Walking Wet: A Journey Along England’s Salt Path
By Rick Rogers (2025)
Genre: Travel
Pages (Print): 208
Via: Author request
Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Heavy fogs. Dew. Drizzle. Sea spray. Sprinkles. Rain showers. Rain squalls. Cloudbursts. Steady rain. Occasional rain. Driving rain. Coming down in sheets, torrents, or buckets. Along 630 miles of English coastline known as the Southwest Coast Path, aka: The Salt Path.
Are we having fun yet?
You will in Rick Rogers’ latest tome, Walking Wet. We’ll get to that in a min. So kindly keep your hair on, Cookie. First a wee bit of background:
Some Background
We met Rick the Hiking Dude a few years back when we reviewed his book, Walking Home: Common Sense and Other Misadventures On the Pacific Crest Trail. You can read our full review here.
So when we heard that Hiking Dude has a new book out about his adventures hiking in Cornwall, we jumped at it. Like this:
Kimber: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
Mom: Kimmi, what are you doing?
Kimber: I’m gearing up for a review of that new walking book by Mr. Walking Guy.
Mom: Okay. But I’m pretty sure George Lucas beat you to the punch on that opening line.
Kimber: George Who?
Times
Yes, friends. There are times when the serenity and simplicity of walking the English coastline does indeed feel like “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” In a really soggy galaxy, in fact, as evident in this lithe and lively tome by Rick Rogers.
More
Cuz this book is about a lot more than racking up miles on the ‘ole ankle express. Or in this case, soggy boots and squishy socks. Peering through his “agreeably comfortable and hazy absentmindedness,” Rogers takes us on a journey of resilience, reflection, and introspection. It’s all seasoned with light and laughter as only he can. Along the way Rogers fills us in on some of his personal background. Ditto smartphones and “the art of selective hearing.” (Kimber: Huh? What? You say something, Mom?) How hiking a long trail “is the perfect antidote” to living “inside the chatterbox.” (Kimmi: You rang?”) Much more.
Entertaining
Entertaining and eminently engaging, Walking Wet takes us on England’s 630-mile Southwest Coast Path, aka the Salt Path, with his son Matthew and sister Rhonda. Matthew is fourteen-years-old and less-than-thrilled to be here. Rhonda is a rehabbing heart patient.
Along the way, we’re treated to pages packed with observations on local flora and fauna, food, geography, customs and culture and architecture. Also dino eggs. Earworms. Burger King jingles. An investment banker from Scotland. Concrete pill boxes. Mayberry. Muppet. Curly. Eavesdropping cows. “Are you okay?” (You’ll get that if you read the book.) “Walker’s Brain happens.” Chiddleypump. The “home base-and-foray” hiking method. Ditto “muddy tramps under unruly rain squalls.” Sheltering from a nasty storm in the middle of a herd of dairy cows. Sulphury sea breezes.
When Matthew and Rhonda cut their trip short and fly home, Rogers continues the walk alone – for about 450 more miles.
There’s also rain. Lots and lots of rain. As in, 38 out of 39 hiking days it rained. So, you may want to grab a sweater. Or a trash bag. (You’ll also get that if you read the book.)
“I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail back home, and I met some folks out there hoping it would change their lives. But most of the time, it didn’t. Whatever it is that you find on a trail is difficult to hold on to when you leave it. Those things are often situational and ethereal, and they slip through your fingers when you get back home.”
Warm, Winsome
En route, Rogers serves up a warm and winsome combo of outdoor camping adventures and misadventures, memoirish musings, travel guide talking, and reflections on farming life and teenagers. In fact, the snappy back-and-forth between the author and his son Matthew will sound familiar to anyone with teenagers. (Take two Tylenol and call me in seven years.)
There’s also:
– Tetley tea and Irish coffee.
– Mandolin music.
– Playing chicken with “wrong side” vehicles trying to kill you.
“Doers can also be dreamers.”
– Ross and Demelza! (Sort of.)
– “Tony Orlando and Dawn.”
– Andy Taylor.
– Exorbitant rise in home prices.
– Chocolate cake with frosting for breakfast. (Mom: I’m in!)
– Vertigo.
– Texting.
– Face-timing and video chatting.
– PODs (Photos of the Day).
– The snail whisperer.
– The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
– “Emma, the Oracle of Understatements.”
Nothing gives you a sense of belonging like sharing wine in a circle of kind souls and their dogs in a building that’s housed countless similar scenes, re-enacted by generations through the eight centuries of its existence.
Also ruminations about fatherhood and parenting a teenager later in life. Notes on the topography, history, culture and cuisine of the region skim the story amid nearly non-stop storms and wet weather. For example, shifting sand and the author’s “chronic anxiety about tomorrow’s world” and how son Matthew’s generation will “navigate themselves within it” – while Rogers is being blasted by raindrops and soaked to the skin.
It felt like home, a place to curl up in. It felt like it should. It felt like enough.
POV
Told in the first person, Walking Wet includes stops in Personal Reflection and Introspection. There’s a lot of room to connect here for readers of a certain age. Pages will also resonate with any parent who’s raised or is raising a teenager and lived to tell the tale. (Don’t ask how we know that.)
Perhaps some of the most fascinating portions of Walking Wet are the author’s observations on the differences between hiking the PCT and hiking the Salt Path. And we don’t mean just weather. Good stuff!
Style
The narrative style is a little Peter Jenkins’ A Walk Across America with a chaser of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods. Or maybe it’s the other way around? Anywho, the style is piquant. Pithy. And percolating with wry wit. Razor-sharp writing propels the narrative forward like … a hurricane on the Cornish coast. The tone is light-hearted in places and pensive in others. Maps are provided so you can follow along. Chapters are headed with helpful stats like days walking, path miles walked, and total miles walked.
Poldarkian!
So whether you’re a long-distance hiker looking for your next challenge, a casual stroller scouting a vicarious walking adventure, or a hapless Poldarkian (Kimber: New word I just made up. Hi, Mom), you’ll find all of the above and much more in this engaging and enjoyable tome.
The storm raged, but where I stood in it now made moving through it easier. I was reminded again that how badly a storm hits you has less to do with the force of its wind than it does with where you stand when you’re in it.
Extras
You can find photos, videos and info. for each path section in its respective chapter. You can find more here along with some other cool stuff related to Walking Wet.
Speaking of “finding,” we found a stray typo or two roaming the paper countryside. But no biggie. We found the following paragraph confusing. On page ii:
“This is largely a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.”
Wait. What?
And that ‘goosey bagpipe’ thing? Not. Funny.
Kimmi’s Question
That being said, Kimber has one question: When is Rick the Hiking Dude gonna head back across the pond and walk the (Thomas) Hardy Way, “meandering or no”?
Soaked in waggish wit, this clever and keen book had one of us laughing so hard in places, she snorted lemonade out her nose. Indeed, Walking Wet is a delightful read for anyone who enjoys “their wit dry, their socks wet, and warmhearted misadventures laced with doubt, resilience, and the occasional perfect pint.” This one’s a winner.
Mom: I’d bring a rain slicker ‘fize you. And extra socks. Just sayin’ again.
Kimber: About that Lucas guy and that galaxy far, far away. Do they have burgers?
*That’s not a typo. It’s deliberate. As in, untie your shoe laces. Grab a hot cuppa. And give this book a whirl. Got that, Cupcake?
Pages & Paws Rating
Our Rating: 4.0
Cornwall photo credit: Public domain