Page 2 | Thread 12: To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

DisappointedReader · 2025-08-02T11:25:02+00:00

The Observer [[https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-real-salt-path-how-the-couple-behind-a-bestseller-left-a-trail-of-debt-and-deceit 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 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 https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-the-truth-behind-the-blockbuster-book-video]] 4th Observer [[https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/moth-told-me-he-was-dying-when-a-doctor-had-said-his-brain-scan-was-normal ‘I felt I was being gaslit’ – the landlord who helped Ray...]] Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement [[https://www.raynorwinn.co.uk/ Raynor Winn]] Thread One ^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5368194-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?* 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 [[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5368685-thread-2-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?page=1 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/am_i_being_unreasonable/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 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/ami]]^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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 being]]^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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 unreasonable/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/am_i_being_unreasonable/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 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/ami]]^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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 being]]^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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 unreasonable/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 [[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5371570-thread-5-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film 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/am_i_being_unreasonable/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 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/ami]]^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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 being]]^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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 unreasonable/5372494-thread-6-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-]] [[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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 husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?]] Thread 7 [[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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? www.mumsnet.com/talk/ami]]^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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? being]]^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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? unreasonable/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 [[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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? www.mumsnet.com/talk/ami]]^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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? being]]^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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? unreasonable/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 [[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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? www.mumsnet.com/talk/ami]]^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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? being]]^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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? unreasonable/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/am_i_being_unreasonable/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 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/ami]]^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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 being]]^[[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/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 unreasonable/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?]] Thread 11 [[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5382212-thread-11-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5382212-thread-11-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 [[https://observer.co.uk/collections/the-real-salt-path 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 eleven 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. Will our life-size cardboard cut-out Simon Armitage keep his head? *NB Timeline coming in the first posts of this thread for reference.*

WrathfulDeity · 02/08/2025 15:43

AldoGordo · 02/08/2025 14:32

Anyone know what this story of being stranded in a survival bag on the side of a mountain is all about? It's a section of RW interview by a Dutch (I think) tv company on IG.

www.instagram.com/p/CYjt8KRJFRY/?igsh=MThycGE3Zm1tMm4zeA==

Yes, it's described in The Wild Silence, and it's on their first trip away together, where Sally is pretending to her parents that Tim's entire family are going with them, and she will have her own room. Whereas in fact they go alone, Sally stumbles up a mountain with a heavy, ill-fitting rucksack that rubs her shoulders bloody, to the horror of the campsite ('I couldn't give in, couldn't be that whingeing, whimpering girlfriend and ruin his longed-for trip' 😡). They then head off to the Fiddler, a mountain that Sally has had a bad dream about, despite her misgivings, are caught by a big storm camping overnight on its slopes, their tent and most of their equipment is lost, they spend the night huddled in a survival bag, on a site next to a lake that has become an island by morning, and narrowly make it back to the road next day.

SW presents it as a sort of Wuthering Heights Wild, Ecstatic Communion With the Elements (though one is slightly reminded of Adrian Mole's disastrous hike with Rick Lemon's youth club where they are told to make use of the bounty of nature, so he and Pandora take it in turns sheltering under an animal feed sack ), but it actually sounds like one of those dopey, ill-considered expeditions Mountain Rescue end up picking up the predictable damage from.

TheBrandyPath · 02/08/2025 15:45

Hyenana · 02/08/2025 15:33

One thing that especially stuck out to me is the cheap lightweight supermarket sleeping bags which of course turned out not warm enough, because that is such a rookie mistake.
Many make it once, but if you've spend one night shivering through the night, you usually learn from it and steer clear of such bargains.

Show quote history

This reminds me of something that, strangely, links with an earlier discussion over whether Moth can read:

He can read and write in Clovelly - he leaves a thank you note.
He then buys a copy of Robinson Crusoe - it is a hardback
In a Newquay charity shop they swap the book for a thermal blanket

So is it that Tim has been more 'revelatory' with Jason, again?

