retiredmartin

December 2025. Hollowshore, Faversham.

Just for Dave, a Christmas Eve post even though I’ve just had 4 pints and a Nepalese curry with my boys. Oddly, there’ll probably be less spelling mistakes than normal.

Mrs RM’s actual birthday starts in a luxury Premier Inn with bath that fills up in 2 minutes and nearly floods the room.

I’d suggested a bracing walk along the creeks out of Faversham towards Hollowshore and a lunch stop, a suggestion met with withering silence.

The campervan doesn’t appreciate the trip by potholed road, either.

But Hollowshore and the Oare marshes make a beautiful start to a birthday,

mirroring the tranquility of Pin Mill by the Orwell.

You could walk to Sheerness from here, I tell her.

“When’s the pub open ? ” she says.

The Shipwrights Arms is no fly by night pub. I know it’ll open on the dot of 12, despite a reduced menu.

It must be 20 years since my last visit, but it’s not a pub you forget.

A couple of walkers join us at the door, we jostle for position,

I’m determined to get Mrs RM that coveted position by the fire on her big day.

The clock strikes twelve, the landlady emerges, the sign is turned, in we go.