Thread 21 : To feel disappointed - and now disgusted too - after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

[DisappointedReader]

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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?

Thread 20: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5454438-thread-20-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 5 months we have done amazingly well together for 20 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. Our Cardboard Mascot Our Simon has had his head stuck back on and is wearing a very fetching tinsel boa. The charabanc is bedecked with fairy lights and very well stocked up. May the seasonal fudge and mulled cider be with you one and all. 🎅🌲🎁❄️🎄

These threads are the gifts that keep on giving:
New:

• Salt Path: A Very British Scandal, available from Monday 15th December Sky Documentaries and NOW TV
• ‘Don’t look for the money. I’ve taken it all’: Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s ‘confession’ that she stole from her family | The Observer

Up and coming:

• 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
• Podcast series from The Observer's award-winning Investigative Journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou
• BBC Documentary (NB Not involving Our Chloe)

*MNHQ correcting above 'Documentary' to 'Podcast' at request of author

NO POSTS PLEASE UNTIL THREAD 20 IS FULL

I did. Its on the Scottish People site or whatever. Definitely married in Sky

I did. Its on the Scotlands People site or whatever. Definitely married in Sky in Portree 1986

It's here.

Wow! Did you fill this charabanc with rocket fuel @DisappointedReader ?!

I’m trying to catch up but still fairly speechless as I continue to try and process all the new information and brilliant insights from everybody! 👏🏻❤️ There’s so much to agree with and comment on.
This whole wedding scenario is really something! Sally’s parents look happy enough to celebrate their daughter’s wedding, don’t they? A cake like that can’t be magicked out of nowhere at short notice, nor the bouquet. Obviously the Raynor Winn truth doesn’t match up to the reality again. I agree with the pp who mentioned that Sally’s parents no doubt saw straight through Tim’s facade but it looks like they’ve chosen to support their daughter’s wishes and be happy for them. From Sally’s description of Ray and Moth’s elopement and the reasons why, you’d expect to see a grim looking Nora Batty in that wedding photo and father with a shotgun.

The newspaper article doesn’t confirm whether or not Moth was actually plastering or doing up the flat they were staying in at Polly’s. In the book, this period was described completely differently to the way that it happened in reality.

@SimonArmpit i just burst out laughing.
@Uricon2 your cloche hat…. I’ve got something like that and it too looks like a Paddington Bear stovepipe on me. I did joke i’d stuff it with marmalade sandwiches.

@Vroomfondleswaistcoat sorry if this has been asked before, but do you think Penguin has enough evidence to take Sally to court over these books? The grounds would be that their brand is suffering from the backlash.

edited because of/thanks to phones unhelpful spelling adjustments.

Of course they could have planned the Scottish marriage to the extent of finding and taking their BCs with them. I just know that in my early 20s my parents would have had my BC, not me. Tucked away in a drawer somewhere it wouldn't have been easy to find and asking for it would have lead to questions.

@HatStickBoots

I'm not sure that Penguin would ever sue. I wouldn't say their business has been affected (how many people can even remember the publisher of the last book they bought), and TSP books are continuing to sell, apparently, so their profit hasn't been hit. It probably wouldn't be worth their while because they couldn't prove that there had been any negative effects to them, so they'd only be suing for the 'look of the thing.'

Better by far to just drop Sal completely. The word is out on her now, she'll not get published anywhere else, so I suspect Penguin are just going to take the money and stay quiet. Whilst gleefully rubbing their hands at the extra publicity the series is getting.

Back on the charabanc! I watched the documentary and was impressed with Dr Gratwicke. He was made it clear that Tim doesn’t have CBD presenting as he, the expert, would expect at this VERY late stage of the illness (18 years).
If there is a formal diagnosis surely this is the time for the Walkers to give their medical professional (the top man in the land) the green light to speak on their behalf and put all this to bed before more podcasts /docs etc? I can’t see any issue since Sally has written really openly about it all. (The neighbour was struck by the pool of wee description in the latest book) They were also champions of the PSPA which must surely be affected by all this. If they are happy to speak so openly about Tim’s incontinence, surely a factual statement about his diagnosis is not an issue?