WrathfulDeity · 02/08/2025 15:46

Uricon2 · 02/08/2025 15:23

It really is hard to believe that they have any real wild camping experience, even if decades before and they don't seem to get better at it. They remind me more of the idiot influencers with no experience who attempt Crib Goch on Snowdon clad in designer trainers and are then so very surprised when they need the urgent help of mountain rescue.

And there's the excuse in that situation at least that Sally is still an unusually sheltered teenager who has never been away from her parents overnight before, and who is clearly drunk from having just discovered sex and freedom, so she'll follow her idiot boyfriend anywhere, however unwise. When they're both in their 50s, not so much.

Uricon2 · 02/08/2025 15:46

Hyenana · 02/08/2025 15:33

One thing that especially stuck out to me is the cheap lightweight supermarket sleeping bags which of course turned out not warm enough, because that is such a rookie mistake.
Many make it once, but if you've spend one night shivering through the night, you usually learn from it and steer clear of such bargains.

Show quote history

Agree. An old friend travelled through many parts of the world including the more inhospitable bits of S America and was constantly amazed by the hubris and ill preparedness of some people he encountered. A particularly notable example was rescuing 2 from a Heath Robinson raft contraption that was sinking in the Amazon. He (ex Navy) tried to dissuade them from continuing their journey in salty terms but after brief repairs, on they persisted with a merry cry of "This is Germany!

That baffled him too.

Catwith69lives · 02/08/2025 15:46

Hyenana · 02/08/2025 15:33

One thing that especially stuck out to me is the cheap lightweight supermarket sleeping bags which of course turned out not warm enough, because that is such a rookie mistake.
Many make it once, but if you've spend one night shivering through the night, you usually learn from it and steer clear of such bargains.

Show quote history

How was the anomaly explained between the cheap no bells and whistles no brand rucksacks from Mountain Warehouse and the Karrimor rucksacks which appear in all the photos? I seem to remember it being discussed on a previous thread.

mauvishagain · 02/08/2025 15:50

And quite early in TSP, SW mentions TW writing in a notebook. That would be tricky for someone who couldn't read.

And on the subject of wedding suits, I got married in 1984 and my husb wore a suit from Buttons, it cost about £65. - I remember it well! We didn't investigate the cost of made-to-measure!

(How did the Walkers have time to organize a MTM suit if they basically eloped? I'm not sure that the tailors of Burton on Trent can match Honk Kong for speed of turnaround!)

Words · 02/08/2025 15:52

Place marking.

Hyenana · 02/08/2025 15:54

@AldoGordo
Ah ok I missed that, but they offer different courses:

The article calls it "HND and BSc garden and landscape design courses" which sounds like the students are enrolled in different courses, and both HND and BSc are mentioned, so could be either 1st or 3rd.

I still think it's a possibility that TW switched and therefore had 2 first years in 2014 and 2015 and that could explain the discrepancy. (Or he spend 2014 mooching about trying to make up his mind, but what were they living on if there was no student loan?)

Unless someone finds proof he was doing something entirely different at that time!

AnAlpacaForChristmasPleaseSanta · 02/08/2025 15:59

Woah thread 11 went fast.

Speagle · 02/08/2025 16:01

Thanks for the new thread and respect for all the work involved!👏

AldoGordo · 02/08/2025 16:03

Hyenana · 02/08/2025 15:54

@AldoGordo
Ah ok I missed that, but they offer different courses:

The article calls it "HND and BSc garden and landscape design courses" which sounds like the students are enrolled in different courses, and both HND and BSc are mentioned, so could be either 1st or 3rd.

I still think it's a possibility that TW switched and therefore had 2 first years in 2014 and 2015 and that could explain the discrepancy. (Or he spend 2014 mooching about trying to make up his mind, but what were they living on if there was no student loan?)

Unless someone finds proof he was doing something entirely different at that time!

There's always a possibility but I don't think that simply because there were other courses available it points to anything. The 2015 letter says "planned undertake of academic studies in horticulture". Where they were and what they were doing in 2014 is anyone's guess. Were they even in Polruan? Were they still at Polly's? Or at one of their parents'?

