‘Life-affirming’: Salt Path film starring Gillian Anderson set to lure walkers to south-west England

Jennifer Lessard from New York on the South West Coastal Path near Babbacombe, Torquay. She says she plans to walk the path in sections on visits to the UK, even if it takes 20 years. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

They walk the path for a variety of reasons. For the challenge, the exercise, the views. To find companionship or seek solitude. Some walk with a sense of escaping problems, others with the idea of striding towards a goal.

Many more are expected to head to the South West Coast Path, the 630-mile route around the shores of Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset as the film The Salt Path hits cinema screens.