Thread 23 : 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?

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?

Thread 22:www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5470952-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?

Most recent:

• Salt Path: A Very British Scandal, available on Sky Documentaries and NOW TV, 15th December 2025
• ‘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
• Observer Newsroom: The Real Salt Path Story, Thursday 8th January 2026

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. For over 6 months we have done amazingly well together for 22 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 22,000 posts there are still new things to look out for on the path:
Podcast series (7 episodes) from The Observer's award-winning Investigative Journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou, 13th January 2026.
The Walkers: The real Salt Path | The Observer

After listening to some of The Walkers: The real Salt Path podcast episodes from The Observer today my thoughts are even more with the victims. I also believe that the publishers, agent and prizegivers must now act and be seen to act.

Please start each post with the podcast episode you are commenting on, for clarity and to help others avoid spoilers if they wish to do so. Many thanks.

As always, keep to the path, no saltiness, eat fudge and drink cider.

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To add some context, for Cooper to have owed them £100,000 in 2008, the original investment in 1992 would have been approx £75,000!!! (I.e £100k minus 16 years' inflation). With that kind of money, why not buy a propety mortage free instead of investing in a random property portfolio?? Pen Y Maes was £39,000.

IMO, it shows how the investment very likely never happened but was a sob story.

Exactly and it was only 10 days according to her in January 2025. What interests me is that OWH was going to have to sell another miracle cure chosen by Ray for Moth. But all the other books the story is supposed to be that he walked. She then says, at a festival, that a long walk can last for up to a year! But this time he hasn't walked with her.

That is why it would have to be the healing of nature by itself this time. Because we know he was great on the red carpet on 6 May 2025, in Newquay.

Well, but unless you actually recognised them at a hotel or campsite, or got talking to them and they told you who they were, they’d just be another pair of middle-aged hikers in a place where they’re the norm, wouldn’t they? I mean, passing someone on a path in bad weather, all you see is a pair of blurry figures in walking gear with hoods up. And even at a stop or a cafe, they’re no longer ‘conspicuous’ (if they ever were, which seems deeply unlikely) for having giant packs, sharing a teabag and buying no food, being confused with SA, and telling total strangers they’re homeless. (Also, they’re even older during the LL walk, but there are only two instances of people addressing them as old, unlike TSP, where their advanced age is a perennial topic of conversation with practically everyone they meet, other than the ones who think TW is SA…)

They have plenty of money, adequate gear and food, are able to restock at will or stay in a hostel or hotel for a shower, so they’re not unusually dirty or unkempt or hungry-looking. They look like what they are — two well-off, leisured retirees who like hiking and can afford to do it with mod cons like GPS and car collection and taxis.

Mention of miracles has just given me an idea for the surprise twist in OWH, details of which are being withheld so as to boost sales on (?) eventual publication.
Just imagine that - whilst on the walk - she has contacted Moth by the miracle of telepathy! It's so effective that when reunited with Moth she discovers that he has, without any effort whatsoever on his part, regained the use of his limbs! (Or reversed whatever he was suffering from before Sally sallied forth, this time sadly solo.

I wasn't expecting this but apparently : Some people may breathe more shallowly when they lie. Breathing quickly and shallowly is a symptom of nervousness.

I did a search as I was wondering whether the breathiness has any significance and this is what came up. It would be interesting to know what @Anythingbutheadlands makes of this?

How to Know If Someone Is Lying: 22 Signs of Dishonesty

So less Wuthering Heights then Jane Eyre, where Rochester and Jane contact one another telepathically when Jane is contemplating marrying someone else (hardly surprisingly, after discovering Rochester had a mad wife in the attic and had tried to marry her, his penniless teenage employee, bigamously, because she had no family to interfere...)

When they're reunited, R is blind and has lost a hand, but his sight is coming back by the end of the novel. Though, to be more TW-like, the missing hand should have magically regrown, too, after some healthy moorland walks...

