Thread 24 : To feel disappointed - and now disgusted and vindicated 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 23 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?
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?
Thread 23:www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5475246-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?

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 23 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 23,000 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 (and including a shoutout to our threads), 13th January 2026:

The Walkers: The real Salt Path | The Observer

• The Observer, 18th January 2026:

The Salt Path scandal: a hunch, a hint and six months of ... and Publishers agree The Salt Path crossed a line | The Observer

• BBC Podcast, 28th January 2026 (to be confirmed)

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.

After listening to of The Walkers: The real Salt Path podcast episodes from The Observer 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.

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

NO POSTS PLEASE UNTIL THREAD 23 IS FULL

@ThompsonTwin Thank you so much for the excellent rounding up, and for all the interim lists, photos and links along the way. It is very comprehensive so I haven't quoted your post.
Naturally, we all have our particular emphases and and contributions and seeing it all described, as you have, has prompted me to think of a few other things.
The South West
I think it is important that Tim's sister was in the Bristol area and their son in Newquay. Any engagement with the surfing community would provide a wealth of extra information and anecdotes. One example, the army manoeuvres at Crow - I don't believe they were given a lift by them - not many visitors would know about that but surfers might.
Emotional Manipulation
We all like to feel special, don't we? I realised that the Acknowledgements, at the end of TSP, would tug on the heart strings. You would be pleased to be thanked in a published book. I mean we wondered why they haven't said anything but Dave and Julie are thanked for their "continuing friendship". Paddy Dillon get 3 lines of adoration - is that to keep him sweet? It is quite extraordinary to see her say to her children: thanks for believing that I could walk 630 miles and write a book - when she has already published a book and hasn't walked 630 miles (as she says in the inscribed book!).

Publishers don't release books in January - certainly not books by an author who has previously performed well and would have ordinarily been bang in Christmas release territory. It is deliciously intriguing. Likely they have shunted it out of sight for now to defer any decision on whether they will go ahead and publish it or not in the future.

I’ve just finished listening to all Chloe’s Observer Salt Path podcasts. Brilliant investigative reporting and what an emotional rollercoaster listening to the Walker’s relatives tell their stories. I firmly believe that anyone who still thinks the Walkers are victims should be made to listen to every episode. SW’s long email to her sister explaining why she stole money from both families and the Martin Hemmings is a master class in manipulation. And I have to say, grudgingly, perhaps it is SW’s most accomplished piece of writing. Going to have to lie down in a darkened room for a while.

Could we be reading too much into a typo (?)

I did raise that because my next book is listed for a 2027 release (it's out later this year), but I suspect it would have been corrected by now if it was just a typo.

@TonstantWeader - Delighted to hear that the Wild Pooing Correspondant is bouncing around like Moth confronted by a bevy of massage-wielding lovelies.

Agreed, fantastic summary @ThompsonTwin 👏🏻 ! Thank you also for posting the news article link as well. I can remember reading about this couple.

Thank you for your post @ThompsonTwin, and everyone's comments and additions.

I just googled, We have notes the salt path Spotify @HatStickBoots, you can then find the episode and listen without the app. You will have adverts and you have to just listen through. You can pause, but you can't go forwards or backwards, if you miss a bit, you have to start all over again.

Pleased that you are well @TonstantWeader, and the wild pooing correspondent is continuing to make good progress :)

Are they that hot with admin (?) It’s only very recently been published I think.

If it's that big a mistake then EVERYONE will be reporting it as incorrect, surely. Unless they are and nobody really cares so they're leaving it to stand.

Definitely no lasagne for the Correspondent, though. Thanks for everyone's good wishes for him. He's looking v smug about that.

@HatStickBoots I've an Apple podcast app on my phone so listen to anything non-Beeb via that. So far I'm up to ep 4 and as others have said, it's much much worse when you hear the victims actually speaking (even if BC is voiced). I haven't subscribed to the Obs because it's my weekly treat to hear another episode - it's that good IMO.