WrathfulDeity · 02/08/2025 16:04

mauvishagain · 02/08/2025 15:50

And quite early in TSP, SW mentions TW writing in a notebook. That would be tricky for someone who couldn't read.

And on the subject of wedding suits, I got married in 1984 and my husb wore a suit from Buttons, it cost about £65. - I remember it well! We didn't investigate the cost of made-to-measure!

(How did the Walkers have time to organize a MTM suit if they basically eloped? I'm not sure that the tailors of Burton on Trent can match Honk Kong for speed of turnaround!)

Tim Walker is such a dapper type, judging by his distinctive honeymoon mountain climbing outfit of tweed shorts, a jacket, shirt and cravat, that it strikes me as perfectly possible this wasn't actually a special wedding suit, just part of his normal wardrobe as Burton on Trent's dandy.

Hyenana · 02/08/2025 16:06

Catwith69lives · 02/08/2025 15:46

How was the anomaly explained between the cheap no bells and whistles no brand rucksacks from Mountain Warehouse and the Karrimor rucksacks which appear in all the photos? I seem to remember it being discussed on a previous thread.

Show quote history

No idea, I dimly remember that discussion but wasn't taking part, it probably was never explained, like so many things.

RNApolymerase · 02/08/2025 16:06

Wandering in, after missing the last few threads being distracted by another that's onto about thread no. 49.

apologies if this has been linked already, I've been skimming.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/aug/02/the-end-of-the-road-what-the-salt-path-scandal-means-for-the-nature-memoir
not really about salt path as such, more about what the knock on effects might be for similar.

Anyway - does anyone know if the Observer are expected to follow up at all? Tomorrow? There's other stuff going on in the world, I know.

The end of the road? What The Salt Path scandal means for the nature memoir

It wasn’t the first hit memoir to tell a story of redemption inspired by the great outdoors – but could it become one of the last? Authors and publishers assess the damage

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/aug/02/the-end-of-the-road-what-the-salt-path-scandal-means-for-the-nature-memoir

AldoGordo · 02/08/2025 16:07

WrathfulDeity · 02/08/2025 15:43

Yes, it's described in The Wild Silence, and it's on their first trip away together, where Sally is pretending to her parents that Tim's entire family are going with them, and she will have her own room. Whereas in fact they go alone, Sally stumbles up a mountain with a heavy, ill-fitting rucksack that rubs her shoulders bloody, to the horror of the campsite ('I couldn't give in, couldn't be that whingeing, whimpering girlfriend and ruin his longed-for trip' 😡). They then head off to the Fiddler, a mountain that Sally has had a bad dream about, despite her misgivings, are caught by a big storm camping overnight on its slopes, their tent and most of their equipment is lost, they spend the night huddled in a survival bag, on a site next to a lake that has become an island by morning, and narrowly make it back to the road next day.

SW presents it as a sort of Wuthering Heights Wild, Ecstatic Communion With the Elements (though one is slightly reminded of Adrian Mole's disastrous hike with Rick Lemon's youth club where they are told to make use of the bounty of nature, so he and Pandora take it in turns sheltering under an animal feed sack ), but it actually sounds like one of those dopey, ill-considered expeditions Mountain Rescue end up picking up the predictable damage from.

Show quote history

It sounds made up. In reality it was probably "it got too windy, we got a bit wet and miserable, so we went back to the car/van."

LiteralLunatic · 02/08/2025 16:08

TBF, I think Moth is showing quite considerable reduced right arm swing in the Dutch video posted in the last thread (eg at 2.50).

Although the consultant’s letter says that he has bradykinesia in his left arm 😂

I suppose it’s not improbable that the video was flipped so they are walking towards the interviewee in the next clip. I don’t think it is likely Moth is faking his illness.

