Thread 15: 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's original exposé: The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...

The 14 Observer items currently available on their online 'The real Salt Path' page: The real Salt Path | The Observer

4 more from The Observer:
‘Hope is extinguished’: CBD patients respond to Salt Path...

The real Salt Path | The Observer (The Slow Newscast)

(Live/online event)

The Observer YouTube Channel: The Observer UK - YouTube

Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement: Raynor Winn

Thread One ^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?^

Threads 2-11: Links all in the OP of Thread 12

Thread 12: www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5384574-thread-12-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

Thread 13: www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5386458-thread-13-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

Thread 14: www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5388981-thread-14-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

New posters joining us in the genuine spirit of our civil discourse welcome. It would be helpful to get the background from at least some of the Observer items above before posting. There are currently a number of interesting items on The Observer website and linked to above.

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. Remember, even Hollywood rabbits attract the odd flea. 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 fourteen 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 our usual reasonable and respectful fashion is very welcome.

#Pinchofsaltpath
#Fudge
#Cider
#OurChloe
#OurSimon
#Correspondents
#Salray
#Timmoth
#MistakesWereMade
#EmbellishedBollox
#JustBollox
#DriveByScolding
#Glumwashing
#ThereBeSharks
#Scones
#NakedHikers
#TurquoiseGString
#BudleighSalterton
#SallyForth
#YesItReallyIsThread15
#Rabbits

Keep to the path. No saltiness. May the fudge be with you.

TIMELINE PART ONE – 1960 to July 2013

Please do not quote this post!!!

1960
Timothy Ronald Walker born in Burton-upon-Trent Registration District (FreeBMD)

1962
Sally Ann Winn born in Melton Mowbray Registration District (FreeBMD)

Early 1980s
Tim Walker and Sally Winn meet at college (The Salt Path, 2018)

1986
Timothy Ronald Walker, a plasterer from Burton-upon-Trent, and Sally Ann Winn, a clerical officer from Dunstall, marry on Skye. Timothy’s father was a Master Plasterer, and Sally’s a Farm Stockman (Scotland’s People)

c. 1988 – c. 1991
Sally Walker states she worked at the local court in the fines department, worked her way up, then was offered the opportunity to study; she completed two years of a law degree, whilst working full time and having two children, as well as renovating their house, and growing vegetables (Career Interrupted podcast, No money No home No plan…, 19 June 2025)

1980s/90s
Tim Walker an eco-activist according to Sally Walker (Independent, The Salt Path One woman’s journey…, 23 August 2018)

Early 1990s
Sally Walker says Tim invested in a friend’s property portfolio (Raynor Winn website, Sally Walker’s statement, July 2025)

? – 1994
Tim Walker states he was working as Master Plasterer for family business in Staffordshire; wife Sally Walker was a Law Clerk from Gwynedd (BBC Wales North West, The life of a garden, captured 7 September 2004)

1994
Tim Walker says he and Sally left their jobs, sold their house in Staffordshire due to young son wandering into road where they live, and moved to rented house in Criccieth (BBC Wales North West, The life of a garden, captured 7 September 2004)

1994
Walkers bought ‘dilapidated’ Pen y Maes, and Tim, mentioning a botany degree, began volunteering at the National Trust’s Plas yn Rhiw garden (BBC Wales North West, The life of a garden, captured 7 September 2004)

1995
Tim Walker employed as gardener at Plas yn Rhiw (BBC Wales North West, The life of a garden, captured 7 September 2004)

Late 1990s
Ros Hemmings states she met Tim Walker when he was the gardener at Plas yn Rhiw, and she worked in the house there (Observer, The Slow Newscast, The real Salt Path, 29 July 2025)

Early 2000s
Tim Walker was head gardener at Plas yn Rhiw (The Daily Mail, Couple whose memoir inspired hit film, btl comment by Pwhlleli local, 6 July 2025)

c. 2000/02 (date not confirmed as Ros Hemmings unsure of exact date)
Ros Hemmings states Sally Walker told her she had been made redundant from a hotel in Abersoch (Observer, ‘She broke the trust’ video, 6 July 2025)

c. 2000/02 (date not confirmed as per above)
Ros Hemmings says Sally Walker began working part time for her husband Martin Hemmings in Pwllheli (Observer, ‘She broke the trust’ video, 6 July 2025)