Re Dave & Julie, I agree with others that their names have probably been changed but I suspect they also don't want to come forward. I have written before about the Moth I encountered who is also a lying grifter & demonstrates some of the same characteristics as the WWs. If it ever comes out in the press about him (he is celeb adjacent, let's say), there's no way I'd want to revisit my experience related to him. I prefer to draw a line under it all. I imagine they're feeling the same as all the others mentioned in the books who have realised the WWs weren't as presented. I'd love to know what GA & especially JI feel about the couple now, but I doubt they'll ever say anything either.

Oh, and I'm up for a fudge & cider swapping encounter up here in NW Wales. We have lots of nice examples of both 😁

Who would bother reporting it (??) I know we’re invested here. Are others sufficiently?

Well, I was mainly thinking of those working within PRH who might need professional clarity on the actual date of projected release. I would suspect that the editor at least would be reacting to a date being that far out.

You’d think….

This is from Waterstone's description of OWH: "With Raynor feeling trapped and tormented, and Moth needing space to come to terms with what's happening to him, Raynor feels herself drawn north, like a migratory bird, to embark on a trail they had planned to walk together - The Coast-to Coat Path."

Perhaps she walked from the beach to get her coat, and the rest is padding?

PS here's the link: https://www.waterstones.com/book/on-winter-hill/raynor-winn/2928377337544

Honestly, with a lot of editors, it’s more a matter of looking at the immediate year or 18 months ’ schedule, and, especially if SW has a record of being difficult to work with (not necessarily that she’s personally difficult, but if she’s late with an MS or has difficulties writing, as she did with TWS at least), it might be a relief to kick it into the long grass for now?

Also, Fiona Crosby left Michael Joseph after TSP, and I’m not sure whether SW had the same editor for TWS and LL (does anyone know?). MJ seems to have a fast editorial turnover. It’s possible that whoever was working on the version of OWH that was to come out in Oct 2025 will be long gone by 2028.

I don’t think legalities are the issue. They could withdraw the book if they decided there was no market for it. If PRH wanted to, they could also presumably sue SW for breach of contract, assuming she signed the standard memoir contract which says that the events are substantially true to the best of her recollection — but why would they? They can’t claim loss of earnings. A legal case would only draw more attention to the mess.

What a load of fucking twaddle.

The OWH delay finally picked up...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/01/salt-path-author-delays-next-novel-15-months

In case you need to see behind paywall:
https://archive.ph/Wg9e0

The end really annoys me though...THE MEDICAL LETTERS DO NOT BACK UP THE "DIAGNOSIS"!!!!

The couple, whose real names are Sally and Tim Walker, still stand by this aspect of the story and have released medical letters to back up the diagnosis.

Someone on this site has posted a message about 9 hours ago, saying thaf a friend at Penguin has shared what's going on regarding OWH:

https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/1pmenh9/dont_look_for_the_money_ive_taken_it_all_salt/

PS: The message is in one of four responses to the comment of "ShoestringJane" which was posted a month ago.

This is what is continually missed! No one has yet put to journos etc clearly AFAIK.

Thanks for sharing - I loved this comment, from someone called Cats of the Tundra:

I don't know much about Salt Path or the controversy other than to say... On a flight back from Chile one of the people in front of me was reading a tablet and it was large print so I could read it without having to try too hard.
Anyway... What I saw just seemed so nonsensical I could only think it was some AI-generated story they'd bought off Amazon. I remembered a few bits from what I saw, and Googled them 14 hours and 40 minutes later (!) when the flight landed at Heathrow.
It was this book. Apparently a massive best seller. I know everything is subjective but this was just awful.

This is how I feel about the content - nonsensical. If you are detached from it, like this person, you don't see the cover, you haven't had it warmly recommended to you - you just see what it is.

Thank you @Peladon. Just sharing this for ease of knowing what it says:

Interesting comments from a chap who walked the SWCP and wild camped the whole way. Took him 7 months over two stretches. Clearly he was a lot more organised than the Walkers! Sal claimed they walked the entire SWCP in 100 days (just over 3 months.....)