Thread 5: To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

[DisappointedReader]

The Observer The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...

Second article in the Observer
https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-whats-in-the-book-and-what-the-observer-has-found

Third item in the Observer
https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-the-truth-behind-the-blockbuster-book-video

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Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement Raynor Winn

Again, it depends what he means by surfing.

Many organisations offer surfing for people with disabilities because it is therapeutic. They use adapted equipment, but somebody who could walk the coastal path would certainly be capable of lying on a surf board and being pushed into a wave.

I'm pretty sure I was in that chapel with family pre refurbishment because it was an open day with plans and models, cakes and teas. It was a lovely spot. That was the mid 90s.

That's just body boarding though. It doesn't need to be "taught".

We can't read too much into Tim/moth learning to surf around the time of his terminal diagnosis as proof of anything.

Don't forget, they embarked on a long distance walk at this time as well (allegedly).

The whole story unravelling is fascinating and grim at the same time, I can't seem to concentrate on my day by doing other things!
Probably because I find Moth quite triggering, I've been out with a couple of men who are very similiar - charming in a very down to earth likeable way, funny, self-depreciating, attractive, on a low income, at times homeless, same casual clothes and smile and yet both of them turned out to be quite unpleasant in different ways.
I think the reason Moth chose to keep a very low profile in the past few years with interviews is because he's bad at lying and would give them away. When he appeared on the The One Show briefly by video link he was reading what he was saying to Jason Isaacs and then sat back saying 'not as good as Jason Isaacs' or similiar words as if he was acting the part of who he is.
I believe their nephew who said that they're pathological liars and would like to send my copy of TSP back to the pair, perhaps tens of thousands of us could, filling up their house with the book!

I think they devised a clear strategy to ‘Win’ £££. It’s quite clever but they possibly didn’t anticipate the film publicity. They’d never have made millions from ‘Izzy’s books’ ….If Moth keeps a low profile perhaps & swerves photoshoots etc…bingo.

That Sophie Rayworth interview is so weird, especially now. In it RW talks about giving MW the book and says that she's never written a single thing since a child at school. Lie.

She also very weirdly apologises to Sophie when Sophie recalls crying at a tube station when reading the part of The Wild Silence where RW gives MW the book. One thing I know about writing is that there is almost always an intent as a writer on how you want your audience to feel. A normal response would be to be thankful to Sophie or to say how glad you were as a writer that it delivered such an emotional impact. I'd see it at a huge complement, not something to be sorry about.

RW also refers TSP to "our" book at one point, which is understandable to a degree. Yet why is MW never interviewed on camera and always in the background for written pieces? He's such a huge part of the story. Maybe a way to avoid letting one's guard down? Is there any footage out there of him talking to anyone other than the One Show to Jason Isaacs? It's all very weird on top of everything else that has so far been uncovered.

The post says the son was ‘teaching’ Tim to surf. Not giving a sick man a surfing ‘experience’ with adapted equipment and the help of a charity. Do you really think it wasn’t just a father / son day?

i think the problem is that her writing isn’t good enough for fiction and it was forgivable if it was true as it’s ‘raw’

so they had to go all in that it was the truth

To me, the walk consisted of a few nights under canvas and trying it on with local cafes , soup kitchens and campsites - a bit of a jolly really. The rest of the time was definitely being elsewhere. That's my theory.

I'm not sure the son was flush with cash - they struggled to get him to send them £20 for a train ticket back to the midlands after they reached Polruan.

I also noticed in the book that they talk about getting buses more often than I remembered and the "guilt" of doing so as if they are cheating.

Yes there is footage of him talking on Rick Stein's Cornwall

Christ alive. The Salt Path isn't a diary, it's not an autobiography either. She doesn't write what the did every day. So if they went to Newquay to see their son she wouldn't necessarily choose to put it in, because its pretty dull and doesn't fit with the narrative of the book.

The book is about walking the South West Coast Path! That's the arc of the story, the walk.

Yes, she lied about the embezzlement but everything else was just omission in my opinion.

I'm just wondering what outcome all of you on here want out of this?

NB: Times excerpt upthread. Moth ‘went out shopping to buy provisions’ was unable, unfortunately to meet journo. Missed another photoshoot. On One Show he is ‘unable’ to be there but not necessarily unwell so beamed in. Many will assume he’s very sick. Of course he may have been unwell.

I think this is the crux of how the whole thing started. They may even have told
Penguin it was ‘based on truth’ but the PR was much stronger as a ‘true’ story and they went along with it thinking it was just a white lie. But when you tell one lie you then have to tell a lot more to prevent the first lie being uncovered… and here we are.

Yes this is what I think too

It was a book marketed as unflinchingly true

the walk has a redemptive arch to their homelessness and his terminal diagnosis

they say they are victims when the homelessness was of their own making and they’ve left a trail of destruction. They were on the run from their creditors

and his illness doesn’t tie up at all - her own answer doesn’t support her story

so it is not true and the whole story comes into doubt - particularly her musings on his diagnosis and their victimhood

A big part of the story arc was pushing the idea that Moth's terminal illness was somehow "reversed" by pushing through pain and keeping walking. It was a pretty harmful narrative

She lied about the embezzlement.

She lied about the loan and how they lost their house.

She lied about the seriousness of Tim's illness: according to his consultants he had mild CBS symptoms, diagnosed in 2015, two years after the 'walk'.

I believe she's lied about the walk, and they did bits of it but not all of it.

So yes, we're picking apart her books because they appear to be based on a fabricated history.

Their nephew says they are pathological liars, and I believe him.

There appears to be 2 and a ruin that are no longer places of worship.

Wesleyan/Methodist Chapel on West Street

Built in 1880, designed by James Hicks of Redruth as a Wesleyan chapel. Later became West Street Methodist Chapel before closing in 1995. Now converted into a private residence - photo attached.

United Methodist Free Church on Fore Street

Constructed in 1879, it served as the United Methodist Free Church and later United Methodist/Methodist Church until its closure in 1958. This building also became a private home or Airbnb thereafter (the one I referenced)

Christ alive. The Salt Path isn't a diary, it's not an autobiography either. She doesn't write what the did every day. So if they went to Newquay to see their son she wouldn't necessarily choose to put it in, because its pretty dull and doesn't fit with the narrative of the book.

What about when they went to Bristol?

I think professional body boarders might disagree with you!

However, for many people, being pushed into a wave is the beginning of surfing. It's a casual face book post, so I don't think it can be scrutinised that deeply, but many people go on a half day surfing course and don't learn to pop up and their instructors are still teaching them to surf.

It most certainly wasn't that one we went to. I remember that the woman who was organising the open day was lovely and welcoming, despite the fact that we we never going to buy anything.

On the topic of why Moth is never interviewed, there's this interesting piece by Sam Wollaston from 2018. (This may have been shared before - I haven't read every post in every thread!)

Wollaston interviews Raynor, while Moth is out walking the dog. Moth comes back, and Wollaston writes:

'In the book, Moth is mistaken for Simon Armitage, the poet, by people who clearly have no idea what Armitage looks like. He looks much better than I was expecting, a bit pale but with a big smile, a soft voice and a warm presence. He does feel sluggish though, and stiff. He says of his daily routine of walking and physiotherapy: “I feel like I’m constantly training for an Olympic event I’ll never compete in.”'

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/dec/06/home-is-a-state-of-mind-you-dont-need-walls