourage all to read her books. ( )