Thread 22 : 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]

NO POSTS PLEASE UNTIL THREAD 21 IS FULL

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?

Links to threads 18-20 can be found in the OP of Thread 21: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5460943-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?

Most recent:

• 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

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 6 months we have done amazingly well together for 21 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.

After 21,000 posts there are still new things to look out for on the path ahead:

• 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, 13th January 2026
• BBC Podcast (NB Not involving Our Chloe)

Keep to the path, no saltiness, eat fudge and drink cider.

NO POSTS PLEASE UNTIL THREAD 21 IS FULL

I am looking for some advice on this as I do want to watch it all but not all at once. I don't know how long they are and there isn't a list of them - just the trailer for the first one. It looks as if you have to sign up to Apple to get them ....

I believe that each podcast is 40 mins long. Multiply that by 7 and you have 280 mins/4hrs 40 mins of TSP.

Oh but that might incur the disapprobation of Worra lorra so I'd better not ..

They might stretch to a MN mug prize possibly, like the old days when this was all fields. It's a bit late for me to post out fudge and cider sustenance parcels to any brave/foolhardy Podcast Correspondents. Never mind about them though @SimonArmpit, I'm already fretting about the Thread count and whether I'll be needed to stand at my post 24/7 again and sleep upright like a horse like the early days. At least there are still plenty of leftover Christmas biscuits and chocolates around the place here to keep me going. Hopefully Our Simon will pop by with some of that PL sherry he hoards in his shed.

Bit off topic but Worra Lorra seems like homage to our Cilla. Fans of Blind Date interested in true love may find the attached vid amusing of a friend who became the first person to get married on the show. 40 years on they are still happily married!

m.youtube.com/watch?v=usFvYQkhwio

I am going to posit that in 40 mins x 7 of the podcasts there will be fresh information, or at least information not known to the casual follower. This is bound to filter into other media, especially if the Daily Mail gets bored with Kylie Jenner/Kardashian/whoever for 10 minutes. I'd pretty much guarantee some of the literary and travel bloggers picking up on it too.

(Goes back to planning Angela Harding designing a lovely oak tree for the front cover of the as yet unwritten book ..)

Thank you @SimonArmpit, I enjoyed that, they seem like a really nice couple, so pleased to hear that they are still happily married.
It will be interesting @Uricon2, that's a lorra lorra listening :)

I would love to binge it all but unless I get a (doubtful) shed- load of cancelled meetings I might only manage one or two. But I’ll take a look at the titles/content and if there’s anything about HNTDDD I’ll probably listen out of sequence.

I think if you subscribe the The Observer you can hear the lot. They did have an introductory £1 sign up offer a while back.

@DisappointedReader : the threads seem to be speeding up. At some point we may be asking: giving us this day our daily thread.

My brain's now running away with the possible plot for Carry On Up The Salt Path, having watched many of these in my younger years. If we employ ideal world casting including those from the afterlife, then I think we're looking at Sid James playing Moth as a cackling Lothario who reads the saucier bits of Beowulf with a twinkle in his eye and almost, but not quite, seduces the many Barbara Windsor types along the path, while being forcibly reined in at intervals by his long suffering wife Ray, played by Joan Sims. Ends with the married couple staying together, as standard in Carry Ons, but with the prize of a bonus windfall and complete recovery. 🤔

You can still get the Digital access for £1 but I think you have to register with Apple to get podcasts. I am still a bit puzzled ....

Hello everyone. Ahead of Our Chloe's Podcast launch in a few hours, just a couple of things to be aware of please:

Podcast spoilers - Some of us will be listening weekly, some of us will be binge listening and some of us will be relying upon main points or transcripts being posted on here. Please be aware therefore that posts will possibly contain spoilers about later episodes. I don't think that is a problem because of the nature of this story, our broad discussions and how much we on these threads already know or suspect after 6 months. It would help however if, when posting about a podcast episode, you could put the episode number at the top of your post every time. That will help people to avoid spoilers if they wish to and will also make it easier for us all to know which episode we are reading about and discussing.

