We see-um come, We see-um go

Yesterday afternoon, I joined a group of friends and neighbours who drove to the cinema in Bodmin to see a film featuring a couple who were once welcomed into our village and given shelter in the old Wesleyan Church, which stands proudly overlooking the harbour.

When they arrived, penniless, halfway through their quest to complete the 630 mile South West Coast Path, they were just another couple down on their luck.

During their sojourn, we got to know them, and I was rather surprised to hear a woman being interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 one morning, whose voice I recognised and whose story seemed familiar.

She was introduced as Raynor Wynn, but that was not the name she bore when she arrived in our village. When we met them, they were Sally And Timothy. However, later on we called her Rain and Wind.

So, to get back to the film, we settled ourselves in, with our popcorn and drinks, and waited through the deafening advertisements for upcoming films, and were relieved that the music written by Chris Roe, matched the mood of the film, which was a 'Love Conquers All' struggle against overwhelming adversity.

The stars of the film, Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs were superbly cast, and sensitively played, and the cinematography was stunning.

It was very moving; seeing, and sensing  all they had been through. It felt visceral. Their faces  lit up with being in nature, and that was the salve in their suffering.

“You’ve been touched,” says a woman at Portheras Cove. “You’ve felt the hand of nature. It won’t ever leave you now; you’re salted".

However, we barely recognised any of the places they walked through, as they were shot in Monmouthshire, Gloucestershire, and West Sussex. And we were slightly miffed when the film ended before the journey was halfway through.

It was a good adaptation of the book, which we had all read, and we came out of the cinema discussing the fact that our neck of the woods didn't even get a look in, seeing that they were given a place to stay in the village, where Ray wrote up her notes and published the book, The Salt Path, which became a bestseller, and Moth completed his studies.

But on reflection, I thought that it was a good thing that the film ended where it did, because we have enough visitors as it is, and the tranquilly we all appreciate should not be disturbed by hordes of film tourists.