Thread 20 : 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?

Thread 19: www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5437058-thread-19-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 and ploppers 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 five months we have done amazingly well together for 19 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.

Up and coming:

• Salt Path: A Very British Scandal, Monday 15th December 9pm Sky Documentaries and NOW
• Sunday Papers Live, The Real Salt Path with Chloe Hadjimatheou, Sunday 7th December (see image below for tickets and further details)
• Observer Newsroom: The Real Salt Path Story, Thursday 8th January 2026 6.30-7.30pm. More information and to book via this link observer.co.uk/our-events/the-real-salt-path-story

But there are plenty of her photos that were deemed good enough for publicity. I think that is why it is odd certain photos are excluded (i.e planking at golden cap...if it happened)...i don't think anyone is suggesting photos should have been included in the printed book.

First world problems. Move along now.

So bored with the subject that they've posted three times on the thread, therefore encouraging the thread to appear on their feed.

Yes, that's the way to not engage with threads you have no interest in. 🙄

I actually think photos would have enhanced the book, in the sense that a scrapbook diary of scribbled notes, quick snaps and little sketches makes a nice record. They appear to be smiling and happy in the photos they did take… but of course as it’s a work of mostly fictional content… there’d be no photo of the tortoise or the lady who said they’d been salted, or the surfer dude life guards or Grant and his harem .. I’m sure every one of them would have been happy to pose. Of course the pseudo hippie in his layers of faded cotton wouldn’t be included because he wanted them to pay for their camping spot and therefore a traitor and part of the establishment, man.

Yes @HatStickBoots , Simon was able to make a photographic record because the people he came across actually existed and he was where he was when he said he was.

Ooh a drive by scolder, how exciting, very nice of them to drop by (maybe they want some cider) are we taking up space that someone else needs?

I enjoyed all your responses, I agree @SimoArmo that the threads are for anyone to post on (hence me) and you must be right@FurryHappyKittens, the scolder will probably get more prominence of this thread on their feed, maybe we should be worried about them, as @MargaretThursday points out we are creating a hardship.

@hobbledyhoy posted just before the scolding, asking why TSP adverts are still on MN, this question pops up now and then, the last time @Vroomfondleswaistcoat explained that the advertising will have been bought and paid for by PRH, in advance of the scandal.

I'm glad the pins are out of your hand @BegazingBrandy, I hope it's starting to feel much better and that you and @Uricon2 are resting up ready for Monday :)
I know the moment has passed, but I did watch the waltz @Peladon and it was beautiful.

Using little Monty now @Groundsel, I wonder if he will garner more likes? Wouldn't even fairly fuzzy photos (SA's are not all totally clear) have added to the homespun appeal of TSP as @HatStickBoots says, TSP was supposed to have started as a collection of writings and photos, Salray never intended to be published, so her story goes, the readers would have forgiven the poor quality, if they believed Salray's narrative.

@Freshsocksah I see, thanks for the explanation and apologies for highlighting an oft asked question again!

I’ll need to try and catch up on the latest thread, I’ve lost my way a bit.

That's ok @hobbledyhoy happy to be able to answer something, it's not always easy to find your way on this thread, I keep following the strong smell of fudge :)

YABU we are not the mods. Only 4 days until the Sky documentary with new revelations!

I was trying to hint that Sal's book would have been more believable if she'd included photos, but maybe she wanted to and had them all turned down for being utter crap. SA will have had his book format agreed in advance and therefore pictures could well have been part of the whole 'deal'.

Leading on from this… I mentioned that they look “smiley and happy” in their selfies from this alleged time on the path and that’s important if for instance an argument came up that asked why would they be taking selfies and snapshots during the worst time of their lives? But you see, despite the meagre diet and their physical difficulties, the tone of the book suggests that they’re feeling better, healing in nature. In that joyful state, you’d be able to keep a visual record of this experience if you wanted to. We know what we have been told of course but the lack of pictures tells its own story.
As well as Walking home and Walking Away by Simon Armitage, I’ve also read the non fictional The Draw of the Sea by Wyl Menmuir (interestingly with a quote from Raynor Winn on the front cover).This book uses photography throughout, despite being very well written and it does enhance the subject matter. The pictures, even though grey and grainy, serve a purpose and engage the reader with the reality of the author’s stories. The Salt Path by comparison relies on language alone to communicate with the readers’ imaginations and once that’s been engaged, the manipulative nature of the content is very effective at keeping the reader where the author wants them.