Does it have witness names on it?

I think someone saw the documents in Skye itself because they saw her father's occupation.

To see witness names I think you have to order and pay for a copy of the certificate. I'm quite tempted!

Go on go on go on go on!!!!

@RockyPath , if you'd like to start a crowdfunding page to pay for the certificate, I'm sure many of us would contribute. It wouldn't cost much more than a finger of fudge!

@CocteauTwin was the one who saw it. As its not public knowledge we may get scolded but if it could be confirmed that they are names currently on our radar, that would be interesting.
Thread 20 p38

Hmm, it's only the cost of a few bars of fudge...

Snap!

I can see it might look like a witch hunt to those not switched on to the serious fraud & the brazenness of cashing in on this ‘mistake’.

So glad you hopped on board @HatStickBoots I'm trying to get my head around this wedding too, you are right that the parents look happy. Tim and Sal could only get married with some kind of notice, the Scotland marriage act proves that. There are special circumstances that allow marriages to happen more quickly, but they still couldn't just turn up on the day and get married.

The wedding clothes do not look like they have ever been stuffed in a rucksack. The photos still look to me like they are in a house, even though there is cake, bouquet and buffet. What about if Tim and Sally got married in Sky with the full knowledge of their parents and families. Then upon their return had a church blessing and a reception at the house.

Also, that looks like a lot of buffet it wasn't just three or four people in attendance, quite a few family I should think.

The account in TWS doesn’t imply their marriage was in the spur of the moment at all, only that it was kept secret from the family(ies) until they returned from Skye. Someone on an earlier thread had viewed the marriage certificate with witness signatures, do we know what their names were? I’m not sufficiently invested to pay £12 (?) to Scotland’s People for a copy!

SW’s mother disapproved of them living together unmarried, they came back from Skye as a married couple to tell her parents they were moving straight into the house they’d already bought. It’s quite believable that the family would want the spectacle of a reception, cake and buffet, to claim some respectability. TBH my mother wasn’t very different from Sally’s, not that we married in secret but she couldn’t disguise her horror that my first husband and I might live “in sin” so we booked the wedding before moving in together. That was only 1975. Different times.

I think you could be right here. Married on Skye and then church ceremony on return with the full 1980's 'buffet experience' for the family. After all, there was no need to take a full wedding dress all the way to Skye if it was a wedding only attended by the couple, witnesses and registrar, they could have got married in every day clothes and just worn the full rig for the 'do' at home.

They are not names on our radar. Addresses were in Bromley and Croydon, so not local to the couple.

Also the forgiving parents line doesn't fit in with the unforgiving picture she paints possible to assuage/justify her theft.

He clearly has the X factor & unusual charisma which means he could have perhaps ‘made it’ legitimately. It seems it was a while before people saw through him.

He was also very good looking & stood out locally with the Paul Newman/Hollywood blue eyes. Mousy, under confident Sal couldn’t believe what he saw in ‘adorable moppet’ her with the dodgy hair (as she saw it).

Perhaps the BBC could sue (on behalf of us all!) for the money lost by BBC Films as a result of the film tanking when the truth came to light?

That might be more likely. However films and books are very different animals - there is always an assumption of 'truth massaging' in fillms, even those purporting to be 'true stories' (it starts with someone else playing the person who the events are supposed to have happened to). So there's already a suspension of disbelief there.

I think it would be more likely that BBC would sue the Observer for the timing of their revelations hitting the film income! If Chloe had held off for a month or so, the film could have doubled its revenue.

Thank you @YourWinter, so it looks like they planned the wedding in advance, if they did wear the wedding clothes, it looks unlikely they were stuffed in rucksacks, unless dry cleaning and pressing can achieve the kind of results that we see in Tim suit, that suit is Sharp :)