Thread 6: 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

NB Please be careful when it comes to naming or implicating people who aren't in the public eye or have no connection to the story, especially where details are unclear or still emerging i.e. DON'T DO IT.

Keep on the path. No saltiness. Thank you.

New posters welcome. It would be helpful to read at least the three Observer articles before posting.

Or even just asking questions?

the way you’ve written about the court case doesn’t really add up? Could you clarify what happened here exactly?

It is a tiny detail in the grand scheme of it all, but from the Times article about the Village Du Dropt property

While in its present state it is an eyesore, Morley, an architecture enthusiast, speculates that the Walkers’ property may once have belonged in a medieval bastide because the semicircle archway at the front of the property is reminiscent of 14th-century designs.

I'm not wildly keen on people who buy historic property and let it rot into ruin, especially when they now have the money to do something about it.

I have a question nagging at me (please bear with): since you’ve recently been rereading/skimming, do you have any recollection as to the reason given for going to Cornwall for their walk? It’s a long way from Wales, and surely they could have walked a coastal path closer to home (of course, we know that they were doing a flit, but I can’t remember how this was explained in the book)?
Apologies if this is a daft question; I deleted my copy as I had no intention of ever reading it again.

Yes it's peculiar how they were relentlessly desperately trying to sell it (even SW admits in her statement they tried to sell it, and do that popular thing of, um, raffling it in a book draw) but then when it gets repossessed it's all tears about living there 20 years, raising their children in it and lovingly repairing the roof.

The most recent letter states about the recent cardiac diagnosis, so that might be contributing? I guess that would be fairly common for someone of his age

Wasn't there something about how they bought it to save it from a property developer?

On one of the letters it mentions they were going to repeat a scan and then write after that, but that letter is not included.

she says that while they are hiding from the bailiffs they see the swcp book and decide it’s where they should go

more likely they picked somewhere further as they were running away!!

Ah yes these impulsive creative types!

In terms of anomalies in TSP has anybody mentioned the account of the ferry at Gillan Creek? (p188).

Although there is a ferry, apparently it isn't operated by a ferryman in a rowing boat with a dog. A commentator on Reddit who lives in the village has also questioned the account of the rude Liverpudlian and his dog Buster!

Gillan Creek ferry to St. Anthony on the South West Coast Path

That's what they said.

The Times piece is really interesting I thought, I hope this archived link copies but someone posted a readable version I think late on the last thread.

archive.ph/AmeUg#selection-1829.0-1829.263

Did anyone see the drama series Fake, based on the 2019 book by an Australian journalist. It was inspired by her relationship with a cruel scammer, who claimed to farm sheep. Episode 1 is called Lanolin, and it just reminded me of RW/SW's quote! This is the extract from the book, which arouses her suspicions.

"I think of the man’s hands – soft and pale and clean. Once, I asked him how a farmer’s hands could be so fine. ‘I wear gloves,’ he said straight back at me, pointing out his sun-spotted fair skin. A few days later he reintroduced the subject. ‘I’ve been thinking about why my hands are so soft,’ he said. ‘It’s the lanolin in the sheep’s fleece.’"
www.penguin.com.au/books/fake-9780143792208/extracts/2108-fake

Woud letters be generated if you had vague muscle aches, etc? Were the charity party to more (?) they seem to have dropped them with unreasonable (?) alacrity.

The 2015 letter refers to tests undertaken in 2011 which may be correct but doesn't fit with a claim that Moth was given a diagnosis & terminal prognosis in 2013.

I understand that Mr Walker has had numerous tests including MRI scan of the brain, and EMG, EEG and screening blood tests all negative in 2011.

The charity would have an in-depth insight into the usual and typical language and content of consultant letters, I wonder if they know something is very much amiss.

Dropping them quite sharply does speak louder than words.

Interesting!!

I suspect a lot of the people they met were baffled to see themselves written as being nasty and judgy! If those people exist of course

'Threats directed at my children'.

That's another bit of emotional manipulation. They would have been covered by her use of the word 'family' but she added in 'children' as well. Yes, they are her children (as in 'offspring') and they have done nothing wrong, but they are adults in their 30s, not minors or even young people.

I should stress I'm absolutely not saying they are 'fair game' in any way but just pointing out how she tries to press our emotional buttons ALL the time with her careful choice of language.

The SWCP path start and end.

www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk/walk-coast-path/south-west-coast-path-national-trail/

I agree. I am also not saying that these adult children in their 30s have done anything wrong, let me just stress that before making the next point. They are however connected to the TSP industry. Both are listed alongside their parents on Companies House (Four Hares) and RaySal described the daughter sending off Saltlines journals to customers on her website.

Having no reason to disbelieve Bill Cole and his witness Richard and every reason to disbelieve Raymoth, I wonder who they could possibly square

But in October 2021, Bill says, Moth surprised him with an announcement. “He put his head in his hands and he said : ‘We went to the hospital this week and I’ve been told not to plan beyond Christmas.’” Bill was horrified. “I just went : ‘Oh my God!’ and gave him a big hug.”

with

When Winn’s third book, Landlines, was published in September 2022, Bill read how, in the winter of 2021, soon after Moth had finished another long walk, a neurologist told him his brain scan was “normal”, implying that the walk had drastically improved the symptoms of his condition.

(Both from the Observer article today)

I don't see how even their most fervent supporters could see this as anything but very, very odd indeed.

I’m not. I’m interested in the thought processes of someone who’s stuck themselves with a tissue of half truths, evasions, lies of omission and poetic licence from their unexpectedly successful first book and has a contract for a second with an editor who will be encouraging her to try to hit the same stream of feelgood attunement to nature and spousal love as TSP, while also fulfilling their readers’ curiosity about what happened next, especially to Moth’s health.

In her shoes, knowing this book was going to be published, I’d be being very careful about identifiable benefactors. It’s one thing being bitchy about possibly fictional encounters n the SWCP and quite another writing rather dubiously about identifiable individuals.

But she seems unable to help herself being snide about people. Which fascinates me. Does she actually believe what she’s writing when she represents the decision to accept Bill Cole’s farm tenancy as one of them trusting him?! Almost as if they’re doing this soft handed City boy with the steely wife a favour?

I’m confused about the timeline of the writing of TWS. Had the farm tenancy already gone sour by the time she was writing it? Does that explain some of its oddities?

Better the ‘clean soft hands of an office worker’ than the ‘sticky fingers of a bent bookkeeper’

Why would you be interested in the thought processes of ANYONE?

I see the DM are already there with the article this morning

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14901133/Millionaire-benefactor-let-Salt-Path-couple-1million-farmhouse-captivated-story-breaks-silence.html

Why wouldn't you be?

It takes some very wonky moral codes to behave like the Walkers.

It is interesting to think about what they might believe about themselves.