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

I think the malfunctioning, seldom-charged PAYG phone referred to in TSP, and the tech dinosaur status described in TWS (where TW claims his phone works only for texts and calls, and SW has to be educated on how Twitter works by their son, just in time to receive a fan tweet from Bill Coles), is the convenient ‘alibi’ for the comparative dearth of photographic evidence.

A bit like the phone that conveniently ended up in Davy Jones’s locker in the Wagatha Christie libel trial.

In a criminal investigation, it would be terribly interesting to be able to track that phone’s location throughout the purported stints on the path and the winter at Polly’s. It seems likely that it would show them off the path as much as on it, taking time off in Bristol etc, and possibly permanently explode the idea that they walked the second part of the path at one go.

The phone only ever flickers into life when needed for dramatic effect in TSP — to provide the heart-rending call from their daughter, who’s lost and afraid after thinking she’s missed a bus connection in Italy, Polly’s offer of the meat-packing shed etc.

Similarly, it’s dead or unusable when that adds to the dramatic effect, like when they discover they’ve left the Pregabalin at Jan’s and he’s dealing with possible withdrawal, and when they discover their house insurance payment has been taken out of their bank account so they have £11 to live on for a week, when there’s not enough credit to ring the insurance company.

Thanks @Groundsel - you've got this.

the malfunctioning, seldom-charged
the ... dinosaur status
only ever flickers into life when needed for dramatic effect
it’s dead or unusable when that adds to the dramatic effect

Doesn't the phone remind you of something, or someone, else? Or, am I just confirming my evil mind ...

Ive been picking up and putting down LL for the last few days. The prologue and first chapter plus some random flick-throughs. The first chapter appears to contain the same information that was spat out in the rebuttal for the benefit of her vitriol spewers, to confirm that she indeed has catalogued her daily routines with Moth. We are asked to view the contents of her books as truth, not what happens outside of the books. I’ve said before that you’d think her daily IG feed would be talking about how Moth was that day, considering that the bulk of her readers were invested in him, not her. Interesting also of course is that we are being asked to trust her word and nobody else’s. Her version of the truth, we’ve all decided isn’t worth listening to.

Regarding the charity walk, Moth the cuckoo in the nest of the real sufferers of CBD: were the Walkers via the charity acting as an incentive for those others to walk, just because he could? And did this act do irreparable harm to them?

Side note: SW using two words (“he’s fine”) instead of lengthy paragraphs of melodrama shows a clear difference between her books and reality.

In the sense that both the phone and TW’s state of health and functionality can be dialled up and down for dramatic effect as needed, and probably bear little or no resemblance to the RL situation, absolutely! 😀

@BegazingBrandy and @Groundsel 😀👏🏻👏🏻

Oh, another picture on RW Instagram this morning....

Though to add, the phone does make appearances in TSP for photo opportunities at Land's End and Golden Cap (and we know Tim took a photo with a phone in the road mirror one somewhere along the path).

Another post on the Raynor Winn Instagram. Cute photo of Monty on a sunny beach.

You’d think she’d be piling on the posts about Moth’s health and her nursing duties on a daily basis.

Isn’t it “telling” that on the contact page of her website, the photograph shown is of the actors playing Moth and Raynor. I think that just about sums it up. These actors are Moth and Raynor.
Poor little Monty ❤️ that’s one for my heartstrings.

Yes, indeed. I don't think a random pic of Monty (however appealing and he IS cute) will help much with the oncoming storm. The last 2 posts on there have been very strange and didn't even get an enomous number of likes.

Crosses my mind she's reminding the Faithful that she exists in preparation for another 'statement'.

Just come back to watch this. I have watched it before but it’s always worth another look. Your comments, yes exactly! This is a perfect example of “accurate flavour” as you put it so well. Simon Armitage is authentic, he has nothing to hide. His books about his walking experiences are a joy to read and he attracts people without the need for fabrication and falsehoods. The photography throughout his books adds to the reality for the reader and it’s lovely to share the experience that way.
Photo opportunities of events and people mentioned in the Salt path trilogy were ample!

I laughed out loud at the slug @HatStickBoots and the hated goats at Combe Martin!

I have a strong feeling that if Simon had walked the SWCP not as a poet but in the exact circumstances Salray claims they did, homeless and unwell, he would still have had a very different experience to what is detailed in the Glumpath (and the writing would have been on another level)

He was in considerable pain with his back for the end part and his descriptions shows that walking can sometimes take a physical toll on reasonably healthy people, rather than being a miracle panacea for incurable disease.

I imagine she’s playing it safe while experimenting with putting herself back out there — no content, nothing to take issue with, nice photo of a coastal path to remind followers of what they loved about her saltiness and dogged path-y-ness, and a nice photo of the cute dog, runt of the litter with the dodgy legs , that they rescued out of the goodness of their hearts, when they could have got a perfectly well-firmed, rangy dog that needed a lot of long walks.

My more cynical side wonders if they chose Monty precisely so that there wouldn’t be outcry among dog loving fans that they didn’t bring him with them on their Landlines walk. Because he wouldn’t be able…

I don’t have a pet dog, but my dogowning friends would certainly have never dreamed of taking off for four months and leaving the dog/s at home.

I had followed the earlier threads when it first came to light and had a chuckle to myself when I saw the below Mumsnet ad. Looks like the publishers are not only standing behind her but actively pushing for sales. Interesting as every time I’m in a bookshop I have a little look in this section and most no longer have it.

Took a pic in case there was still an active thread.

Drive by scolder!

Not quite sure what is inappropriate about these threads existing on mumsnet or what moving them to another platform would achieve. But I suppose anyone is entitled to post here, even if it makes zero sense.

Exactly, considering they've been posted on every day for the last 6 months they would still appear in Active/Trending (and seemingly unaccountably wind some people up by their very existence) I'm sure if MNHQ had a problem with them being in AIBU they would have moved them by now.

@moderndilemma : calm down dear and get yourself a nice cup of tea.

For publication photos do have to be of a good standard though, and perhaps she's just a really shit photographer? You can't get away with 'family holiday snaps' type stuff in a book, where there's a person (too far away to be identified) in front of a scene that's too distant or too blurry. Even just random landscape shots are no good if they're not totally in focus. So maybe that's why there aren't more included?

I think you may have misunderstood the nature of the word 'groupie'.

We're almost the anti-groupies.

OK.

Don't know @Vroomfondleswaistcoat , most of Simon's seem to be fairly casual snaps and his walk was contemporaneous. OK , maybe for TSP their phone camera was crap but that doesn't apply to later walks, when they could have afforded pretty much anything.

I would like to pause for a moment and think of the difficult lives of people who have had to hide 20 threads in 6 months.
That is true hardship. That's one every 9 days