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!"

@Freshsocks The way you set it out like that just reminded me of the 'rebuttal-that-isn't'. She is always the most right. I remember @MargaretThursday describing a relative who is always better than you. Always.

And also, what was the point of the delaying tactic? It wasn't as though she was about to come into a sizeable sum which would extract them from their difficulties - the best she could hope to achieve would be a short 'stay of execution' and what good was that going to do?

Delay could mean months more staying iin the house. Plus you never know what will happen other creditors might give up or something unexpected could happen, someone else willing to make a new loan, etc etc.

This is it @BecalmedBrandy Salray is always the injured party, she hasn't done anything wrong, it's always somebody else. If the delaying was seemingly pointless, then that's it exactly@Vroomfondleswaistcoat what did Salray think she might achieve by delaying? discredit the uncle? make the loan seem a bit dodgy in the first place and try to get out of it? If it was just down to Salray's powers of manipulation, I think she might have persuaded a judge that she and Moth had been cruley taken advantage of by the uncle, her aim was probably to do that if she could, but she was thwarted by the paperwork and the letter of the law. That's a good point @Peladon Salray could have been delaying for the sake of it, hoping something would happen to their advantage.

I still wonder where all the money from the additional mortgage borrowing and that stolen from the Hemmings was going? Perhaps into some speculative venture that the Walkers thought would come good, perhaps into the family's French properties. Remember, TWs father was living locally, their son was on the electoral register at a different address nearby, and TW had given up his job at Plas Newydd a few years before.

SW has posted a photo on Instagram. First post since the rebuttal statement, at least that I can see..?

Thanks for the heads up WellSurely
Just a photo of a coastal path, no accompanying text. Over 700 likes.
Why the post? She must have a reason.
What is contained in the soon to be released documentary?

I did wonder about this a while ago too @DreamyHiker, speculating that Sally and Tim might have been using the money to visit their French property that needed renovation nextdoor to Tim's much wealthier brother. It would have been expensive just for Tim, Sally and the children to keep going back and forth to France, they did very little renovation so apart from the purchase price (possibly raised with the mortgage?) money was invested in the property, but not much was done to it, so difficult to say how much, they must have been living beyond their means, on a part time wage, unless they just kept extending their mortgage?

The brother didn't continue with his renovation of the adjoining property for some reason, but there were photos posted earlier of the two families on holiday in France. Maybe the Walkers were trying to keep up with the Walkers, spending too much money, maybe eating out and activities that were easily affordable for Tim's brother and his family?

Just seen your posts @WellSurely and @Aussiebornandbred I wonder what will be contained in the documentary too.

When was the photo posted @WellSurely? I don't know if 700 likes is what you would expect on Instagram@Aussiebornandbred? does this mean she still has a significant following?

No idea whether 700 likes on Instagram is good or not.

Out of interest, I read somewhere that, for some social media sites, you can pay companies to post bulk (fake) "likes". Some "influencers" do that, to make themselves look popular - but it's not advisable because then the "influencer" has no way of telling what the genuine followers really enjoy and can't keep the posts interesting, messages dry up, and sponsors don't like that.

PS: I just got 30,000 "agree"s for my last post.

I think the photo is probably testing the water, to start posting again?

Ok, thank you @Peladon, that makes sense, someone posted a while ago that they thought some of Salray's followers were bought.
Now I don't know if you are pulling my leg or not @Peladon :)
Don't worry about replying @WellSurely or @Aussiebornandbred I'm getting the idea that Salray hasn't currently got a huge amount of followers still following? She could be testing the water @NecklessMumster, pop on a photo and see what happens.

Posted two hours ago. Her account has 79.8 K followers.

Thank you @WellSurely, so it hasn't been posted for very long and it's quite late, it will be interesting to see how many likes it receives in twenty four hours. It could be testing the water as @NecklessMumster says, prior to resuming posting, it could give an indication of what kind of support she still has, useful information to Salray if she knows which of her followers are genuine.

Over 1200 likes in 2 hours

That's interesting @Aussiebornandbred, the likes have gone up a bit. I am imagining that fake likes would have to increase gradually over a period of time, or it wouldn't look genuine, I wonder how many paid for followers Salray has? These likes could all be genuine, all paid for, or some genuine and some paid for, more confusion over what is real and what is not, my head needs sleep now :)

My impression is she was buying time, or claiming to. But I struggle to believe that the liquidators were ever involved given the judge's ruling and they never pursued the debt. Was yet another fantastical explanation in her essay rebuttal imo.

Leather jackets for SalRay McBeal

Fascinated to know whether the the encounter with D&J took place as described in TSP:

• they are the only couple whom Raymoth befriend on the entire walk
• D&J live near Lancaster yet chose to walk the stretch of the SWCP between Poole and West Bay on their fortnight's holiday, not the most obvious stretch of the SWCP to walk from east to west
• they also choose to spend 2 days in Weymouth and a further 2 days walking around Portland Bill, which seems a bit odd
• after walking 5 days D&J spend an entire day in Weymouth to buy new clothes including socks and T shirts!
• there are 4 chance encounters between Raymoth and D&J over 11 days
• some of the timings in TSP don't seem to add up - Raymoth cover 23 miles from Swyre Head to Weymouth in one day!
• despite giving D&J a head start of 2 days to walk around Portland Bill and walking at a similar pace, D&J bump into Raymoth the day after they leave Weymouth
• despite only walking together for a day, D&J become bosom buddies with Raymoth and subsequently accompany them on their walk in Iceland and from Cape Wrath to Cornwall on the Pennine Way stretch of the LL walk
• it seems difficult to explain how D&J could have met Raymoth in either 2014 or 2015
• all of the above begs the question, did Raymoth already know D&J and just arrange to meet them for a walk on the SWCP in 2016?

I guess only D&J know the answers to these questions....

@NaughtyNoodler I didn't realise it was that daft - add in sexy bikini girl stripping off and you've got Carry on Camping!

I think the most interesting feature is that D & J had raised money wearing PSPA T-shirts of this charity for progressive conditions, and were photographed doing so.

That's gnomic even by the standards of Insta. 2014 likes now. It was nearly 2015 but I realised my butterfingers mistake in time! No comments so imagine they are turned off.

I think it's either a) sticking a toe in the water to see who responds and to gauge remaining support or b) her going "Look! Look! Still popular, all these likes! My money would be on b) and I absolutely can believe not every response is a genuine one from a living human fan.

ETA sorry, posted before reading comments by those who think pretty much along the same lines!

Raynorwinn.co.uk has also got more content on as well

Positioning her for the 'reboot'? Pretend nothing untoward has happened and hope that the faithful continue to lap up and buy whatever she publishes, irrespective of whether it is fact or fiction. Keep calm and carry on publishing! Money trumps morality.

From her website
About Raynor Winn
Raynor Winn is the internationally bestselling author of The Salt Path, The Wild Silence and Landlines. Her books have sold more than two million copies in English and have been translated into over twenty five languages. The Salt Path won the Royal Society of Literature’s inaugural Christopher Bland Prize, was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing, and in 2024 was named by the Sunday Times as one of the top one hundred books of the past fifty years. It has since been adapted into a major feature film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, released in UK and international cinemas.
Her subsequent books continue to reach a wide readership, exploring themes of landscape, belonging and the experiences that shape a life. Raynor is a regular long distance walker and lives in Cornwall with her husband, Moth. She is currently working on her fourth book.