Thread 19: 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 ...

First thread: To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film? | Mumsnet

Links to threads 2-16, the other 20 Observer articles and videos to date, Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement, our timeline and sources can all be accessed in the OP and first few posts of Thread 17: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5403285-thread-17-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

Thread 18: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5422393-thread-18-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 are welcome. It would be helpful to get the background from at least some of the Observer exposé items 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. Remember, even Hollywood rabbits attract the odd flea. Please do not engage with drive-by scolders 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. Over four months we have done amazingly well together for 18 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.

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

"I'll fight anyone who says I'll make it to Christmas 2021!"

I'm still baffled as to why - with all the newfound fortune that they have - they haven't sunk their money into something like a Scottish island or even just a croft, where they could be as one with nature all the time and do all the rewilding they fancied. We don't even know whether they've bought the Cornish property they're living in or are just renting.

SURELY, having lost one home, the top priority would be to make sure they had property that nobody could take away....

Thanks @HatStickBoots , I definitely think it is! (certainly safer than attempting a 650 odd mile walk at present, anyway)

Very well put @HumoursofBandon , thank you! I am getting muddled again.
I’ve just looked back at Bill Cole’s interview with the Observer. I’d forgotten that the second and third book were written while staying on his farm. A lot doesn’t match up.

SURELY, having lost one home, the top priority would be to make sure they had property that nobody could take away....

Totally agree @Vroomfondleswaistcoat . There are going to be absolutely loads of lovely properties in quiet places they could afford on the royalties. She might have even been able to write another book about the experience, although if they did really settle, she might have to be a bit less scathing about the local people.

"Moth, why are we tied up in this big wicker thingy and why are the neighbours waving flaming torches and singing? Are they jealous of me working with Gigspinner? It must be that, everyone is so horrible to me. Oh, they're getting closer, there's Mrs Smith from the Post Office. She doesn't look very happy. Perhaps I should have paid for that box of fudge..."

Yes, exactly. Basically, they get rich while living on the cider farm, as one bestseller turns into three. If they're worried about getting attached to somewhere for which their tenancy may not be renewed, then the world is their oyster (or giant clam!). They can buy somewhere that they own outright, which can't be taken away.

Unless, contrary to SW's claims in her rebuttal that she was unaware of anyone to whom they still owed money, including the men who bought the debt from TW's uncle and who caused the farm to be repossessed, they still think they're liable for some repayments, somewhere, and are being cautious.

I actually started to wonder if they've fallen into the trap that many writers fall into if their first book is successful - that of thinking that the income will be constant. Your first few royalty cheques are quite large and it's easy to imagine this will continue, but unless you keep bringing out books that sell and that drive readers to your backlist, eventually the amounts start to dwindle. And this can happen surprisingly quickly.

So if they've been sitting back, spending the money as it came in and imagining that the gravy train will continue to roll, they might find themselves unable to afford to buy anything much in the future.

True. But I bet the movie gave them a substantial sum, and it probably helped a few more book sales than would have been otherwise...and I would be surprised if the Observer exposé hasn't helped a few sales too. Income will surely decline from here on in but I reckon they now have a very decent buffer in preparation of that.

If I'd been them, the first thing I'd have done once TSP was a success and there were substantial funds is buy somewhere. Even if the money ran out, they're getting towards State Pension age (it is impossible to imagine they have anything else due) and they would have a tangible asset, a home, whatever happened, invest enough and they could downsize if needed. So many people don't have that luxury however hard they work.

I suppose maybe they do have a bolthole somewhere but as we all know, financial commonsense and Raymoth are not synonyms.

It might be a nice buffer for now. But give it five or ten years and it will have dropped significantly. If they aren't investing it (they seem to be spending a lot on the property they are in at the moment), they might end up with not enough to buy anywhere worthwhile. If they're so hooked on the wonderfulness of nature then I'd assume they'd want to live somewhere remote with plenty of land. And that's not cheap.

If it hadn’t been for the Observer article exposing the truth, I think they could have had a comfortable life due to the book sales, film revenue, teaching workshops, the wellness retreat, being asked to write forewords in other books, appearances and tours. If they had been the people they’d portrayed themselves as in book form, they’d be exactly the sort of people who would buy land or live in a cottage. They are not those people though. I still don’t really know who they are.

If TW had been as ill as SW likes to claim I'd imagine they would have wanted the security of a forever home and accommodation that could have been adapted to meet TW's needs. That would have been my priority rather than living in rentals.

I still don’t really know who they are.

This is so true @HatStickBoots . However you look at them, they have a habit of *slithering like elvers through your fingers and then swimming off to be something quite different.

I don't imagine that they probably know themselves after all that's gone on. Salray-desperate wife with no home and an ill husband, angry defender of the underdog, a latter day Ophelia, oh so humble author but with millions in the bank, embezzler.

*nature writing, that is.

Yes it’s very odd. I’m thinking that the upcoming documentary will shed some light on who they really are because I think CH has found people who knew them in the past, to talk.

I agree. They can afford private health care and home help.

Scrolling through The Guardian headlines just now, I saw this one:

"She left her desk job and walked 3,541 miles from Mexico to Canada: ‘Give yourself permission’"

My first thought was that Our Sal's at it again! But then I re-read the headline and stopped at the word "job".

Do we have a date, time and channel for this? I think I wasn’t on the thread when it was being discussed.

But they have a tent and each other and the present moment.

This is such a good point. The mind boggles as to why they choose to pay what must be a huge monthly sum to rent a huge estate house when TW is in inevitable decline. Surely anyone with money and options would choose a comfortable and secure place to live out his days without even the potential of eviction given what happened to their farmhouse. Unless that is where he has chosen - to cosplay lord of the manor for a bit till CBD finally starts to affect him?

The press release said December. It'll be on Sky and streaming on Now TV.

I read this earlier. She became depressed after her first trail back in "normality" which reminded me of Sally being glum in Polruan and pitching her tent in the flat. But with this girl, her Dr suggested she returned to do a shorter trail, which helped her depression and she ended up doing the Mexico to Canada route. Fair play to her.

I think that escaping the daily rat race can be very freeing and can improve many mental health conditions. Unfortunately, the need to pay the bills often means that you have to go back to it at some point.

Indeed. The article doesn't say how she fared after she completed her 5 month journey, which followed her original bout of post-trail depression. No doubt a book is in the offing.

I think one of the reasons Salray was not challenged more is the fact that no-one doubts the general benefits to health, mental and physical, of exercise outdoors and being in nature. It's kind of hard wired into our thinking as a species, for very good reason. Maybe that's why when her outrageous claims about long walks reversing a serious (and thankfully rare) neurological condition were made, it wasn't a huge step for many to believe that it could be true. Unfortunately, walking in nature isn't going to cure everything, it can't cure CBD and any suggestion otherwise is fraud equivalent to peddling snake oil.

Promoted by Mumsnet as a ‘true story of resilience and hope’ 😊

I cannot believe it will be too long, in case someone else scoops the story. I do hope we hear from the nephew.