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.

Ah okay, thanks!! Hmm I wonder if CH could - or has tried to - contact Dave and Julie via Just Giving?

The house repossession and the whole idea of we lost everything at the same time (their home, their business, the pet sheep) and the supposed terminal illness diagnosis is the baseline to the story.
if the book started with- after the bailiffs repossessed our home back in 2013 we’ve been sat on our arses for two years wondering what to do so decided to go for a walk, wouldn’t really work would it? 🤔

I guess my further question is, given that SW was going to have to move at least some stuff between years, why pick 2013 as the year to move it all to and put up a big neon sign saying "this all happened in 2013 and at no other time"?

I wonder if, the idea for TSP book preceeded, even triggered the walk itself...whether SW viewed everyone they encountered on the walk as potential fodder for her narrative.

To be fair, I also wonder whether the NDA she signed with Hemmings was why she didn't speak up earlier about the mistakes she made in his office

I don't think you can contact donors from JustGiving but I think there may be another avenue that could be pursued. Data protection remains a potential issue.

I wonder if she could go via the JG press office (if they have one)?

2013 is the base line simply because:

• the final court judgement mandating the house repossession occurred in Feb 2013 (court papers/solicitors letters)
• the house was repossessed in June 2013 (court papers/witness statement of neighbouring farmer)
• FB feed from the son indicated Raymoth had visited for body boarding in July 2013, possibly prior to starting the walk
• 8 Aug 2013 seems to fit the date described in TSP
• all the evidence points to the CBD/CBS diagnosis not occurring until June 2015
• to create an emotional hook, the final court judgement, CBD diagnosis and house repossession were concertina'd into a week and the emotional trauma of SW dealing with Moth's diagnosis was retrofitted into the 2013 walk narrative.

That's my take fwiw.

Right but what I meant was, since lots of the in-book timeline is made up anyway why not say "we lost our house, our health and our sheep and went for a walk in 2015"? It's a genuine question, I'm puzzled by why they would anchor it all to the earlier date.

Well 2013 is the year they lost the house. And it appears they did walk some of the path then.

Meanwhile 2015 is when TW was tentatively diagnosed and they walked some more, perhaps even completing it back to LE again.

So I guess it makes sense if one wishes to stitch them together into a compelling story hook to set it in 2013 as a starting point and retrofit the diagnosis, rather than set in 2015 and forward-fit the house loss.

It’s simply all about DRAMA.
Poor RayMoth, the whole life crushed at once. They craved the sympathy from readers but also imposed to be heroic and reckless. Who in the right mind takes a terminally ill husband for a stroll round the coast line on the other side of England? And doesn’t even prepare for it properly (the medication!!! And lots of other things they have forgotten/ were poorly prepared).
If the book was simply about a couple that decided to walk a well known path, wouldn’t be as successful without the drama.

I'm not disputing that at all, I'm just wondering: why set the whole drama in 2013, and not set exactly the same drama in 2015? Why not move the house drama later, instead of moving the illness drama earlier? It's not really a big deal but it does puzzle me a bit. Still I have never been able to understand the motivation of either fictional RW or real SW!

I'm listening to what is being said at the moment - and taking it in. Thank you to those of you who have carefully set things out with dates.

All my jarring inaccuracies have taken place on the south coast. Think especially of ferries.

I do think that some of the writing has been cribbed from 500 Mile Walkies - including some on the north coast.

Out of interest, does anyone recall any "anchoring" [dateable events in the real world that are recorded in TSP - like Simon Armitage's walk, the final Ashes Test of 2013, the performance of Iolanthe] in the 2014 / south coast part of TSP?

It’s a fair point. But I imagine on the grounds that, when lying, it’s best to anchor it as much in truth as possible and invent as little as possible, it may have felt safer to overlay things from two different years onto the earliest available one. The house loss is a big, one-off dramatic event. Tim’s illness probably emerged slowly and could be more safely projected backward onto the same timeline of the ‘big’ and more checkable event. It may even have felt like less of an untruth, because who’s to say (SW might think) T wasn’t already having symptoms etc etc?

I wonder whether SW started with the 2013 photo at Land's End, without giving it much thought at the time. I can't think of anything else that's so firmly rooted. The odd cricket radio incident was discussed in an earlier thread, and could have been fitted in retrospect.

I see what you mean! Hmm I’m not sure, I guess it was easier to retrofit the illness and set off for a walk straight after the house repossession.
if they moved the house repossession to 2015 surely locals from Wales and Polruan would be alerted and suspicious? Also there’s legal documents/ yt programme with the cottage in wales up for sale etc available online. And the Gangani Publishing shady activities still available online. I guess it was easier to start it all in 2013 🤯

We will never truly understand the twisted minds of RayMoth.

ETA typo

Maybe simply because they have photos from 2013, including the Land's End one which appears to be 2013 (though is questionable enough to possibly be 2015 if it's been edited).

The Ashes cricket thing reminds me of a bit in 500 Mile Walkies (which RW mentions in TSP and which I’d recommend!) where Mark Wallington gets very preoccupied with trying to find somewhere to listen to or watch the Cup Final (which is actually a decisive and important match, unlike the Ashes match that Moth wants to follow in TSP!)

