Thread 11: 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...
Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement Raynor Winn
Thread One www.mumsnet.com/talk/amibeingunreasonable/5368194-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?
Thread 2 Thread 2. To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film? | Mumsnet
Thread 3 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/amibeingunreasonable/5369425-thread-3-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?
Thread 4 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/amibeingunreasonable/5370609-thread-4-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?
Thread 5 Thread 5: To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film? | Mumsnet
Thread 6 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/amibeingunreasonable/5372494-thread-6-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-
husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?
Thread 7 www.mumsnet.com/talk/amibeingunreasonable/5373425-thread-7-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?
Thread 8 www.mumsnet.com/talk/amibeingunreasonable/5375023-thread-8-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?
Thread 9 www.mumsnet.com/talk/amibeingunreasonable/5376712-thread-9-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?
Thread 10 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/amibeingunreasonable/5378984-thread-10-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

New posters welcome. It would be helpful to read at least the four Observer items above before posting. There are currently 10 items on The Observer website The real Salt Path | The Observer

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 - from experience - this will only encourage them back to the threads. We have done amazingly well together for ten very interesting, very serious and very silly threads so far. I can't be here as much as I'd like so all help with keeping our discussion walking along in a healthy and civil fashion is very welcome.

No saltiness. Keep to the path.

Does stolen fudge taste better?

Oops sorry didn't know

By keeping an eye on it and saving screenshots. She's deleted 53 images since the Observer broke the story.

The latest deletions are interesting besides thinking about reasons....they suggest to me that RW is watching these threads because we've recently discussed the tortoise, the orchard and other aspects of walking the walk. Strange if she has nothing to hide.

Also of note how TW was able to climb onto, and stand comfortably, on a wall using left arm (the painful one) for support on day two of SWCP when the miracle cure of walking in nature hadn't kicked in yet.

Be off with you under the stairs with only the author version of TSP audiobook for company.

Mistakes were made.

Then my thoughts are also with you my child after such a troubling encounter. May the fudge be with you.

Thank you. Going home today, still feel crap and have developed an allergic rash covering much of my body 😂 that they'd really like to monitor but I. Am Going!

loving the Shed of Doubt. Could we add a serving hatch to dispense cream teas? Paying customers only of course

Apple trees, boxes ...

looks around for the bleached bones of a long-fallen warrior,
the shield that failed her, the axe that killed her,
blood red apples strewn about,
grasslands rolling far below.

Don't mind me. Another time, another place, far away and long ago.

Thanks for posting this.

At the risk of stating the bleedin’ obvious, it’s strange watching this now in light of the Observer’s articles, and makes me feel a bit sad, as I don’t want the furore around her to affect the causes she supported. She comes across as a really effective spokeswoman for homelessness.

This might be an unpopular take, but I actually like how she comes across here and I agree with everything she says about homelessness. I’m not a fan of her speaking voice, as I find it a bit unclear, but she’s a strong communicator here and makes her points even more effective by linking them to her own experiences (even though we know they’re now not completely true…) I know she’s had years to polish up and perfect her story, but she never seems lost for words either here or in any of the interviews she’s done. No doubt that’s part of the reason why Penguin booked her in for so many promo opportunities!

A couple of additions for the list of inconsistencies and combined timeline, perhaps?

But doesn’t the dishonesty negate any positive impact the messaging might have had? It just feels fake now.

Really sorry to hear, @Uricon2 :( that sounds really uncomfortable. Hope the rash gets better very soon and that you have some painkillers or lotion to manage it in the meantime!

Yes, I agree - that’s why I feel quite sad!

The PSPA certainly think so as do many of the commentators on their FB page in response to the PSPA statement about ceasing any relationship with the Walkers.

One of the writing correspondants chiming in - after having spent a considerable amount of time taping back on the head of a damp Simon Armitage cutout...

I am now beginning to wonder whether the defence of the books is going to come in the form of 'writing a pure narrative of a coastal walk would be tedious. Elements had to be added for artistic effect and the production of a narrative arc in order to make a readable format.' Because the books aren't like a walking diary, they are more like a fusion of the record of a walk and a book which contains such narrative devices as oppression of the main characters to increase tension; interpersonal disagreements, difficulties with accommodation etc.