If SW started hearing voices and hiding in cupboards again when people asked her awkward questions about CBD or embezzlement or investigative journalists, would TW lock her in the attic of an isolated mansion, with an alcoholic crone in charge, and dash about Europe auditioning women to be Sal Mark 2?

Mind you, maybe the Raymoth telepathy just consists of sending one another mental images of teabags.

Thank you for the good wishes @HatStickBoots, a belated happy birthday to you, glad you had a lovely day 🌞
I loved your take on Kate Bush @DisappointedReader, wondering if you know about Wuthering heights day, people around the world gather (on different days depending where). Dressed in red they dance to the song, it looks like great fun.
I don't believe the investment story either @YourMoneyforFrothingandYourChipsforFree.

Very amusing @AbovetheVaultedSky , the hand would have to regrow :) there does seem to be a thing about cupboard hiding going on, from the baliffs and Tim's mum, I wonder if it was the cupboard under the stairs.

@HatStickBoots I have been in a similar state since listening to the podcasts. I almost wished that I hadn’t done so. I am in complete agreement with your posts this morning.

I had already written the following so I shall post it to get it off my chest.

I know this has been said already many times but I find myself unable to get over the way they portrayed themselves as the victims. When they left everyone else devastated. It is one thing to exploit people but quite another level to claim oneself as the victim.
The Hemmings were small business owners, not wealthy but kind. Ended up unable to pay wages. Then felt very betrayed and wounded.
TW’s parents. Elderly. Not wealthy. Ended up unable to even afford their rent.
SW’s mother, elderly, low income and little capital. Spent her money on and time with SW. Ended up fretting about every bill due to all her money being stolen.
Cooper- obviously had problems of his own but still baled out SW. Went bankrupt anyway.
Polly/Anne. Had to run her family and farm while her husband recovered from surgery to remove a brain tumour. Ended up with marriage under stress and effectively sheltering and supporting another family. Then made out to be a horrible person in a bestselling book and a film.
BC - wife had had cancer and treatment so they couldn’t fulfill their dream at the cider farm. Ended up being shouted at, betrayed, wounded and had lost money. Also portrayed negatively.

It saddens me that some of the victims and even the media, still seem to want there to be some kind of love story. For actions to be justified and to make sense. I started off a little like this myself although more along mental health and self esteem lines.
Now, I just think of two crooks, in a codependent relationship, who manipulated, lied to and stole from kind and decent people. Because they were obvious and easy targets and could fund a lifestyle to which TW, probably SW too, were determined to become accustomed. They even glibly stole the happiness and wellbeing from others. All without the tiniest hint of empathy or compassion, regret, repentance, or restitution.

History, and even the present day, unfortunately has these kinds of couples. Where usually one person does the procuring, sometimes in order to meet the needs of the other. For heinous crimes, they go to prison. We don’t think of it as a love story. I wonder if it is all the codswallop that SW puts out that makes people continue to talk of romance?

Very interesting!
I like that the article expresses caution about reading too much into these things, but having said that, I do think there is something about Sal’s breathy delivery that makes me inherently suspicious. It feels like the listener (me) is being pulled in - co-opted - to engage - to agree. And that makes me want to do the opposite!
As I’ve mentioned before, my work is all about listening to people and noticing my own internal responses to what is being said and how it’s being said, so I take these things quite seriously.
I only had time to skim-read the article but I should think a lot of the other signs would apply to Sal too. I’ll look more carefully later.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts @Innermagnolia, I too am finding it hard to swallow the final narrative idea, that it is a story of love, that the books are a series of love letters to Tim. I can understand the family wanting to portray it in that way, It's horrible when you have a relative that does something scandalous, it reflects on the family. Better to be able to explain it as an act of love, than just because they are a pair of reprobates.

