Thread 9: 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 ...

2nd Observer https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-whats-in-the-book-and-what-the-observer-has-found

3rd Observer https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-the-truth-behind-the-blockbuster-book-video

4th Observer ‘I felt I was being gaslit’ – the landlord who helped Ray...

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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 extremely cautious when it comes to naming or implicating people and addresses not in the public eye or with no direct connection to the story, and around the understandable health speculations, especially where details are unclear or still emerging. Please do not engage with visitors who seem to have their own agenda and seek to derail. Avoid @'ing and quoting them as this will only encourage them back to the threads.

We have done amazingly well together - in the main that is, not mentioning any names but you know who you are! - for eight threads so far. I can't be on the threads as much as I'd like so all help with keeping our discussion ticking along in a healthy and civil fashion is very welcome.

No saltiness. Keep to the path. Thank you.

Good spot! I also notice on Goodreads that one person is "currently reading" though not sure if that's someone who forgot to update their profile.

Also of minor interest is someone in the US was asking around to get a copy 8 & 9 years ago.

cricketandwhodunnits · Today 07:31

Has this been posted already? Sixth-formers in Machynlleth make an interesting project out of TSP controversy. Not much additional news value but some impressive reporting & good to see that it's a learning opportunity...

What an inspired project - thanks for sharing. I particularly related to this: "many publishers post Salt Path have preferred authors of ‘nature-writing’ to have emotive back-stories, and finds it frustrating that this market preference has been shaped by untruths."

A thought/theory crossed my mind last night, about the French property- the mystery of which niggles me.

Could it be that Martyn W actually originally owned both Pigionnierre AND the neighbouring property? And it was he who sold the neighbouring property to Tim which somehow resulted in a big fallout/"trail of destruction"?

Reasoning below:

The DM story stated the Walker siblings' families were out there in Le Village du Dropt in 2004 - indeed there was a photo of them taken by a local who dated it to 2004. So Martyn W likely owned the Pigionierre in 2004? But if so, why did he buy it? Was it to renovate and convert into a family home- for 8 people (2 adults and 6 kids)?

I asked myself this and started wondering if perhaps he had bought it with the neighbouring ruin as well, which might make more sense for a large renovation project to accomodate 8 people. However, in 2006, he bought the huge chateau miles away. This almost certainly shifted his attention away from the Village du Dropt property plans.

Then we have Tim buying the neighbouring VdD property in 2007 - so could it be that he actually bought it off Martyn, with a view to do what Martyn had originally planned for it?

SW's statement says that the property is "on the boundary of a family member's property" and that Raymoth bought it to "prevent a developer buying it." This could be true and the implication I took was that they bought it to protect the family member's interests. But I had never considered a different interpretation, which would still make the statement above true.

What if they bought it off Martyn to stop him selling it to a developer now that he had the chateau? Maybe Raymoth saw an opportunity and had ambitions, having visited it in 2004? So Martyn agreed to sell them part of it (what they could afford) or they made him an offer to buy part of the plot?

This might also explain how they succeeded in getting it. I'm not familiar with French property sales but if a developer was expressing interest, it seems likely it had the ready money to purchase it, and in a position to outbid the competition. Meanwhile Raymoth remortgaged their house. If it was a random owner of the ruin, would it not be more likely to sell to the party offering the most money (assuming Raymoth had less)? But if the owner was Martyn and was at that point sympathetic to the Raymoth cause, it could explain how it came into their hands, and the joint renovation bonding project then never worked out.

Could the root of the family fallout lie in this somewhere?

Yes, many assumptions, questions and conjecture. Just throwing my thoughts out here, into the wind and the salt spray....

how about a TSP drinking game?
Apologies if mentioned before.

Tiny sip (to prevent rapid inebriation):
Salt
Armitage/Fudge

One shot:
Wild and free
Headland/s
Horizon (wide, far etc)
Wild poo
Peregrine
Hostile locals
Ageism
Reminder that SalRay is a country girl
LOST EVERYTHING

Cheers!

SalRay is a country girl who spent her youth suffocating rabbits with cowpats while batting off proposals from countless rich, hunky farmers

Can I have a job please? As someone who's read all the books more than once and answered several questions on these threads that are covered in them, I could be the Largely Fictional Memoirs of Sally Raynor Walker Winn Content Expert.

Love it.
Perhaps we could market a board game too?
‘Encounter a hostile local. Go back 3 spaces’
‘Break into a campsite. Roll again.’

