Truth About The Salt Path Author

[AWanderingFool]

This comes as no surprise, I always thought her description of them losing the house was so vague that it hid a less blameless account.

A journalist has been investigating "Raynor Winn", aka Sally Walker, who seems to have left a trail of criminality behind her.

https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-real-salt-path-how-the-couple-behind-a-bestseller-left-a-trail-of-debt-and-deceit

A video here that includes testimony from the woman whose husband she embezzled.

https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-the-truth-behind-the-blockbuster-book-video

The Observer's really going for it!

https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-whats-in-the-book-and-what-the-observer-has-found

oooooo... I enjoyed the film but called bullshit the second they said that he had that neurodegenerative condition that he not only recovered from but was then able to continue further study.

I love a good book drama- I hope everyone gets their money back. Right pair of scallys!

I read the book, but I've not yet watched the film. The book is her narrative but it's very apparent the reader is not given the full picture about why they lost the house - it reads like poor business acumen and stubbornness in the book. Thanks for sharing.

it's very apparent the reader is not given the full picture about why they lost the house - it reads like poor business acumen and stubbornness in the book.
It wasn't just the vagueness about how/why they lost the house, it was also the absence of any friends or family to help them out. They were allegedly rooted in their community for decades yet had nobody to turn to.

I felt the book was marmite and hated it. Something didn’t sit right with me (I’ve said this on book threads elsewhere).

Chloe H is a respected investigative journalist so I suspect she’s actually onto something.

There’s already a thread on this

I read the book when it came out and something didn’t sit right with me. I always felt there was part of the story missing and I couldn’t see what the fuss was about it. I didn’t even want to watch the film despite loving everything GA does.

I’m glad their past has been outed. I like to think people can always tell when something isn’t authentic.

Likely because they owed more of them money.

There’s already a thread on this

Yeah, missed that! 😬🙄

Our book group read the book when it came out and we agreed that there was something "off" about the story especially about how they lost their house.

We couldn't understand why they seemed to have no friends or family apart from the woman who they went to stay with for a bit in the middle of the book. No parents or siblings to help them out. The book also skimmed over how their poor DC were affected. It seemed to be a case of "you're over 18, sort yourself out"

I thought perhaps they’d lost the money because they’d embarked on an ill advised boundary dispute. Those can cost hundreds of thousands of they go to court. I was wrong there. But feel glad that my feelings that something didn’t sit right may be vindicated

Wow! That’s one massive deception and rewriting of truth

I'd just read the Observer article and came straight here, after sending DH a link to it (he'll love this 😀), to see if there were any threads about it.

Normally my bullshit radar is pretty good, but I completely missed that in The Salt Path. I had loved it, despite it not being the best written book. DH & I went to see the film a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it.

As a reader I love a good recovery/self discovery journey but it needs to be truthful, which clearly this has now shown not to be.

Interesting. I wonder if they actually walked the coast path or whether that part of the book is also a fabrication? Maybe they were just two homeless people who lived in a tent in Newquay and have pulled off a massive deception? 🤣

IIrc they didn't complete the whole walk. It's been a few years since I read it but didn't they walk long sections of it in two stages? I remember them starting off in Minehead but I don't recall them walking all the way to the end at Poole. I live near a stretch of the SW coastpath and don't remember reading that they walked that bit (Dorset).

I actually loved the book despite thinking there was something dodgy about them losing the farmhouse. But over the years I've seen people question the lack of photos so I've generally been a bit 🤔🤔🤔 about it.

Her second book was dreadful, and I really lacked belief about most of it, particularly regarding Tim Walker's supposed diagnosis. It felt obvious by this point that he didn't have CBD. All these miracle walks!

At long last, the truth has come out!!

My book was also published by Michael Joseph and I’m stunned by what I have read in the Observer today. It is incredibly difficult to get published as a non-fiction writer and I feel sorry for the team at MJ who have put so much effort into promoting her nonsense. Well done to The Observer for publishing their article I imagine they were under considerable pressure not to do so.

I wonder how Gillian Anderson and Jason Issacs will handle this? On all the interviews I saw they seemed to have fallen totally for the story that the Winns were the victims when their home was taken away?
It's all a bit embarrassing now for the publishers and film producers, isn't it?

As someone duped by the Salt Path, I feel sorry for them.

Their support of the couple was no different to millions of others.

It's just been very much in the public eye.

I knew something wasn't right - the whole story just didn't add up and I gave up reading it after it became more and more unbelievable. Good that the truth has come to light, but wonder how the filmmakers will deal with this?

The film makers will sell the story to Netflix who will make a documentary about it.

They'll interview Jason Isaac and Gillian Anderson, who will do sad face interviews about how plausible the story seemed.

It seems to be a well trodden path now. Look at Belle Gibson.

I read the book for our work book group a few years ago. I was baffled how brief and vague the initial chapter is regarding how they lost their house and money. I work for a law firm and it didn't seem to make sense, but I thought "oh well I guess the book is about the walk so that's why the financial stuff is barely covered". The Observer investigation explains it all though. I'm shocked and annoyed with myself because I'm not usually that gullible.

I have to say I didn't find the story as inspiring and marvellous as I think the reader is meant to. It didn't really make much sense. Homeless and (allegedly, ahem) terminally ill ... i get the living in a tent temporarily but why a gruelling walk like that? Like other posters I'm now wondering if they actually did it.

I gave my copy of the book to a friend couple who do a lot of walking (and he's also from the west country) and they really loved it. I feel embarrassed about foisting it on them now!

Had planned to see the film but shan't now. Ick.

Not read the book or watched the film. But their faces.. she has one of those faces..

I am another who felt the story doesn't add up. It didn't feel authentic to me . How they expected to get away with this God only knows.