@Innermagnolia, agreed. I think the single saddest moment in the podcasts for me was the testimony of the older woman who was close to SW's mother and referred to her as 'Auntie' -- that bit where she was repeating what SW's mother had said when she was told about the thefts: 'She's had my money!' I realise it's probably a regional expression (I'm not from the UK and nuances probably escape me), but that 'had' is just such a gentle, neutral world for a particularly horrible and exploitative theft, by your own daughter.

I don't think anyone has mentioned the extra bit of information we got about 'Cooper' in the podcast -- CH had spoken to his business associates, who said that while he'd made a lot of money, he'd also lost a lot of money. That at one point he'd owned a house in Chelsea and a yacht, but that when he died all his possessions fitted into a suitcase. (Making him rather closer in reality to the 'we had only our backpacks and the clothes we stood up in' position the Walkers are cosplaying in TSP.)

@DreamyHiker she does write of an incident where she is apparently recognised. I think in Iceland.. Of course she is so very humble. On that trip she appeared to get obsessed by a young lady in red trousers, for some reason.
@Innermagnolia ❤️ I don’t think it can ever be said enough, the reality of what they’ve done and who they really are. Their so-called love story does seem to have been revered as some sort of romantic ideal when it is anything but. In every interview it was latched upon. In the aftermath it was used as an excuse, a reason for the crimes because it seems that the Walkers or at least Sally wanted it to appear that way and fed that idea to her own family. On these threads we’ve discussed this issue and wondered if her love for Tim was the driving force behind her actions. I don’t think it is. I think she has always been deceitful and as far from the sentimental, pet sheep loving, sweetheart as it is possible to be. She has no empathy, therefore how can she be sentimental? She always knew what tricks and hooks to use to get the right response from people. Her feelings for Tim border on obsession and he hadn’t exactly run away from that. They’ve been playing this game together for a long time and it really paid off. So I agree, the peddling of the love story narrative should be shot down.

@AbovetheVaultedSky indeed such a sad exchange and very simple, meaningful phrasing to that close friend.
I think SW tells herself and anyone who will listen that it is all for love. I hope that fewer people will listen now.

@HatStickBoots thank you for saying “that the peddling of the love story narrative should be shot down.” I was feeling like that one was starting to grow wings and getting ready to fly as the perfect excuse that absolves all.

@AbovetheVaultedSky yes I remember hearing that about Cooper and feeling that he felt obliged to dig deep for them, despite his own financial concerns. He produced a very short term fix but it was enough to get SW out of her trouble was with the law. Of which she knew quite a lot about already.

@HatStickBoots Their so-called love story does seem to have been revered as some sort of romantic ideal when it is anything but.

Very much like Wuthering Heights then. Which, I am alarmed to see, appears to have been remade as another film and is being trailed for Valentine's Day as a romance. Which is horrifying.

It’s not a love story. Or if it is, it’s a self love story. Whoever has controlled this narrative has no love for anybody apart from themselves.

We could argue it is Sally. We could argue it’s Tim. If it is Sally, then she has trapped Tim in a web of lies and he will have to play the role of a sick man for years and not be able to go out without attracting scrutiny. If it is Tim who is the brains of the operation, then he has forced Sally to spend the rest of her life pretending she is Raynor Winn and sticking to her untruths and telling more and more.

It’s not love. It’s perhaps codependency. We can look at other couples who have done bad things together, (I’m not going to name them but we can all think of examples) and wonder if they had never met would their lives have been very different?

I was surprised at the love story angle. It’s a neat mills and boon explanation but this is not a great romance. That would be a nice neat hook to hang it on, but the truth is uglier. This is greed.

The real love affair is with money.

SW saying she pitched a tent in her bedroom because it felt safe has to be one of the most ridiculous things ever. Up there with her speaking in tongues to deflect from being confronted about stealing money from her family. It wasn't as if she was conditioned by years of actual rough sleeping for goodness sake. She is utterly shameless in plunging the depths of emotional manipulation.

