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

🤣

I've made a few notes from the Observer podcast with Chloe H and her editor about when she contacted Raymoth.

It seems she did as soon as she had the initial tip off, which was not about the financial allegations, and she offered them an interview. Declined.

She then investigated and went back saying things she'd discovered didn't tally with what they'd said in the book and elsewhere. No response.

She waited "a couple of days " and wrote again, listing what she'd found out and again offering a meeting. Response from their lawyers saying that it was usual to give people a week especially with something so complex. The Observer offered a week and they then asked for more time. Chloe says they gave them as much as possible given the print deadline and they got the brief initial response about the "physical and emotional journey"

I hope this is accurate. What it says to me is that they knew this was coming and from an early stage.

ETA missing word

I just watched that. Gillian Anderson appeared normal, and really into the book.

Sally came across as extremely uncomfortable. She's been in interviews and met famous people before, so I doubt it was that.

And at the end she makes a very bizarre "joke" about Tim thinking she'd said Pamela Anderson was playing her. She says he said he wasnt sure about that, but he was probably just thinking of Baywatch.

I think what makes the Raymoth affair quite unusual is that it seems, at least to me, to be a genuine folie à deux.

Each as complicit as the other. People being taken in by their partner or even a whole family or community being fooled by a lone fantasist, is sadly, not that unusual but you can't seem to put a fag paper between these two individuals. They function as one.

When you see interviews with memoir authors they usually expand on the stories and anecdotes from the book, often adding new information not included in the book.

But Raynor doesn't do this. She sticks to exactly what's in the book as is that is 100% of what happened.

Watching this gave me the final crushing realisation that Gillian Anderson is not actually Dana Scully. No way would Dana Scully have just read that book and accepted the story unquestioningly. It had more holes than a sieve!

This is an interesting quote from Sophie Raworth's book review Insta. It's from October 2022:

I interviewed Raynor at the Cheltenham Book Festival in front of hundreds of people. After reading her books, everyone always asks ‘How’s Moth?” At the end of our chat, I revealed that Moth was sitting right there in the audience. He was mobbed. The quiet star of Raynor’s books doesn’t like the limelight. But her readers clearly love him.

Edited as posted too soon!

Also, if they arrived in winter, say, the hedgerows would have been not long cut back and pre-regrowth in the spring.

No human intervention required for the flourishing of flora and fauna that follows. Every year 😂

@Taytocrisps I can offer my experience of visiting the Malvern Hills in a school party in my teens, early 70s. It was meant to be a short walk and then going on to a stately home, but we (it was the teachers) got hopelessly lost and the weather changed. We walked miles and miles. Eventually got back to the coach and arrived back at school in the early hours, to a party of frantic parents who'd been waiting since about 7PM (obviously no mobiles) Even the fittest could barely stand the next day.

It has to be said that the "sensible clothing" that had been requested in advance had largely been ignored because we thought we might See Boys (all girls school)

For anyone thinking of attempting a probably 20+ mile yomp on the Malverns in platform wedge sandals and a nice dress, my advice is- don't.

ETA Our formidable headmistress had been summoned. Just for once we were in less trouble than the teachers.

Anyone know what time the Observer published their article last Saturday / Sunday? The X post was at 7am on Sunday morning but perhaps it was on the website earlier?

if I was Chloe and had been working on it for months I would treat it like a game of chess. Print some of the evidence the first week but not everything I know. The bits I kept back would be in anticipation of the Walkers making statements in response to Week 1 that I could then coolly refute in a second article.

There is clearly more out there as the Mail has shown and who knows who has contacted Chloe this week. I want to see what they will publish this weekend. Hopefully it will be check mate.

What I don't understand is anyone with such a shady background writing a book and saying everything in it is true. @BadDinner

My brother is a compulsive liar. He tells the most extraordinary stories and if you didn't know better you might think they are true.

If you suspect something and question him he triples down with even more ludicrous liars. It just comes out of his mouth without hesitation. So natural.

The stories always portray a better version of himself. The hero, superior knowledge or intellect, the saviour etc

And because he's always bigging himself up with these tales he has this distorted view of himself. He's basically gaslit himself to believe he is invincible!

@Choux Chloe says in the podcast that she'd been contacted by people for interviews (as well as those upset by the findings) I think she may already have had something in reserve anyway.

Yes I get the impression from the book (the wild silence) that their flat was ground floor with no view.

I think its in line with the original theft from the business.

It was always going to be found out, but some people live from crisis to crisis, never thinking further forward than the next day.

My dad was a compulsive liar. And everything that didn't go right for him was always someone else's fault. He completely lacked self awareness. He was also very charming. People fell for his charm all the time!

I've just learned from an old French article in 2013 that Tim's brother Martyn (father of the linkedin nephew) bought the chateau in 2006, working on it to eventually move there permanently in 2008 with his family to restore it. This is supported by UK electoral register.

The Raymoth French ruin bought in 2007 is a 41 minute drive north, so not sure if there's any connection. The DM piece suggested the neighbouring doocot was owned by Tim's younger sibling which could either be Martyn or the other brother (not naming here as not in public domain.) Could it be this other brother whose house they stayed in in Wales for 2 weeks after the eviction? Book says it was about 20 miles away. Or is this yet another made up element?

One thing I found a bit odd about the account of Moth's CBD diagnosis in 2013 in TSP is that SW states that they went on a 7hr round trip to see a consultant in Liverpool about "the cause of Moth's shoulder pain" , and the consultant was the top dog in his field. SW says "he was going to tell us that it was a ligament damage or something like that and how it could be fixed."

However, the specialist told SW that its was CBD. Presumably the specialist was some type of neurologist. If so, why on earth did SW believe that the diagnosis was likely to be something like ligament damage? Also, why in the Fearne Cotton interview (2.35) does SW say " we had a hospital appointment that we thought was going to be routine but turned out to be anything but."

If I had been referred to a specialist neurologist 3.5hrs away from home by my local GP, I might suspect that my underlying health issue wasn't something routine like a ligament problem.

raynor winn fearne cotton - Google Search

I don't know, she's clearly a journalist who really checks her stories out. And I think she would also want to give the Walker/Winns time to respond

It is a bit bizarre as The Walton Centre is a specialised Neurological centre and they would have needed a referral from their local hospital, so why would she think that they would be doing that for ligament damage?

I don't think there is any point pretending any of the details in the book are accurate.

His ‘Facing The Sea’ is def worth a read!

Watching a bit of the Fearne Cotton interview:

There must be people out there who stayed in their barn conversion. How did they find mine hosts?

I have a degenerative neurological condition. It’s not as simple as you describe. Your symptoms present as anything but neurological- muscle cramps or slight balance issues or grip problems you honestly think ‘trapped nerve’ or some such. Unfortunately any neurological consultant worth their salt ( pun deliberate) will soon find from a few tests - reflex - Romberg - flick test Hoffmann - babinski that your central nervous system has a serious issue and trust me - it’s the last thing you’re thinking when you go in. They don’t usually diagnose on the spot though they send you for MRI or similar tests to rule out / in several conditions that it could be.

When I first heard about this story a few years ago and googled Moth I was very surprised to see him still so fit and well though so was already questioning his diagnosis. But these conditions are complex and not well understood so I did think he’d been misdiagnosed or had an unusual form of the disorder.

Thank you for this, and thank you for mentioning Nigel in the first place - I've had a very interesting couple of hours! I will definitely read it one day.

I agree that language can often be couched in terms of "ruling stuff out" as well, which can make it sound like that outcome is unlikely.