2004
Tim Walker worked at Plas yn Rhiw (BBC Wales North West, The life of a garden, captured 7 September 2004)

2004
Tim Walker, his brother, and their families, photographed by local resident at Village du Dropt property (The Daily Mail, The Salt Path secret, 15 July 2025)

c. 2004
Ros Hemmings states that Tim Walker left his job at Plas yn Rhiw in ‘I think, 2004’ (Observer ‘The Slow Newscast’ podcast, 29 July 2025)

2007
Tim Walker bought the house at Village du Dropt, with a little land. The property was run down but habitable at this time according to a local resident (Observer, The real Salt Path, 5 July 2025) Pigeonnier owned by his brother (The Daily Mail, The Salt Path secret, 15 July 2025)

c. Easter 2008
Martin and Ros Hemmings discovered potential embezzlement of £9000 (Observer, ‘She broke the trust’ video, 6 July 2025)

2008
Sally Walker repayed ‘several thousands’ to the Hemmings (Observer, ‘She broke the trust’ video, 6 July 2025) She said Martin Hemmings had lent her the money (Observer ‘The Slow Newscast’ podcast, 29 July 2025)

2008
The Hemmings discovered more serious potential embezzlement of over £60,000, and went to the police (Observer, ‘She broke the trust’ video, 6 July 2025); the amount was between £60,000 and £70,000 (Observer ‘The Slow Newscast’ podcast, 29 July 2025)

2008
Sally Walker arrested and bailed, with instructions to return to the police station the following day. She disappeared. (Observer, ‘She broke the trust’ video, 6 July 2025) According to a source, her car was apparently found abandoned in Llandudno (The Times, The Salt Path scandal: what Raynor Winn’s former neighbours think, 11 July 2025)

2008
Sally Walker loaned £100,000 at 18% pa by Tim’s relative “James” with house as collateral (Observer, The real Salt Path, 5 July 2025); Sally Walker says she was loaned £100,000 by “Cooper”, an old friend, at 18% pa with house as collateral (Raynor Winn website, Sally Walker’s statement, July 2025)

2008
Stolen money returned to Martin Hemmings, who dropped the case (Observer, ‘She broke the trust’ video, 6 July 2025); Hemmings agreed to an NDA (Observer, The real Salt Path, 5 July 2025)

2008/09
“James”’ business went bust (Observer, The real Salt Path, 5 July 2025)

c. 2009/2010
Loan transferred to two creditors of “James” (Observer, The real Salt Path, 5 July 2025)

January 2010
Pen y Maes listed for sale for £395,000 (Zoopla)

March 2011
Pen y Maes on the market for £435,000 (Escape to the Country TV show)

2011-14
At least five county court judgements against the Walkers (Observer, The real Salt Path, 5 July 2025)

March 2012
Gangani Publishing Ltd was set up with Tim Walker as Director and Tim Walker and Sally Walker as joint shareholders (Companies House)

2012
Gangani published How Not to Dal dy Dir by Izzy Wyn-Thomas (Sally Walker). Those who bought the book told they were entered into a prize draw to win a house in Wales‘free from mortgage or any other legal…charge’ (Observer ‘The Slow Newscast’ podcast, 29 July 2025; Gangani Publishing, 2012)

February 2012
Creditors called in the loan, then exceeding £150,000. Judge ordered payment within 12 months or house would be repossessed (Observer, The Salt Path what’s in the book and what The Observer has found, 6 July 2025)

2012
Martin Hemmings died (Observer, The real Salt Path, 5 July 2025)

2013
Sally Walker says they were told by clinicians that Tim ‘probably wouldn’t last two years’ (Independent, The Salt Path One woman’s journey…, 23 August 2018)

2013
Sally Walker says she refunded those who had entered the prize draw (Raynor Winn website, Sally Walker’s statement, July 2025)

June 2013
Pen y Maes repossessed (The Salt Path, 2018); The Walkers left under cover of darkness according to a local farmer (The Times, The Salt Path scandal: what Raynor Winn’s former neighbours think, 11 July 2025); The Walkers hid under the stairs as the bailiffs arrived (The Salt Path, 2018)

July 2013
Gangani Publishing Ltd dissolved (Companies House)

Please do not quote this post!!!