@BewilderingBrandy: I read the article more closely and started rewatching some of Sal’s interviews with a closer eye on her body language. I noticed little headshakes when she mentions the diagnosis, lots of darting eye movements, obviously the breathiness and the rehearsed stories - BUT I’ve got no staying power when it comes to watching Sal and the adoring, deferent interviewers! There’s only so much punishment one can take, so I only got through the One Show and half of the Fearne Cotton interview before I had to stop in the interests of my own sanity.

I’d be happy to relinquish my Psychology Correspondent badge to a more worthy recipient.

Where’s the cider when you need it?!

Afternoon all. I hope you are well today and belated birthday greetings to @HatStickBoots . Thanks to all for your reactions to my late night Sal Gorse-Bush. I did try my best with the interpretive dance, but in wellies it was hard to be as graceful as Kate and I don't think the cows were impressed. They had a 'bemoosed moove on please madam or we'll have to call the farmer for help' look in their eyes.

@Anythingbutheadlands I do think there is something about Sal’s breathy delivery that makes me inherently suspicious. It feels like the listener (me) is being pulled in - co-opted - to engage - to agree. And that makes me want to do the opposite!

I think this is her acting voice, her in character as her Raynor Winn persona voice. It is partly to separate Sally Walker off, to remind herself to be careful about what she says and to stick to the script. Aiming to draw in and convince listeners and viewers, it is her storytelling voice, warm, breathlessly enthusiastic and conspiratorial. There is a childlike element to it, or as if speaking to children. Sometimes her jolly tone and facial expression really do not match the gravity of what she is describing - for example terminal illness, loss of home. The warmth often does not reach her eyes, although she got better at acting that on camera over time as she relaxed in to her role.

I tried to listen to her audiobook and couldn't, almost immediately. I read the books instead. It had nothing to do with her accent or speech impediment. I'm a fan of regional accents of all descriptions. One of my dearest, oldest friends has a speech impediment and I love our conversations. With the benefit of hindsight, and from my personal and professional experience, I think what I was picking up from her audiobook was that she wasn't the real deal. I hadn't met her, seen her speak at literary events or heard or seen her interviewed on or off camera until after Our Chloe's exposé. When I did, it was fairly obvious to me that she wasn't genuine. Yes, of course I already had the information from OC at that point to inform me but again, drawing on my personal and professional experience, all the signs are there. I'm kicking myself about missing the very early clue I was given by her audiobook that she is not an honest person. On the other hand, those who prey on people in any way, not just by fraud - whether their victims are people they know, strangers or the general public - are good at what they do. They wouldn't be able to get close to people, to draw them in, build trust and to achieve what they aim to achieve, if they weren't. Their victims are in no way to blame for being such trusting, kind, decent people and treating the Walkers so well. Obvious monsters rarely get close to people, seemingly nice monsters do. It has taken six and a half months and many more revelations about the Walkers for us all to know what they are capable of.

Thank you @Anythingbutheadlands for your self-sacrifice - I wish I could pour you a Haye Farm special. I sometimes have watched with the sound off as I wanted to scrutinise but find her unlikeable, in many ways. I remember there was a classic in an interview where she was spouting on as usual (had the sound on then) but was shaking her head - when nodding would have been the right action to reinforce what she was saying!

I was too late to edit my post to add that I believe there is more to come out about the Walkers.

I agree @DisappointedReader, Salray does speak as if she is talking to children, she makes little hand gestures as well, when she talks about them being like pebbles in a pocket, turned and smoothed, and she talks about writing and makes little writing movements on her hand. She's like an infant school teacher, explaining things in very simple terms to small children.

Yes, people have been infants in comparison to her. This is what I alluded to yesterday when I said : she is certainly a mistress of her craft, but that is best done surreptitiously. I am a bit too cryptic sometimes. She is a classic example where we have to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves to demonstrate their massive deception.

Sorry, I think I might have been hallucinating about recalling a relative describing SW as speaking in tongues when what they said was she claimed to hear voices when confronted. I've been listening to a lot of Talking Heads lately so must have got confused ;0)