'The coast path was beautiful and amazing before and it will continue to be afterwards'
A Devon writer - who's already spent two months walking the South West Coast Path for charity - doesn't believe The Salt Path controversy will impact its popularity
Last updated 11th Jul 2025
A Devon writer - who's walking the South West Coast Path for charity - says she doesn't think the controversy over The Salt Path will put others off from doing the same.
It's as author Raynor Winn's released a statement denying the book - and now film - misrepresents her husband’s illness and their financial situation
Laura Horton, the former Plymouth poet laureate, has already spent two months walking the 630-mile route to raise money for charity.
She originally planned a trip in 2020, which was delayed by the pandemic and says she did read the book before setting out on her journey.
She said: "It's not the reason that I'm walking, because the South West Coast Path is absolutely stunning."
Laura was in Teignmouth - en route - when she was first learnt of the controversy.
She added: "It's an interesting one, working as a writer I write a lot about my own experience and there are so many conversations about authenticity and protecting other people. I think you have to be so careful when you write about other people to protect their identity, and it is a fascinating one.
"I think the outrage isn't coming from the coast path it's more the other elements of it.
"The coast path is so gorgeous that's not the story I don't think - the coast path was beautiful and amazing before that and it will continue to be afterwards."
The author of The Salt Path says she’s heartbroken over claims she faked parts of her best-selling memoir and has shared medical letters to defend her story.
She says the book reflects a real journey - where they walked the South West Coast Path - from despair to hope and calls the accusations “devastating.”
Raynor Winn's story, now a film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, tells how she and her husband, Moth, walked the South West Coast Path after losing their home.
On Wednesday, Winn posted clinic letters on Instagram addressed to Timothy Walker, which she said showed that "he is treated for CBD/S and has been for many years".
She wrote: "The last few days have been some of the hardest of my life. Heart breaking accusations that Moth has made up his illness have been made, leaving us devastated."
In a statement on her website, she said that the article was "grotesquely unfair, highly misleading and seeks to systematically pick apart my life".
She added: "The Salt Path is about what happened to Moth and me, after we lost our home and found ourselves homeless on the headlands of the South West."
Laura's fundraiser for the charity Rights For Women can be found here
Laura's fundraiser for the charity Hoarding UK can be found here