That's not a bad shout - you could sell them at campsites and bookshops in Cornwall. Some other ideas for the board game (presumably designed by AH):

• Meet Simon Armitage - advance 5 spaces
• Get dodgy Tarot reading - retreat 3 spaces
• Steal fudge bar - go to jail

Maybe I could be the Pedantry Correspondent (or Pedantic Correspondent), picking up on minor inaccuracies in grammar and fun facts (like the ladybirds)?

Yes! Get free hot water, take an extra turn. Get called old: lose a turn. So many possibilities.

Players could receive a small weekly social security allowance.

Lots of potential for Chance cards.

and of course
Community Chest:
‘Bailiffs at the door. Miss 2 turns while hiding in a cupboard’
’Forget to cancel direct debit: lose this weeks allowance
’Find some unexpected funds in your bank account: advance to Go’
’Realise they were the result of a ‘regrettable mistake’: lose all your money to the bank’

@DisappointedReader have I earned the position of Board Game correspondent?!

Another interesting comment piece in today's Bookseller, again worrying about people will ever believe a memoir again after the controversy: https://www.thebookseller.com/comment/does-publishing-have-a-truth-problem?

Sorry that should have read " Get caught stealing fudge bar - go to jail"

I see somebody is starting the TSP drinking game early. 😎

the .... sense of rebellion that drove me to run as hard as I could towards Moth and his belief that freedom is the most important right we have. Freedom to appropriate what isn't ours - money, the Path. Freedom to camp where we want to, take what we want, to condemn those that don't conform to our ideas ...

1st Addendum

Correspondents:
@Cakeandcheeseforever Cornwall
@AlertCat Pedantry
@ZiggyPlaysGuitarrr Raysal Memoirs Content
@ShrinkWrappedInSeattle Drinking Games and Taxis
@gattocattivo Board Games
@Catwith69lives Pigeonniers

It's a bit niche but I could be the Pigeon Tower (pigeonnier) correspondent!
I had you down for others but couldn't remember last night what they were!

I know I'm also missing our other pp on France, amongst others.

I think this is unlikely to happen, most wild fires start in forested areas and a lot are started deliberately.

I’m further south than them and we don’t have to clear around our property, not sure about their area. We actually have quite a bit of rain here compared to other southern regions but friends on the Mediterranean side are obliged to keep land clear.

I’m on the Eymet (which is close to the chateau de la grande barriere) FB group group even though I don’t live there and haven’t seen any mention of the SP and/or chateau recently.

Does anyone recall where it was said there could be another questionable memoir soon in the spot light?

I ask because I just read a one star review of a walking memoir on Amazon, reviewed in 2024, that raises several inconsistencies (not read it myself). The reviewer has even added a recent edit hoping the publisher has done due diligence retrospectively in light of The Salt Path.

Not naming the book here as don't want to be responsible for giving it negative attention merely off the back of a 1 star review.

AldoGordo · Today 11:18

Rowan Pelling in The Independent

SW's statement says that the property is "on the boundary of a family member's property" and that Raymoth bought it to "prevent a developer buying it." This! Another example of how SW doesn't seem to be able to do much without presenting it as an act of her own kindness like saving the puppy from the bucket.

I know a little bit about that area of France and property there....If a developer really wanted the land then it would have hardly been to build a KFC, no, it's intended usage would have either been for an agricultural building or, more likely to construct one of those modern, rendered (crepi covered) beige bungalows that a lot of French people in those areas favour because they are easier to keep clean than the stone properties beloved by expats. So perhaps Raymoth did someone out of a plot they wanted to build a home on to stay local to their family...ironic if so.

I watched Apple Cider Vinegar on Netflix over the weekend, and then - as it was a highly fictionalised, albeit riveting, account of the Belle Gibson affair - the Netflix 2-part documentary on the same topic. The parallels with her and SW are jaw-dropping. There's a clip in the documentary of BG's (in)famous interview in the Australian 60 Minutes show where the redoubtable Tara Brown absolutely skewers her - yet still she doubles down with such memorable phrases as 'it was MY reality'... I highly recommend both of these as a fascinating look into the world of the super-plausible sociopath 😎

Feeling lazy without a correspondent job, but drawing a blank on what my contributions have tended toward. I could offer Wildly Erratic depending on fluctuations of long illness which includes cognitive impairment? I suppose à propos, if not very enticing!

I agree with cornishwafer that the developer in this case would have intended to build small French housing. Also the mayor/marie of each village has a final say in who buys the land. Every tiny village has one.

It’s mostly idiot brits like me who buy the stone-walled money burners

@Stravaig
Feedback: I noticed that you understood those of us who baulked at the Walkers 'exceptionalism' (as you aptly put it), and the appropriation and exploitation. And the encouragement to focus on the deceptions.