Thread 7: 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

Fourth item in The Observer
‘I felt I was being gaslit’ – the landlord who helped Ray...

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Thread 6
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Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement Raynor Winn

New posters welcome. It would be helpful to read at least the four Observer items above before posting.

To all - Please be careful when it comes to naming or implicating people and addresses not in the public eye or with no connection to the story, and around the understandable health speculations, especially where details are unclear or still emerging. Please do not engage with possible visitors who seem to have their own agenda and seek to derail.
Keep on the path as we have done together amazingly well for six threads so far. No saltiness. Thank you.

Waterstones have recategorised the book - but what's that I see on the shelf below "Out of the woods" - not yet but maybe !

Chloe H didn't understand the documents, so all she needed was a solicitor (involved or not) to explain them. It doesn't matter who that was, just that they were familiar with them.

I think a
But if I was on this mess I’d go for d) mea culpa

Exactly 💯

I suppose so but you can become isolated from other people and regard yourselves as, "Only us two against the world" in any kind of living set up.

You could live a bedsit and think all the neighbours in the block of flats are agin' you.

Or just think anybody's ripe for free hot water or a bar of fudge.

The Puppet Master is mind bogglingly fascinating.

I read up on recent events and it seems that (until recently) he and a woman were holed up in France, he'd been arrested, and the woman was convinced he was who he said he was. But I think finally her family managed to get her back home, and she was receiving a lot of help, because she'd been totally brain washed.

Sarah Smith was on the run with him for TEN YEARS!!!!

Oh I would opt for (d) too but that doesn't seem very true to type here

At the time I don't think the French house was in any worse condition than the Welsh house had been when they moved there to do it up.

It's only a ruin now because it's been left by them to rot for 18 years.

Which paints them as less than interested in caring for old properties or bringing back nature.

Uncannily accurate (except the sea was on my left). But we need to add lots of middle aged German hikers (all of them sensibly wearing hats, unlike me)- and an encounter with a nudist!

There's also a dramatic back story involving my cat and her sore bum. I was wracked with guilt about leaving her alone for 24 hours when I was supposed to be giving her antibiotics and bathing her bumhole twice a day. Had I done the right thing?! Anxiously I carried her into the vet's examining room today. The vet's eyes crinkled in concern then relief. "I've been worrying about her poor bottom all weekend, but I have to say I'm amazed by how good it looks now. It's nothing short of a miracle!"

A true triumph of hope over adversity. And nearly every word of it is true.

@Treesdostandtallwhat I find most interesting about that article is that it identifies him as Tim Walker. When did he become Moth Winn?
I’m not sure he would have ever planned on doing anything with his degree. From the book, it seemed the whole thing was a bit of a fast one as they realised that, if he did a degree, they could apply for a student loan and live off that. He would never have to repay it as he would be dead before he had a chance to graduate. Except he’s not. It would be interesting to know if they have structured the earnings from the book, film and everything in a way which means he’s below the threshold to repay his student loan.

@Aspanielstolemysanity

C) would make sense and agree with @Heylittlesongbird s D) mea culpa if I were them, but my money is on them doing A) possibly then followed by a mixture of B) and C)

My spidey senses tell me that they've spent a long time looking over their shoulders and it seems to terrify them less than most of us would be. What did Bill Cole say? ‘I feel there is so much more we don’t know about these people’

I don’t want to sound like a knob but look at moth owning his space while the three women squidge up.

So he did use his other name at times then. Or did in 2016 anyway.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/saltlinesajournal/saltlines-a-journal
This isn't the original article I found but this is far more interesting. The first article said they needed a further. £600 to get the pricing done

Tim Walker from Snowdonia?

At least that article shows that he did study and is interested in gardens

and Tim Walker from Snowdonia,

In 2016.

Is there a book to be written about SW and TW by an enterprising investigative journalist I wonder?

I remember reading Michael Crick's fascinating biography of Jeffrey Archet with the title 'Truth is stranger than fiction' and being spellbound.

The Sunday Times nominated TSP as one of the best 100 books published in tbe last 50 years. Her books have sold over 3m copies worldwide. The Observer denoument has whipped up a storm. So many aspects to this story and so many fans want something approximating to 'the truth'.

Clearly PRH aren't going to be publishing it, but it would/will be a fascinating read if ever published (and the MN feed may prove a valuable resource!)

It says here he's from Snowdonia. Another little movement from the truth.

You can hire her for a private book signing and Q &A,only £1000 for an hour.
Shell be selling her worn knickers next.

In 2016, when the article was published, maybe they hadn't taken on their new personas.

It was only in 2017 I think she got the book deal and the article in The Big Issue.

She's also no longer teaching on at least two Arvon Foundation courses she was listed as teaching on this summer/autumn.

@Aspanielstolemysanity -- I don't know. The fact that everything is always someone else's fault in the books, whether it's them being homeless, their friends not helping them enough, the coastguard not refilling their water bottles, or an unusually high tide swamping them, suggests it's perfectly possible they will genuinely regard this as gross injustice. In which case they double down.

But I think a lot will depend on whether PRH decides, on reflection, to honour the contract for some rewritten and delayed version of On Winter's Hill. If so, I could imagine RW putting together 'We made mistakes and let everyone down, and here are some meditations on nature in whichever picturesque place we live now, and on our new, chastened, honest selves.' Yadda yadda.

Though if PRH pull the plug, it's entirely possible another publisher would be interested, if they thought it would sell. (Not sure about her agency, which appears to straddle memoir, popular science and 'wellness'. I suppose it depends if they lean more into facts or 'wellness' to gauge if it will damage their reputation.)

Of course, what should clearly happen is that Moth fakes his own death and disappears somewhere abroad under a false identity, giving Raynor a chance to write a coruscating, self-exonerating memoir about climbing Everest solo, called 'The Path To Grief: Where You All Are Forced To Admit We Weren't Lying, And That You Are Meanies. For a disguise he should dye his hair jet black and grow a handlebar moustache, and drop the natty clothing.

Again from the Kickstarter page @tighterthanaducksarse linked

"Raynor Winn - private book event
£1,000
The ultimate experience for lovers of The Salt Path: spend an hour in the company of author Raynor Winn. Create your own bespoke book event, with time to interview Raynor, invite your friends to contribute to a Q+A and finish off with a booksigning.

This reward is only available in the UK, with dates and locations subject to Ts&Cs! Please contact [email protected] to check Ray can make your idea for this one work.
Backers
0
Estimated delivery
Sep 2025
Limited quantity
1 left of 1
1 item included+ optional add-ons

The bold is mine in case anyone fancies a whip round, although something tells me this event will not happen.

I thought he had a previous degree in botany? can you just keep applying for loans even if you have already done a degree?

To be fair, could be the paper's error.

I know we've debated whether they're in this together and I think they are.

Thinking it through, he couldn't make her embezzle from her employer - she could have just said she'd looked through every angle and it's a non-starter. Therefore, she can't be fully innocent.

On the other hand, I can't think he'd have forgiven her if she'd really taken out 4 credit cards in his name without his knowledge and been embezzling. If he genuinely had no idea she'd been doing this it would be a very big problem for their marriage. It seems very improbable when that all resulted in the loss of their house, that she would be able to say "I know, let's go for a hike, we used to love that", and him merrily agree. Most people would be saying that there's nothing left to fight for now, especially our marriage.

So on balance, I think they've been acting in agreement all through.