A couple who were included in Raynor Winn’s now-disputed memoir The Salt Path have claimed that their encounter with the author and her husband doesn’t add up.
Joanne and David Parsons, who are mentioned in the bestselling 2018 book, are alleged to have met Raynor and Moth Winn at a cafe on the South West Coast Path and introduced themselves using their real names, Sally and Timothy.
The two couples, who had bonded for an hour in the Fat Apples Cafe, near Porthallow in Cornwall, after sharing their health issues, were both said to be embarking on the 630-mile hike from Somerset to Dorset.
However, after reading about their chance meeting with the Winns, the Parsons, who are from Australia, found several discrepancies.
Not only had Raynor Winn described the Parsons as well off, but she also claimed that they used B&Bs when the weather turned bad and had given away their tent. Winn also claimed that they had met in 2013. The Parsons dispute this, saying that they had met in 2015.
Speaking to The Observer, Joanne Parsons said that she contacted Raynor Winn after reading an article about The Salt Path in 2018.
Joanne says she wrote in an email: “When we saw the picture of you both in the article, we kept looking at each other saying: ‘That’s Sally and Tim!’ But it can’t be as you would have told us you were homeless and you said you were walking the other way! And why did you give yourselves false names? Or did you reinvent yourselves while on the path? Would love to know.”
She said that she also questioned Winn about her husband’s illness and why she wrote that they had ditched their tent at a charity shop. “We worked out we were happier wild camping and only went to B&Bs when the weather was really bad,” she added.
In response to the Parsons’ claims, Winn is said to have written that although she and Moth had walked the Salt Path in 2013, they then walked part of it again in 2015, which is when they met Joanne and David.
Explaining the date change, she reportedly wrote: “We didn’t explain any of that [in the book], as it all just seemed too complicated.” She also apologised for misremembering the story about the tent.
Joanne told The Observer: “We had a very good encounter with them. And that’s why all this is quite disappointing.”
The Independent has contacted Winn’s representatives for comment.
Last month, The Observer published an investigation that raised several doubts about the truth behind Winn’s story. It was claimed that large portions of the book could have been embellished, as well as that the central premise of hardship and betrayal could have been built on a fiction of its own.
The investigation claimed that the book misrepresented how the couple lost their home, which, according to Winn, was due to a bad business investment.
However, The Observer reported that the couple lost the property after Winn allegedly defrauded her employer of £64,000 in 2008, which she apparently attempted to repay by taking out a loan from a relative.
In a statement provided to The Independent, Winn said at the time: “[The] Observer article is highly misleading. We are taking legal advice and won’t be making any further comments at this time.
“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.”