I’m just re-posting something I put yesterday in our previous thread (14) in case anyone has any thoughts:

I’ve been reading some of the comments on the YouTube video where CH interviews the Mullion Cafe owner (on this page: m.youtube.com/@theobservernewsuk/videos), and one commenter asks if it would be possible for all of the people defamed by RW in TSP to collectively sue her.

Off the top of my head, I suppose it would be tricky to prove that the defamation was targeted - as you could argue the MC cafe wasn’t identified in TSP - and also tricky to prove that it harmed the businesses or individuals involved.

Can’t remember who our Legal Correspondent is, but does anyone here know if a class action lawsuit might be possible?

No.

The south coast, as a continuous walk, is extremely unconvincing. They skip along, don't describe most of the ferries, even she says - "days passed".

I would think the Plymouth part was based on when he was attending the university, for part of his course. The lack of a ferry at that point is ridiculous (as has been described previously).

There seems to be some conflation of St Nicholas Chapel and Queen Adelaide's Grotto. The photo of the tent, pitched at the latter, was in 2016.

Hello lovely MNs long time user my dcs are now almost grown and been around since nappy years. Oh the time I've wasted but the advice I've received! I have not had a log in for ages but i just rejoined to post on this thread I am popping on with nothing useful to add except thanks for 15 threads! It's been so entertaining and informing. I'm sad it's probably coming to an end soon.
I have some things of no use to throw in the mix. I'm from near-ish Burton on trent originally I have become the kind of middle class semi hippy walker the salray/Timoth people could be ...and know a lot like them mid 50s upwards. Universityeducated working class. I also used to work in publishing decades ago, love a hike and now do a job that looks into financial fraud related to philanthropy (I'm sure none of that is too outing). I meet a lot of people like them in the charity world. Maybe because I'm ND I have always been able to sniff out bulls*t as I often see patterns others don't. I didn't realise this until last 5-10 yrs.
I knew this book was made up when i read it. I hated it. I love travel books so I read it right back when quite new. Then I could not understand why it was so loved in circles I move. Then everywhere. But I like GA so was interested in the film. My feeling was it's great merch for selling in NT shops etc. Everyone loves Cornwall. it was very obviously based on other travel books (I thought definitely commissioned on back of WILD by Cheryl strade. Which was popular in 2018 due to film. Great book but also embellished as she wrote 10 years after the walk..I love it). The negativity in TSP was very clear to me. And not reality as travelling as a middle aged person on a budget. I know it appeals to a grumpy kind of English person who thinks they're very right-on but basically looks down on everyone else. All said on here. Not reality at all.

Well done for all the excellent investigating. If nothing else comes of this then several very wronged people have had the chance to set the record straight. That in itself is transformative. Its a real result for them.

My final comments are. As I said above. I regularly uncover fraud as my job. What I don't think has been mentioned is.

1. TW would have 100% been involved in the embezzlement. He may have even been the driving force. Money came into family. Its a joint endeavour. Let's not blame just RW. They're clearly codependent.

2.Also she's worked a lot on and off while raising 2 dc. He's barely worked all their married life. Lots of threads on MN about DHs like that! Bet he's always been 'a bit ill'... someone could do a timeline of his work. He's been off work since early 2000s on and off. Volunteer gardener etc.

1. This embezellment would have taken a high level of deceit even if the money was easy enough to take. To do that takes a certain kind of person. They're usually very clever. You have to be to pull it off. Stupid people don't do this. They are clearly very clever and manipulative. They will feel guilt but they'll have been justifying so long as to have compartmentalised it.
2. Clearly they wrote a book and it was partly made up..fictionalised, patched together, then it all spiralled. Because they're grifters. They then doubled down instead of walking away..they'd have had contractual agreements too. I don't expect they had a lot of choice in movie rights for example. They could have come clean or just said no more. But they're manipulative liars so not in their makeup. Plus clearly they've got away with so much before. It's all very classic covert narc.

Well done all of you! Brilliant read and I wish you could all come down to where I live and start a book/film discussion group because all the ones around here love things like TSP!

I did walk some of the SWCP those summer and everyone I met was lovely (also average age 60)

They get to Weymouth in the first week of the summer holidays so sometime between 23-30 July. This ties in with the comments that they decide to leave Polly's in early July and that they have over two months until Moth starts uni (mid Sept?)

As cricket correspondent: in retrospect, perhaps I should have spotted another red flag when I read TSP the first time - I just wrote off the 'carrying the radio all that way and only switching it on once' as a bit of weird dramatic license (that would never happen), but I didn't spot that they (allegedly) kept meeting Australians and never discussed the cricket once!

Well, that’s just not cricket, is it! Sorry, I’ll see myself out…

Thanks, this was also my impression - I don't know the area well so can't comment on the geographic 'anchoring,' but it seemed to me that compared with the 2013 section there was little or no temporal anchoring - someone upthread notes that a date is mentioned, but there's no equivalents of 'we saw a university production of Iolanthe at the Minack'.