TIMELINE PART TWO – August 2013 to present

Please do not quote this post!!!

Early August 2013
Sally Walker states her and Tim began a walk along the SWCP one Thursday (The Salt Path, 2018)

29 August – 17 September 2013
Simon Armitage walked from Minehead to Land’s End (Guardian, Simon Armitage to walk south-west coast path, 19 February 2013)

17 September 2013
Sally and Tim Walker’s son drove them from Cornwall to Bristol (Observer, Shock and anger: the real people in The Salt Path, 13 August 2025)

October 2013
According to Sally Walker first part of walk ended at Polruan (The Salt Path, 2018)

Mid July – early September 2014
Walk recommenced at Poole, and concluded at Polruan, according to Sally Walker (The Salt Path, 2018)

September 2014 – 2018
According to Sally Walker, she and Tim lived in a flat in Polruan (The Wild Silence)

22 January 2015
Sally Walker’s mother dies in Staffordshire (FindMyPast)

6 February 2015
Sally and Tim Walker’s son helps them move (Observer, Shock and anger: the real people in The Salt Path, 13 August 2025)

25 June 2015
Tim Walker diagnosed with possible corticobasal syndrome symptoms (CBS), although these symptoms are ‘indolent’ and ‘mild’ (Raynor Winn website, medical letters, released July 2025)

8 August 2015
Joanne and David Parson meet the Walkers at the Fat Apples Café, near Porthallow, an event that, according to Sally Walker in The Salt Path, took place in summer 2013 (Observer, We thought: it can’t be the Salt Path couple…, 9 August 2025)

Autumn 2015
Tim Walker began either a horticulture HND or degree, with full student loan funding for a first undergraduate qualification (Falmouth Packet, Eden students take award winning garden to Hampton Court Flower Show, 8 July 2016; The Salt Path, 2018)

2016
“James” died (Observer, The real Salt Path, 5 July 2025)

25 July 2016
Pen y Maes sold for £280,000 to Maxine Farrimond (Land Registry; Observer, The real Salt Path, 5 July 2025)

July 2016
Farrimond started receiving letters: debt collection agencies, speeding fines, credit card bills and other unpaid bills addressed to the Walkers (Observer, The real Salt Path, 5 July 2025)

February 2017
Walkers travelled to Iceland for walking holiday (Raynor Winn Instagram)

6 May 2017
Sally Walker as Raynor Winn emails the Big Issue regarding a potential article (Big Issue, Gillian Anderson, Jason Isaacs, and The Salt Path author Raynor Winn on homelessness and the human spirit, 30 May 2025)

10 July 2017
Sally Walker’s article published in the Big Issue; at that time she stated she hadn’t yet found a publisher (Big Issue, Gillian Anderson, Jason Isaacs, and The Salt Path author Raynor Winn on homelessness and the human spirit, 30 May 2025)

‘a few weeks’ after 10 July 2017
Sally Walker states she had approached an agent who had responded within a day, and they were currently arranging to contact potential publishers (Big Issue, Gillian Anderson, Jason Isaacs, and The Salt Path author Raynor Winn on homelessness and the human spirit, 30 May 2025)

January 2019
The Walkers move to Bill Cole’s cider farm (The Wild Silence, 2020)

22 March 2018
Hardback publication of The Salt Path

2018
“Moth”’s real name was Ray (Independent, The Salt Path One woman’s journey…, 23 August 2018)

September 2019
Walkers walked in Iceland (The Wild Silence, 2020)

17 October 2019
Consultant suggested Tim Walker’s illness may have been something else, a ‘more unusual disorder’ (Raynor Winn website, medical letters, released July 2025)

3 September 2020
Hardback publication of The Wild Silence

21 May 2021 – 15 September 2021
Sally Walker states her and Tim walked the length of Britain on various long distance footpaths (Raynor Winn Instagram; Landlines, 2022)

October 2021
Tim Walker told Bill Cole that consultant advised not to plan past Christmas (Observer, ‘I felt I was being gaslit’, July 2025)

