Chloe Hadjimatheou

And having had no response to her letters, one day back in 2023, Maxine picks up the phone and calls.

Right away, the owner answers, a posh-sounding guy called Bill Cole.

She couldn't have known when she called, but right then, Bill was going through his own turmoil around the couple.

For close to five years, they'd been his tenants and his friends living on his farm.

Rainer Wynne had written two sequels to The Salt Path there.

Bill and his farm were featured in one of them.

He was in awe of the couple.

He'd only charged them a tiny rent and was even thinking of signing the farmhouse over to them permanently.

But around four years after they'd come to stay, Bill began feeling a bit uncomfortable.

What he was reading in Raina's books about Moth's health just didn't seem to match what he was seeing in person.

And by the time her third book, Landlines, was published, Bill had become deeply confused.

He just couldn't square the couple living on his farm with the people he was reading about in Raina's books.

It was around a year after Bill's confusion set in that Maxine called, talking about this couple who seemed to have changed their names, about rumours of theft from an employer and stacks of late payment letters and bailiff notices.

But if Maxine thought Bill could help her get in touch with Rainer and Moth, she was going to be disappointed.

By the time I was chatting to Bill, they'd actually gone, very suddenly.

The Walkers had vanished again.

MUSIC

I'm Chloe Hajimotheou, and from Tortoise Investigates and The Observer, you're listening to The Walkers, The Real Salt Path.

Episode 3, Cider at Hay.

When Ruth Saberton moved in next door to Hay Farm, she was excited.