The Salt Path author says claims best-selling book is based on lies is misleading

Raynor Winn, the author of the best-selling memoir The Salt Path, has called claims she “lied” in her 2018 book “highly misleading”.

Winn has previously said the book is based on notes from a journey she and her husband Moth took along the South West Coast Path of the UK, also known as The Salt Path, after losing their family farm and receiving a terminal health diagnosis.

It was a real tragedy that they changed into a social media phenomena, sharing intimate details of the journey and the realities of being broke and living in the wilderness.

The book is a journal of those stories and records that following Moth’s medical diagnosis of the rare neurological condition Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD), the couple embarked on the arduous 630-mile trek along the Cornish, Devon, and Dorset coast with just a tent and two rucksacks.

However, a report in The Observer disputes some of the key facts in the memoir.

Raynor Winn called The Observer article “highly misleading”, and said that the couple were taking legal advice and so wouldn’t be making any further comment.

Her statement went on: “The Salt Path lays bare the physical and spiritual journey Moth and I shared, an experience that transformed us completely and altered the course of our lives. This is the true story of our journey.”

Cancelled in a flash

PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), says they have “terminated” their relationship with the family following the publication of The Observer article. They told their supporters “Many questions currently remain unanswered”.

Raynor Winn had been scheduled to make numerous appearances over the summer, performing with Saltlines, her collaboration with Gigspanner Big Band. However, the band has since announced on social media that she will no longer be taking part in the tour.

Raynor Winn is also scheduled to take part in various Q&As, conversations, writing courses and festivals over the summer.

The memoir was turned into a film

The Salt Path sold over a million copies worldwide and spent nearly two years on The Sunday Times bestseller list. It is billed by its publisher Penguin as an “unflinchingly honest, inspiring and life-affirming true story”.

It is the first of a quartet of novels by Raynor Winn all based around a love of nature, walking and the triumph of determination over adversity. The fourth book is due out in October.

The book was made into a film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, shot across Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Wales in 2023, and released earlier this year.

Speaking to Sky News in April, Isaacs said he had spoken to Raynor and Moth just the night before, describing them as “humble” and not “wanting attention paid to them”.

The actor described the movie as “a true, beautiful, real-life love story, and a mystical, miraculous story about nature as well,” and also said he hoped it would encourage people to “look at homeless people when they walk by in a different light“.

Number 9 Films and Shadowplay Features told said the film was a “faithful adaptation” of the book they optioned.

They said in a statement: “The allegations made in The Observer relate to the book and are a matter for the author Raynor Winn. We have passed any correspondence relating to the article to Raynor and her agent.

“When we were recently made aware that The Observer was planning to publish, we advised our key collaborators, filmmakers and stakeholders. There were no known claims against the book at the time of optioning it or producing and distributing the film and we undertook all necessary due diligence before acquiring the book.

“The journalist contacting us about the story at the end of last week was the first time we were made aware of the allegations.”

The publishers of The Salt Path are Pengiun, and two of Raynor Winn’s subsequent books.