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.

Its "missing" in that's it's unaccounted for given the inconsistencies and we have to question how they funded it without the student loan.

Precisely

I suspect its the latter. The walk that they had apparently always wanted to do together was the C2C, which SW describes doing on her own last winter and describing in On Winter Hill.

Agreed. Jobs, benefits, or simply that they always had the resources to fund themselves for a bit and/or family or friends willing to house them, who’ve simply been written out of TSP because the narrative doesn’t work unless they’re alone in the world?

Thereby making both stints of walking the SWCP more of a cheap holiday than a desperate decision made because of a perception there were no other options.

If everything Chloe approaches you with is true, you can’t engage with her as your only option then would be to admit it and try to offer excuses or extenuating circumstances.

I could imagine there were a few letters sent to Observer claiming press intrusion and harassment and citing the story ‘wasn’t in the public interest’ to try and make it go away though. Leveson anyone?

RW's IG photos would also suggest this...and possibly where the idea came from to write it up as a, "we've walked this fat,, shall we see if we can go further?" Meanwhile the son was at home looking after their dog, apparently thinking he only needed to for a month, not 4.

What a lot of celebs do when caught out is offer an exclusive interview - still gives the journalist a scoop but allows them to massage the narrative

Yes, I expect they’ve tried that approach, that it’s not in the public interest. But when you’ve had a book published as an honest, factual account, made shed loads of money out of it, made more money by further books, public appearances, book signings…. basically hoodwinked the public, then it absolutely is a matter of public interest for the actual facts to be told.

Returning to the 2015 letter. What possible reason could TW have had for not disclosing to the Dr he'd managed to walk the SWCP (with apparent improvement), and replaster / do manual labour at Polly's for a number of months, yet disclose he had stopped working in 2013?

Because it wasn’t true?

or

Because Tim didn’t want it documented in case he ever needed the letter for a benefits claim and didn’t want to appear as able as he apparently was?

Neither option shows him in a good light.

I keep hearing the name zPolly popping up on here. Who is she in relation to the Walkers?
Also why are so many people certain the person who lent the 100k is the half uncle to Tim?

I don't think you can ever shake off the grubbiness of embezzlement. Clearly, she only paid the money back because she got caught. My auntie's friend was eventually found to have embezzled an enormous sum of money over many many years...all spent on jewellery, holidays, clothes etc. How can it ever be worth it?

'Polly' (may or may not be her real name, obviously) is the schoolfriend of Sally Walker's whose outbuilding on a sheepfarm in the midlands they stay in between their two stints on the path.

Hang on, how do you know what was or wasn’t disclosed during an appointment? The letter written by the doctor/consultant/ whoever doesn’t include every single thing discussed, at least if my experience is any guide. Or am I missing something there?

generally, I’ve been lurking on the thread (part time journalism correspondent role open? I have also two ghost written autobiographies to my name - or someone else’s ha - so can also speak about publishing a bit).

However as a journalist I would say there’s a lot of people putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5 on this thread.

other things -

• people keep saying the photo on that self published book looks like it could be xx, but it could be a stock shot or a random photo! There is no particular reason to use a real photo of the real author.
• if the Obs actually had strong follow up they would have published it last weekend. There is no way on gods earth a paper doesn’t find room for a good follow up on a story that’s been their sole “big hit” so far (no criticism of Obs intended, simply that they are new as a Tortoise product).
• re crisis coms/ communication with The Obs. They were idiots not to find someone to act as intermediary who understands the press. They are clearly hoping it will go away and perhaps it will (as in, no further big revelations rather than their reputation will be restored). If they wanted to get their own “side” of the story across the usual thing would be to find a different journalist at a different paper, and speak to them for a sympathetic ear
• Is public interest waning? Probably. Even this thread is quietening down. Most people just don’t care, I imagine. And some of the stuff here - things like going down some random rabbit hole about whether or not she sold her mums wedding dress? Or have I got that wrong?? - might actually cause people to feel sorry for her/ them.

i think in the absence of quite a big new revelation it will all go quiet. I don’t think the fourth book will end up getting published though, or at least not for a long time.

(none of this is a defence of them btw. I think it was a great story, well done Obs, and they clearly kind of morally have questions to answer, but they’d be a bit stupid to actual answer them now..)

Their nephew did 🫠

If Ray is worried about Moth’s progressive illness & memory loss why go off alone to trek again in On Winter Hill?

I'm not saying I know or otherwise. I'm saying it's odd given the Dr provides a detailed history of Tim in the letter. Likewise, it could be the Dr's omission.

I think much of these threads are making the most of what information is available because we don't know 100% what the truth is. I think that's only understandable.

This, 100%.

Makes it so weird that people defend her.

• You just don't pay back £64k to someone you don't owe it to. 'Mistakes were made' is passive, and tries to shift blame. It was a very small business and she could easily have contested a wrong repayment demand at the time. You don't get arrested and flee overnight in that situation.

• "James" the lender states on a court document the loan was to allow SW to avoid a criminal record.

• Without that person lending SW/TW money, SW may have gone to prison.

Yet some out there say what does it matter if she used artistic licence here and there (NB in a non-fiction book!) It matters because without the blameless premise, it's a totally different story:

"We stole, when caught we borrowed to repay the theft, but we didn't repay that loan for years and still haven't fully – the house had such a huge mortgage it didn't cover the loan. Then we went on the run walk to avoid creditors, who are still looking for us. But, actually, we are the victims here."

Sally tells us she met Tim at college. Unless Tim had moved to Leicester I think it's highly unlikely he'd make a 75+ mile round trip to study plastering or whatever. Further Education colleges tend not to be residential unless they specialise in say Equestrian studies.

@AldoGordo yes fair point, it’s just that I feel at times, people are confusing or conflating speculation with fact and wondering why these things aren’t being made public. But obviously you can’t print speculation.

Couldn't have put it better!

Polly in TSP is an old school friend who calls SW out of the blue on the walk (although it does say they were in touch just before the walk) to say they can live in her outbuilding that is needing renovated over winter.

The lender was the half-uncle - I worked out the relationship via BMD records after the Daily Mail reported the real name of the lender.

If you were the Walkers' PR team, what would you be advising them at this point in time?

Of course public interest will wane: even the biggest stories can’t maintain a high level of interest for long.

I do think whatever the next steps are, RW’s reputation is well and truly trashed now. It could play out in various ways. If she’s in breach of contract with Penguin (if she signed a contract of factual accuracy) I guess in theory they could go after her for money. They may not bother but I think that’s the end of her publishing career!

I wouldn’t be surprised if various relatives/ former colleagues/ neighbours come out now with further revelations. The Observer article mentioned at least one person she allegedly owes money to still! Of course, she’s got the dosh now to pay any outstanding debts but that’s not really the point is it. The truth being exposed is the powerful (and most damaging for her) element. Reading the article where Debbie Adams (daughter of the Hemmings) laid bare the awful impact the embezzlement had really brings home the enormity of it. She described the family being distressed, confused and thoroughly ashamed by having this done to them. It reminded me of RW’s description of being shocked and distressed at losing their home …. To think she had inflicted those feelings on other people is beyond belief really.

The other thing I would add is that I think a bit of latitude with the timeline is taken for granted in a book, if the story works better. I didn’t do the walks in my book in the order they appear (and a couple were done because the editor wanted me to).

But I think if they were not walking all of it, or not homeless, then that is worth investigating.