Because basically it's NOT a walking diary and there is a lot of reconstruction of events which are unlikely to have been recorded at the time, so therefore are just memories (and therefore entirely subjective). And all of which can be defended by the need to make a story (and therefore a narrative arc) out of randomly scattered happenings.

And it's making me wonder whether this could be considered a credible defence, certainly on the part of PRH - that it's not a purely factual record of a walk, it's an emotion-loaded (and therefore ripe for 'misremembering') memoir.

FurryHappyKittens · Today 13:16
There were apples on some of the trees, though.

They could have been tied on with string. You never know with this pair.

Yeah, I agree. I think RW has already laid the ground for that when she said she wrote that the walk was ‘not about every event or moment in our lives, but rather about a capsule of time when our lives moved from a place of complete despair to a place of hope.’

I have to disagree for the reasons cited in Francis Gilbert's pithy synopsis of the case for the prosecution.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at The Salt Path After the Truth Came Out - Francis Gilbert

I watched half of it but had to stop because it's infuriating. I just can't get over the unbelievable audacity of this woman complaining about being homeless when she actually had a property and her situation is self inflicted.

And I don't care if the property is uninhabitable. Do it up, or camp on the land, or sell it

In the light of what is now known and suspected, I'm just imagining this as a staged set in the corner of a rather nice room if you change the camera angle.

I suspect the agent is devastated. We can argue about due diligence, and yeah, there doesn't seem to have been a whole lot of it along the way, but this will be a woman who put her trust in the author who is every agent's dream – all the way to the film deal and beyond. And she'll likely imagine she knows RW very well, and they'll certainly have had what she thinks of as a really close relationship. So I'm not at all condoning the silly post likes or the agency's really stupid and irritating refusal to accept the reality of this, or its refusal to say absolutely anything at all, but RW's agent will for sure be pretty traumatised by the whole thing, and genuinely so. No author I've ever known has been asked by an agent to verify themselves in any way. For better or worse – certainly for worse! – that's just not how it works. It's a trusting business, and sometimes you get burned. Sooner or later they're going to have to own up to that. In the meantime, I suspect they're still licking their wounds.

The famous real name Ray article has some photos - including the black fleece/ tent one. We did comment before that : she had obviously caught the sun wearing boots.

Being cynical, about most newspaper articles, I had thought they probably went down to the nearest beach for the photo of the tent. @Toomuchstufff correctly identified it on the n coast, however.

The main photo at the top of the article, with the white 'socks' does have a different, red, new-looking backpack than in the two tent photos.

The Salt Path: One woman's journey walking the entire South West Coast Path after becoming homeless | The Independent | The Independent

Why did Tim Walker quit his head gardener job at the NT in 2004, the same year he was featured in this BBC article?
https://archive.ph/6KXzq
On the latest Observer Podcast Ros Hemmings says at 7:15 that he quit his job around 2004.
Which raises a number of questions:
•did he leave by choice, or was he sacked? In each case, why?
•how did he earn money afterwards? Or was the income from the barn rental, plus Sally's parttime income, topped up by embezzlement, enough for two adults and two teenagers? (15 and 13 iirc). But according to the 2015 doctor's letter he continued working until some point between 2009 and 2015.
•is it a coincidence that it was the same year that the article came out in which he was presented as having a degree he did not have? And which contained some info on why the Walkers left their former hometown so quickly that some pp find a bit doubtful?

I think it’s highly unlikely they would have been served a 7 day eviction notice. Worst case scenario is 14 days. In view of TW’s diagnosis the same week they would have had mitigating circumstances and could have challenged the order through the courts. The charity Shelter provides helpful information about evictions on their website. They also had the means to make repayments towards the debt through the holiday accommodation and again there are charities such as Stepchange who can mediate.

Very good points. Perhaps for adding to the timeline/inconsistency list?

Yes I can clearly hear the echo in the room/hall?