Winter 2021
Sally Walker states that two scans taken before and after their walk of various UK long distance paths showed that pre-walk recorded damage to Tim’s brain had disappeared by the post-walk second scan, which had ‘a normal reading’ (Landlines, 2022)

15 September 2022
Hardback publication of Landlines

Late September 2022
Bill Cole read in Landlines about Tim Walker’s normal brain scan results in late 2021 (Observer, ‘I felt I was being gaslit’, July 2025)

October 2022
A few weeks after Bill Cole read the book, Rick Stein filmed at Haye Farm (Observer, ‘I felt I was being gaslit’, July 2025)

November/December 2022
Shortly after filming, the Walkers left Bill Cole’s farm for pastures new (Observer, ‘I felt I was being gaslit’, July 2025)

14 February 2023
Series 3, Episode 2 of Rick Stein’s Cornwall aired, featuring the Walkers as cider farm entrepreneurs (BBC 2, Rick Stein’s Cornwall)

24 April 2023
Sally & Tim Walker walked the London Marathon (Raynor Winn’s Instagram)

7 April 2024 – 18 April 2024
Sally & Tim Walker walked The Thames Path (Raynor Winn’s Instagram)

5 July 2025
Observer began publishing articles by investigative journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou (Observer, The real Salt Path collection, July 2025)

Please do not quote this post!!!

TIMELINE PART THREE – Links to references

Please do not quote this post!!!

BBC 2, Rick Stein’s Cornwall, 14 February 2023: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001j82s

BBC Wales North West, The life of a garden, 7 September 2004: https://archive.ph/6KXzq

Big Issue, Gillian Anderson, Jason Isaacs, and The
Salt Path author Raynor Winn on homelessness and the human spirit, 30 May 2025:
https://www.bigissue.com/culture/film/the-salt-path-raynor-winn-gillian-anderson-jason-isaacs-interview/

Falmouth Packet, Eden students take award winning garden to Hampton Court Flower Show, 8 July 2016: https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/14607378.eden-students-take-award-winning-garden-to-hampton-court-flower-show/

FindMyPast: https://www.findmypast.co.uk

FreeBMD: https://www.freebmd.org.uk/

Career Interrupted podcast, No money No home No plan…, 19 June 2025: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/career-interrupted/e283no-home-no-money-no-plan-URg9c06YKIW/?t=58

Land Registry, LL53 6YA: https://landregistry.data.gov.uk/data/ppi/transaction/3B7E0B90-8B85-EA99-E050-A8C062057E77/current

Scotland’s People: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

The Daily Mail, Couple whose memoir inspired hit film, 6 July 2025: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14880299/couple-memoir-Salt-Path-film-Gillian-Anderson-Jason-Isaacs.html

The Daily Mail, The Salt Path secret, 15 July 2025: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14904933/French-property-Salt-Path.html

The Guardian, Simon Armitage to walk south-west coast path, 19 February 2013: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/feb/19/simon-armitage-south-west-coast-poetry

The Independent, The Salt Path one woman’s journey…, 23 August 2018: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/the-salt-path-book-journey-walking-coast-path-cornwall-devon-homelessness-a8502256.html#comments-area

The Observer, The Slow Newscast, The real Salt Path, 29 July 2025: https://observer.co.uk/listen/the-slow-newscast/the-real-salt-path-1

The Observer, We thought: it can’t be the Salt Path couple…, 9 August 2025: https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/we-thought-it-cant-be-the-salt-path-couple-theyd-have-told-us-they-were-homeless

The Observer, Shock and anger: the real people in The Salt Path, 13 August 2025:

The Observer, all articles in the real Salt Path collection:
https://Observer.co.uk/collections/the-real-salt-path

The Times, The Salt Path scandal: what Raynor Winn’s former neighbours think, 11 July 2025
https://archive.ph/g3sOO

Zoopla, Pen y Maes, Y Ffor, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, LL53 6YA: https://www.zoopla.co.uk/property/uprn/10070273056/

Please do not quote this post!!!

NO POSTS PLEASE EXCEPT FOR THE TIMELINE AND REFERENCES UNTIL THREAD 14 IS COMPLETELY FULL

NO QUOTING THE TIMELINE AND REFERENCES IN FULL THANK YOU

Thread 15? Wow! Thank you @DisappointedReader and hello again to all correspondents, hikers, nudists, Beowulf fans, scone experts and everyone else!!