Dutch video

For reference to see what I mean about the reduced arm swing (CBD is an atypical Parkinsonian disorder):

Gait impairments in Parkinson’s disease

Engelands beroemdste wandel-duo gaat opnieuw op pad

Het boek Het Zoutpad beschrijft hoe Raynor Winn en haar man binnen een paar dagen alles kwijtraken. Als dakloos duo gaan ze op een slopende wandeltocht langs de kust in zuidwest Engeland. Het werd een bestseller.

https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/video/2444884

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 02/08/2025 16:09

You'd have thought with all the camping and walking they did when the children were small (thus inspiring the whole idea of the walk) would have meant that they would know EXACTLY what to take on a wild camping expedition, wouldn't you?

Fandango52 · 02/08/2025 16:11

Here to report nothing more than a silly anecdote, but when I went to watch TSP at the cinema, I remember that Play with Fire by the Rolling Stones was playing in the lobby where I got the tickets. A prophecy of sorts, perhaps??

User14March · 02/08/2025 16:12

TheBrandyPath · 02/08/2025 15:45

This reminds me of something that, strangely, links with an earlier discussion over whether Moth can read:

He can read and write in Clovelly - he leaves a thank you note.
He then buys a copy of Robinson Crusoe - it is a hardback
In a Newquay charity shop they swap the book for a thermal blanket

So is it that Tim has been more 'revelatory' with Jason, again?

Show quote history

Yup.

User14March · 02/08/2025 16:15

LiteralLunatic · 02/08/2025 16:08

TBF, I think Moth is showing quite considerable reduced right arm swing in the Dutch video posted in the last thread (eg at 2.50).

Although the consultant’s letter says that he has bradykinesia in his left arm 😂

I suppose it’s not improbable that the video was flipped so they are walking towards the interviewee in the next clip. I don’t think it is likely Moth is faking his illness.

Dutch video

For reference to see what I mean about the reduced arm swing (CBD is an atypical Parkinsonian disorder):

Gait impairments in Parkinson’s disease

Why couldn’t he have Parkinsons? Can that be tested for? Not good to speculate but what I do know re: Parkinsons is that it does/can progress slowly. Presumably MS etc ruled out (?)

Catwith69lives · 02/08/2025 16:16

Fandango52 · 02/08/2025 16:11

Here to report nothing more than a silly anecdote, but when I went to watch TSP at the cinema, I remember that Play with Fire by the Rolling Stones was playing in the lobby where I got the tickets. A prophecy of sorts, perhaps??

Maybe the cinema couldn't lay their hands on anything by The Proclaimers!

User14March · 02/08/2025 16:17

Hyenana · 02/08/2025 16:06

No idea, I dimly remember that discussion but wasn't taking part, it probably was never explained, like so many things.

Show quote history

That & suitcases (?) in orchard photo.

Hyenana · 02/08/2025 16:20

AldoGordo · 02/08/2025 16:03

There's always a possibility but I don't think that simply because there were other courses available it points to anything. The 2015 letter says "planned undertake of academic studies in horticulture". Where they were and what they were doing in 2014 is anyone's guess. Were they even in Polruan? Were they still at Polly's? Or at one of their parents'?

Show quote history

The way the article was written, at least one person in that group must have been enrolled in a HND course, so it could have been him, or not.
And what the doctor's letter says is "his continuing with the planned academic studies" which is unfortunately rather unclear as to if he has already started or not.
Do we know if/when he finished his studies?

Thread 12: To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

Original poster

DisappointedReader · 02/08/2025 16:26

Anyway - does anyone know if the Observer are expected to follow up at all? Tomorrow? There's other stuff going on in the world, I know.

There is certainly more in the pipeline @RNApolymerase but whether it is going to be ready for tomorrow we don't yet know for sure.

OP posts:

WrathfulDeity · 02/08/2025 16:27

Hyenana · 02/08/2025 16:20

The way the article was written, at least one person in that group must have been enrolled in a HND course, so it could have been him, or not.
And what the doctor's letter says is "his continuing with the planned academic studies" which is unfortunately rather unclear as to if he has already started or not.
Do we know if/when he finished his studies?

Show quote history

In TWS, she says Moth finished his studies just as copies of TSP 'found their way onto the shelves of bookshops across the country'. He's writing up his 'huge and beautiful honours project' as she gets her advance copies.

ETA She says on p 132 of TWS 'Mothman BSc.'