In Landlines, part 3 of “Lying low” there are pages and pages about CBD, the diagnosis, the DAT scan results and more. There’s far too much to quote or paraphrase but at the end of it she says that “since walking the coast path doctors, physiotherapists and neurologists have contacted us suggesting reasons why his health improved as it did. Physiotherapy is one of only a few ways in which a patient can be helped with the physical symptoms of CBD, gentle motion to help retain movement for as long as possible. So it could be argued that what Moth undertook on that very long walk was an extreme form of physio. Or maybe it was the very low-calorie diet we survived on because we couldn’t afford to eat, or the time spent in nature, or any number of other reasons that have yet to be considered. What was without question was the speed with which his health deteriorated when he returned to a more sedentary life, all the old symptoms returning more aggressively than before.”
Raynor Winn, Landlines, part 3 of Lying Low.

In the rebuttal, Sally Walker exclaims that she was only documenting Moth’s health, his experiences and what worked for him. While saying that Moth has CBD she is also saying that other people with CBD may not benefit from his experiences and in the same breath says that the Observer exposé has taken away other sufferers’ “beacon of hope”. Surely Moth is not unique? Why wouldn’t other sufferers want to try the same methods in order to prolong their lives or make the symptoms go into reverse?

The average lifespan of a CBD sufferer is 6-8 years. When Moth was diagnosed with possible CBS in June 2015, he'd already had symptoms for 9-10 years. How on earth was he therefore diagnosed with CBS?

Or maybe it was the very low-calorie diet we survived on because we couldn’t afford to eat

This is another example of the shameless irresponsibility. Strenuous walking + an ultra low calorie and nutrient free diet consisting of empty carbs + underlying serious illness, all in someone who was far from overweight to start with sounds like a recipe for good health, thought absolutely noone ever except in Salworld.

I don't think they were on the sort of rations put forward though. When I was ill and having to really force myself to eat anything (reckon it was about 400 calories a day for a few weeks) I lost weight fast and I was barely moving, let alone yomping up hill and down dale.

And at the beginning of LL, TW has lost his appetite and, although he is active daily, pruning and strimming the orchards, she specifically says that he’s lost muscle and is weak — so here he is also surviving on a very small calorie intake while being physically active, but the result is increasing feebleness, tremors and falls, not a reduction in symptoms.

Good points @HatStickBoots and @Uricon2. IMO the low-calorie and extreme physio thing simply doesn't add up.

If they truely were walking several miles of strenuous coastal path (extreme physio) for days on end on low calorie diets, mainly eating noodles, hairy wine gums and occasional chips, then they should have both been incredibly gaunt in selfie photo at Land's End.

There is no way anyone can use up more calories than they consume and not lose consiserable weight over an extended time. Add to this the facts they used up more calories keeping warm in their paper thin sleeping bags and that their diets seemed to lack a healthy balance, by SWs account, so they should have been experiencing malnutrition to boot.

This to me spells out yet more made up nonsense for fictionalising what was more like regular a walking holiday.

Looking forward to the documentary on the 15th. I hope Chloe turns her research into a book next year. I had a weird dream last night that Moth was a Christmas Santa in a department store and Rayner was complaining about the queues.
I think I need therapy.

This made me laugh, your dream sums them up. Moth, the jovial, charismatic figure who draws everyone to him, with Raynor whinging in the background

I see SW as a glum department store elf, given to monologuing to the queue about the stale air and urban confinement and how she longs for the salty headlands and wild freedom, and how she has to pitch her trusty Quango tent inside Santa’s Grotto to feel at home.

Meanwhile TW is twinkling up a storm, reacting ‘’Twas the Night Before Christmas’, inviting nubile mummies to sit on Santa’s knee and bewitching accompanying grannies with his special brand of ‘Old Ladies Love Me’ charm. 😱

Love all the Santa's Grotto fun. Just had multiple blood pressure/ECG tests but laughing over that has done me a world of good.

To go back to what the doctors said .. the last question by Sally Magnusson ask this (one of the rare good questions, ever). From 56.55:

I can’t decide whether this thread is more likely to be improving or potentially damaging the health of several longtime posters!

It’ll be alright if we regularly interject it with humour!

They’ve appeared in my dreams too… quite vividly at the point when just entering that first phase when drifting off. It’s been quite startling.

I tried painstakingly to scroll to that spot (finger on phone) and lost it. What is the question @BegazingBrandy ?
I hope your blood pressure and ECG tests are all alright? 💐

Yes, it is more direct than usual: have the doctors acknowledged that you've been right in the way you've tackled this? Have they changed their view?

Sal fudges the answer: they've acknowledged that something's going on but they don't know what it is.

(with me - they're trying to ascertain what made my head smack to the ground!)