Thanks @DisappointedReader for setting up this thread and for keeping us all safe and on the path over the previous 14 threads! And thanks too to @FurryHappyKittens and AldoGordo for your sterling work on the timeline and inconsistencies!

Do you think we're going to reach a point where the timelines and updated links actually fill the thread before anyone gets a chance to post?

Welcome aboard. I've noticed that the link back to Thread 14 isn't working in my OP. It was as I always check all the links before posting. I've asked MNHQ to fix it for us so hopefully it is just a temporary flea in the ointment see what I did there.

ETA No fleas on MNHQ! Fixed already.

This struck me as amusing! They went to Bristol the same day Simon Armitage was scheduled to complete his walk!

29 August – 17 September 2013
Simon Armitage walked from Minehead to Land’s End (Guardian, Simon Armitage to walk south-west coast path, 19 February 2013)

17 September 2013
Sally and Tim Walker’s son drove them from Cornwall to Bristol (Observer, Shock and anger: the real people in The Salt Path, 13 August 2025)

Anyone who wants anything added to the timeline, please DM me rather than mention it in thread, or do both. I'm sure I've missed a couple of things that have been mentioned along the way!

Thanks Oh Disappointed One! 🎂

Apologies. AldoGordo can't be tagged as they had to leave the path and I've swapped places. Reporting for inconsistency duties. Please be kind.

Oh dear SimoArmo! Have mistakes been made? And just out of curiosity, is this your legal name or was AldoGordo your legal name?

I believe the answer to your question lies in whether Moth looks like a celebrated poet or not.

Thank you for the new thread and all the heavy-lifting involved in keeping it going⭐
🍖for the Wild Pooing Rovering Correspondent for his offerings and insight.

Someone asked in the previous thread whether sw could have continued to receive tax credits if they'd camped out on their land in France.
I think the walkers kept their previous address for tax credits (or maybe used a friends) but either way, they could have simply drawn these weekly payments from a cash machine in France....at least for the same time amount of time they spent on the path.

Links to 1, 12, 13 aren't working for me.

Yes, I'm sure it says in TSP that they conveniently didn't mention to the DWP* that they were no longer at the Welsh address, so that they could keep getting their benefit paid. Which does, of course, constitute benefits fraud (gosh, the charge sheet is lengthening)

• It might not have had the same acronym then, but the relevant govt department!

Hello Thread 15! Another YouTube video for your delight - this one I really liked, it's a very honest & thoughtful reflection from a disappointed reader (presumably not our @DisappointedReader but still...) Apologies if this has been posted before.

@CocteauTwin

If you're still around, it would be interesting to know where the marriage took place, as Sally Walker states it was at an alternative location because the registry office was closed. I was wondering if it might say where on the certificate.

Hmm. What the..? They were all working because I checked. I will send another pigeon from the tower to MNHQ.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Summary-Raynor-Winns-Salt-Path-ebook/dp/B09W1XZ8MG/ref=sr_1_12?adgrpid=1175378829113859&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.R0rm3EYtOrO0N81ZQBCWotDL6qTQgtyScm_79o7She3A5CCBhldNZ2toq1GYp39-vuczCRsnpVXMaVaeF5h_A2ZIEpqG1Hu33HVu
Is this just a joke?

I can confirm that is definitely not me @cricketandwhodunnits ! I have enough being disappointed on these threads!

I should say for the sake of transparency that @BlueHorses has also replaced the jaded sleuth previously known as HeroicFailure from the last thread, and I was definitely a different user name on previous threads, though at this point, I couldn't tell you what that was. Like a memoirist trying to remember what she said last time she was interviewed...

Looks like a cheap abridged version, published in 2022. I wonder if Simon Armitage gets a mention.

I have lost track of these threads, but I had an advert for TSP pop up last night when I was on MN. Shameless!

Totally OT but was réminiscing about my last visit to Cornwall in the late 90s. We stayed not in a tent but at Broom Parc B and B, a magnificent house on the SWCP near Portloe and Veryan. Superb breakfast. The Camomile Lawn was filmed there- anyone remember that? Sadly it has closed according to Google.

As you were.