Our Chloe - Many thanks to everyone for not @'ing and PM'ing CH as requested. She really does appreciate it, especially at this very busy time. Discussions are starting behind the scenes about her doing something with MN at a later date. Once the salt has settled for her, she may well also pop up again on the threads. In the meantime, please keep up the radio silence. She has still got a lot of work on, even once the podcasts start to appear. Thanks everyone for your understanding.

Not long to wait now folks!

We're all really looking forward to CH's podcast!

As a Welsh charabancer I’m slightly outraged at them referencing Wales as the land of story. Grr. Someone add cultural appropriation and English colonialism to the charge sheet.

I am now curious about the other directors mentioned in these screenshots. Duncan Hendry, allegedly an Edinburgh grad from Nottingham, and… I’ve forgotten the other one and can’t see it any more as I write a post. Mistakes were made.

Onto the podcasts- I have already subscribed in my podcast app, but (slightly OT) I’m now confused by the references to watching them. I thought podcasts were like radio on demand. I didn’t know they had a visual element. Can’t imagine the likes of Newscast adding much interest to viewers! But will I miss out if I only listen to Chloe’s tale!?

Is one of those you - are you outing yourself?

@DoubtfulCatthe names are Paul Calais, Duncan Hendry and Tim Scott. I'm working on the assumption that their involvement is fabricated as the only names on the Companies House documents are the Walkers.

I think we worked out that Tim Scott was Tim Walker-Wyn-Winn. I can't remember what we decided about the other two. <handwavium>

Thanks @DisappointedReader. I did think that Tim Scott sounded like someone TM would want to be. again, apologies for plodding over old ground -kind of gutted I only joined at thread 20 😭

I trust Mr Armpit is on the passing boat (Orca 3) keeping a keen eye on things and fully armed with surveillance equipment, cider and fudge. 👀

No need to apologise @ThisQuirkyRaven . There is always a warm welcome and plenty of room on the charabanc, that is if you don't mind sitting next to @Vroomfondleswaistcoat and holding firmly on to your head and your fudge. There are plenty of us here to answer any questions from the mists of thread time and sometimes new eyes might see something missed so far.

@PullTheBricksDown I laughed out loud at Sid James as Moth! 😂 literally got tears now…!

@ThisQuirkyRaven that’s ok, you’re aboard now! 🍫 fudge 🍻

The only one of this trio with any detectable link to anyone real is Tim Scott...aka TimMoth. The blurb talks about him studying ecology and protesting (iirc) so the shoe kind of fits even if we know Tim didn't study ecology. But it is the kind of thing RW might say about him to big up his hippy nature loving creds. Also, Tim's mum's birth surname was, yep you guessed it, Scott (ETA - she later was adopted after her mum remarried "Cooper's" father. So TW's mum was half sibling to "Cooper", hence him being half uncle to TW. Got to wonder if "Tim Scott" was some kind of snarky disownment signal to Cooper, who they claim basically scammed and ruined them as a "wifewong fwend."

Mistakes may be being made, but my understanding is that the current £1 for a month digital Observer subscription offer includes podcasts and there's no need to register with Apple. It can be cancelled at any time but would otherwise be £8pm for under 35s and £16pm for over 35s. There is also a cheaper pm annual offer and more expensive digital and print offer.

Click on the link below to make an Observer account, then click on subscribe, then digital monthly £1 (or click on 'get the Observer for half price' if under 35).

Register | The Observer

Onto the podcasts- I have already subscribed in my podcast app, but (slightly OT) I’m now confused by the references to watching them. I thought podcasts were like radio on demand. I didn’t know they had a visual element. Can’t imagine the likes of Newscast adding much interest to viewers! But will I miss out if I only listen to Chloe’s tale

Mistakes may again be being made and I haven't asked/been told/read/seen specifically, but I've assumed that these particular podcasts are audio only @DoubtfulCat . We'll soon know anyway!

And best of luck to Our Chloe for the new series.