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.

NO POSTS PLEASE UNTIL THREAD 22 IS FULL

Yes @BewilderingBrandy all through the books she looks down upon other couples although Dave and Julie appear to have been spared. Perhaps it’s the longevity of their relationship that makes her brag that their feelings for one another are unique.

I’ve just seen the trailer. I have no words.

Now I’m going to have to…

@BewilderingBrandy "Warren is my guru"

I agree - he was outstanding to listen to, and would be interested to hear more from him (ideally on things which have nothing to do with TSP etc).

I also found Mrs Hemmings a really watm and likeable character.

I haven't read Wuthering Heights. I suppose it's a bit late to ask for spoiler alerts, and probably inappropriate given that the book is not exactly a new release.

Just seen the trailer too and also have no words…. 😶

Evening all. A date for your diaries. The date I have been given for the BBC podcast about TSP and the Walkers is next Wednesday, 28th January - so, a week today if correct.

How on earth has this managed to get to thread 23?????

It’s all thanks to copious bottles of cider, copious handfuls of fudge, some very industrious MN sleuths and DisappointedReader’s endlessly patient guidance along the path. Oh, and Simon Armitage.

23 threads and more to come!

The Observer has a piece on these threads due out on Sunday; we did some of the investigation used in their pod series, which came out two weeks ago.
BBC has a pod out on the 28 Jan - plenty of opportunities for you to find answers to your question.

And huge thanks to Our Chloe, of course. Sorry, Chloe!

R3ad the 23 threads to find out :)

I'm probably being a bit thick but I still don't understand the PIP that Polly claimed Moth was getting while he stayed with her:

• what was it for?
• why have Sal or Moth never mentioned this?
• why was no mention made of it when they visited the neurologist at the Walton Centre in June 2015?
• did the PIP change when Moth received the diagnosis of CBS/CBD in June 2015?
• when did PIP stop being paid (if at all)?
• on what basis did Sal apply for carers allowance when at Polly's (which she apparently failed to obtain)
• could you theoretically get PIP for a condition such as Parkinson's yet still have a neurologist diagnose you with another condition (CBS/CBD)?
• if PIP was for something different to but related to CBS/CBD, and they continued to benefit from the payments despite having a neurologist letter stating that what he in fact has was mild/atypical CBS, then would this disqualify them from claiming PIP for another condition which he didn't have?
• if they did continue to claim PIP for a misdiagnosed condition , would this constitute benefit fraud?

The Walkers seem to want to have their cake and eat it (receiving PIP for a condition that can't have been CBS (because it wasn't diagnosed until later) yet claiming that the June 2015 letter proves that Moth did/does have CBD!

Grateful for enlightenment!

Bit of a rabbit hole, but I came across the article below recently about one of the many Salt Roads that criss-cross Britain, used to transport "white gold" in ancient time (rather than modern grifters!) I never knew that the word salary derives from the Latin salarium, an allowance in salt paid to Roman legionaries!

The Salt Way and the "White Gold" of Banbury
From its origins as an ancient trade artery to its modern role as a cross-country route for local schools, the Salt Way in Banbury remains one of the region’s most significant historical landmarks.
Today, much of the route is preserved as a bridleway and footpath—a favourite for cyclists, walkers, and those tackling the Banbury Fringe Walk—but its path tells a story stretching back thousands of years.
The Legacy of "White Gold"
The name "Salt Way" stems from the route's primary purpose: the transport of salt.
In pre-modern times, salt was a vital commodity used for seasoning, medicine, religious rituals, and most importantly, food preservation. It was so essential to survival and commerce that it was known as "White Gold."
This strategic value shaped the very language we use today. Roman soldiers were famously given a salarium (a salt allowance), which gives us the modern word "salary."
Across Europe, empires were built on salt monopolies, and the Salt Way was a crucial link in this lucrative trade network.
Ancient Origins and the Roman Connection
While medieval records clearly document the route's use for salt haulage, its origins likely go back much further.
Archaeological evaluations by groups like Oxford Archaeology suggest the path south of Banbury was active during the Iron Age and Roman eras.
Some experts, including the renowned Ivan Margary, proposed that the Salt Way may have been a minor Roman track linking to major networks like the Fosse Way or Ermine Street. Though the path becomes difficult to map precisely near Broughton due to centuries of overlapping tracks, it is generally understood as a west-east route—distinct from the major north-south medieval road from London to Birmingham.

Just reread Sal's comments about her C2C walk. Seems (as usual) rather bonkers to try and attempt it in February. As usual she didn't actually complete it! What a joke.

The walk took around two weeks. I had some issues, like the Vale of Mowbray was so flooded, I ended up just lost in some endless flood of farmland, and in trouble with farmers on quad bikes so I had to skip that bit. So it’s not totally finished. Further on, the snow came in, when I was in the Lake District.
As I came out of Yorkshire, I could see the snow in the Lake District, where a purple bank of cloud was just starting to build behind the hills. Then it got that misty white edge where you can see it’s really snowing. I had just reached Hawes Water and it just dumped snow to a point where there was no way over. So I had to skip that bit too, and go down through the Central Lakes, where there was no snow. So I probably missed about three days, but that’s the perils of winter.

Thanks for posting. I think I was reading about this last year some time. Isn’t this where she got the name “Saltlines” from?

Presumably this was the only time she could fit it in, what with her new busy burgeoning media career and all.

She may have got the name Salt Lines and the Salt Path from a producxtion called the Salt Road that was put on by a theatrical and musical group called Bajas Dejol in S. Cornwall between 2015-2017, a performance of which Raymoth attended, shortly before LSB changed to TSP....

That’s it, thank you! So she just appropriated this too. I’m so glad I never bought her £30 journal. What a joke. Borrowed words and themes.

You are probably right - she writes stuff about previous experience (rewilding Haye Farm from a toxic wasteland /rebuilding Pen y maes from a pile of rubble etc etc) and then suddenly remembers she needs to shoe horn a bit of walking into the book. Moth has gone down with a winter lurgy, so can't join her as she hares off to the north of England on a crazy venture to walk the C2C in Feb.

I’m sensing that there was more Simon Armitage copycatting in this book as he also meets farmers on quad bikes. Of course in Sslrsy’s case she “got into trouble” with them. 🙄

@ThompsonTwin a crazy venture to walk the C2C in Feb.

A walk that I live not far from, and isn't something that the casual walker who hasn't trained should even attempt in summer, let alone winter. The air ambulance and the mountain rescue teams are forever fetching people off the hills because they've decided that it looks like fun. (Spoiler, some bits are fun. Most of it is bloody hard.)

Probably the time when he needs her most… or would do if he had a severely debilitating disease and caught a nasty virus. It’s a wonder he didn’t need to be hospitalised like others in similar situations where their immune systems just can’t cope.

In other words ‘I needed a walk to put in a book, so cynically decided to squeeze in a half-assed attempt at one, in totally unsuitable conditions, in between my many other commitments as dreamy-eyed, nature-flavoured media darling, and wasn’t remotely bothered when the obvious consequences of choosing February for a walk on exposed high ground meant I had to skip quite a lot of it.’

I bet it didn’t stop her going all Scott of the Antarctic about the snowy bits in OWH.