How I discovered The Real Salt Path from my investigation into Raynor Winn’s hit memoir – and it started on Instagram

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A few months ago, I received a message on Instagram from someone I didn’t know. They mentioned Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path, and shared a concern: they believed her husband, Moth – who is featured in her book – might not have been as sick as she described.

Since it was published in 2018, Raynor Winn’s memoir, The Salt Path, has become a huge success, selling over two million copies and becoming one of the best-selling memoirs in recent years. A film adaptation starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs was released in 2024, and Winn herself became a familiar face, appearing on television shows and speaking at literary events across the country.

People were deeply moved by this woman’s story of how her husband, Moth, received a devastating diagnosis shortly after losing their home to a scam. Facing hardship, the couple bravely decided to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path, camping outdoors and living on very little money. They shared how the challenging hike and the natural world around them surprisingly improved Moth’s health.

Raynor Winn’s books, filled with messages of hope and recovery, became very popular and led to two follow-up titles. Publisher Penguin praised her ‘unflinchingly honest’ writing. However, someone close to the situation suspected the couple wasn’t telling the whole story.

When I examined Moth’s condition, I immediately noticed serious warning signs. He had corticobasal degeneration (CBD), a rare disease similar to Parkinson’s, and sadly, most people with CBD live only six to eight years after being diagnosed. The disease causes muscles to stiffen and tremble, makes balancing difficult, and eventually leads to loss of movement in the hands and legs. Often, patients also develop dementia and eventually lose the ability to swallow.

Mr. Moth, age 65, says he’s lived with this condition for over 18 years, and currently shows no symptoms. He believes his long, difficult hikes are responsible for keeping it at bay. However, doctors specializing in brain health have explained that the damage this condition causes can’t be undone.

My editor at The Observer cautioned me that publishing the story would be challenging. Personal medical information is confidential, and we likely didn’t have enough for a viable article. However, he allowed me a few days to investigate other details from the anonymous tip. While authors sometimes use pseudonyms, Raynor Winn and her husband’s birth names – Sally and Tim Walker – weren’t public knowledge. My source gave me those names, as well as the location in Wales where they had lost their home.

I visited Pwllheli in northwest Wales and heard stories suggesting Sally Walker, also known as Raynor Winn, had embezzled money from her workplace and successfully avoided consequences.

A neighbor confirmed Sally Walker was arrested for stealing over £64,000 from her late husband’s business. To cover the losses, Walker borrowed money using her house as collateral, which ultimately led to the bank taking possession of it. I also found out that the couple secretly owned property in France, even though they had claimed to have no money.

Memoirs aren’t meant to be completely factual; writers naturally leave things out or shape the story. However, Winn presented herself as a helpless victim, which didn’t quite align with reality. The fact that she wasn’t truthful about losing her house raised doubts about her account of her son Moth’s illness. It became possible she had misled readers, and most concerningly, that seriously ill people might have been influenced by Moth’s seemingly miraculous recovery – a matter of genuine public concern.

After twenty years as a journalist, I’ve never seen a story generate as much reaction as the revelations in The Salt Path this summer. I’m now working on a Sky documentary that’s allowed me to investigate the story further. We journeyed from Wales to Cornwall, following the coastal path and retracing the steps – both literal and emotional – taken by Raynor Winn and her husband.

Our research uncovered a previously unknown novel written by Winn years before The Salt Path. This novel feels more personally revealing than her published memoirs. We also spoke with family members from both sides who shared new insights into their lives and past experiences.

The author criticized my initial report on her website, calling it deeply unfair, and maintains that her book, The Salt Path, accurately portrays her and her husband’s real-life experiences. However, given discrepancies between her account and the facts, I believe readers deserve to have both versions of events so they can decide for themselves what to believe.

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2025-12-03 21:13