Hi, and welcome to our Medway Valley road trip
This is part 2, and the conclusion to our journey
And this little mini road trip takes place in the southeast of England, in the beautiful country of Kent
If you didn't catch part 1, we start at junction 4 of the M20, heading through the Kent countryside
before reaching our final destination of Lower Upnor
Today's journey will take us from the land of the Man of Kent, to the Land of the Kentish Man
By crossing the River Medway, to Maritime Chatham, before heading on to Rochester
Wouldham, the neolithic Kit's Coty before hitting our final destination of Aylesford
from here you can easily make your way to junction 5 of the M20
but now it's time to continue our journey, so let's hit the road, leaving Lower Upnor
So, that Kentish Man/Man of Kent thing
If you're born west of the River Medway, you're a Man of Kent, and if you born east, you're a Kentish Man
Anyway, passing the pubs of The Pier and The Ship, as we leave Lower Upnor
As we leave Upnor, we hit a little bit of countryside, but I will warn you, the first half of this road trip is gonna be a touch urban
Oh, and another little word of warning; as with the last video
I will be speeding up segments, slowing down segments and I'll even be even pausing segments
but trust me I'm not driving like a complete idiot
and it's not long before we reach the A289, and there's only one direction to go, and that's left
and stick to this left-hand lane, because we're following the signs for Chatham Maritime and going through the Medway Tunnel
and keep to the left hand lane, because it's less than a mile,.
You're going to enter the tunnel, and you're going to be taking the very first exit at the end of the tunnel
and keep to the right, as you're gonna be taking the third exit at the roundabout
and again, stick to the right, because at the next roundabout, you're turning right again
and to our left is the Historic Dockyard Chatham, and its complimentary parking
but we're heading on. To our right is a pay & display car park
but still, we continue onwards
and that beautiful red brick building in front of us is the Victorian Pump House Number 5
Now home to the Copper Rivet Distillery
And on our right, is Chatham Marina
Now I'm going to ask you for an honest answer
"Would you believe this is Chatham in Kent?", leave us a comment below, we'd love to know.
Now sadly you can't park up here, unless you have a boat moored up of course
So we parked in the pay & display, just along the road
And now back to that beautiful Victorian pumphouse, that's now home to the Copper Rivet Distillery
It's possible to take tours here, but we haven't yet. Maybe that's one for a later video
Views across the River Medway, towards Upnor Castle which you probably remember from the last video
and now a personal favourite of ours; The Historic Dockyard at Chatham
and that's a model of HMS Victory, we'll get to that a little later in our road trip
Oh, and I've got to be honest, a day at Chatham Dockyard is going to be a day at least
but the good news is your ticket is valid for a whole year, so you can come back as many times as you like within that year
We love it because of the history, but also the fact it's a film set
Do you recognise this from 'Call the Midwife?'
Or this from the boxing scene in Bridgerton?
a great day out, and a great reason to visit Chatham
and now we're leaving, on our way towards Rochester, but let me take you through Chatham
So it's back onto the main road, and right at this roundabout
and check out the brick wall on our right-hand side
this was the boundary to the old Royal Navy Dockyard
See if you spot the gatehouse at the very entrance to the Dockyard
There she is, but best viewed from the other direction
and now we're heading through the more urban side of Chatham
with its 1960's designed shopping centre not to a 21st-century taste, I think
I'm taking you through here so I can show you the route, so follow the road until you have to turn right
you're following signs towards Rochester
and to our left is Chatham railway station. A direct mainline route into London
but you will notice it's a distance back to Maritime Chatham, a cab or a bus ride
but now we've hit the outskirts of Rochester
It's now a straight road until we hit this roundabout, where we can turn off for the M2, or head on towards Rochester
We'll take the Rochester route
and as we drop down the hill we see the sign for Historic Rochester
and yep, it's historic
to our left, we have the eastern end of the High Street, but we're carrying on past
and it's along here, on the right-hand side you'll find Rochester station
And in front of us, you'll find the Old Rochester Bridge
but we're heading round to the left toward the castle
and there's parking here, and all the way along the Esplanade
Unfortunately, it's no longer free
and now, let's take a quick look around Rochester
and I say a quick look because as you probably know we've got a full video on Rochester
I'll pop a link up in the corner so you can catch that if you wish
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Now let's take a quick lap around Rochester Castle
and directly in front of us is one entrance to the grounds
and as we pass the castle on our right, directly in front of us is Rochester Cathedral
to our left is the High Street, and on the right some limited parking
As we round the castle we get a view of the River Medway, and Rochester Marina in front of us
and now we follow a small section of the River Medway as we head to our next destination of Wouldham
and now we're heading to Borstal
and if that name rings a bell with you, yep this was the first place to have a child correctional centre in 1902, and where we get that name from
So now, we're back in the countryside
although a 150 years ago this would have looked very different
being the home to huge cement works that fed London's desire for construction
We're here to visit All Saints Church
and a particular individual who's buried here
Now a word of warning, it can be difficult to park here
And the grave we're here to see, is that of Walter Burke
Now that name may not mean a lot to you
but if you can make out the inscription
it tells you, it was in his arms that Horatio Nelson died aboard HMS Victory
and another maritime link for the Medway
and now heading through Wouldham we have the Waterman's Arms
A Sheppard Neame pub where you can get fed and watered
Now apologies Wouldham, I appeared to have picked you on bin day
and as you can see the road around here are very narrow, so best avoid at peak times
And now we arrive at Peter's Village, at the far end of Wouldham
This is very much a 21st-century housing development
so let's skip this and see what they concreted over
This is a beautiful landscape
And we're heading pretty much toward home, so in the distance, to the right, hidden behind the woods, is our village
Now, in the distance to the right, are 2 white topped conical roofs
Drop us a comment if you know what those are
And we're turning right at this junction
And as we round the corner you get a better look at the buildings
and as we head up here, we join the ancient Pilgrim's Way
that runs from Winchester to the shrine of Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral
And at the end of the Pilgrims' Way, we turn left and head up the hill
We're heading to our next destination of Kit's Coty
You can park in the layby to our left
or, take the next left, quickly switch to the right
Head up the hill, and you'll find a parking spot here
Now the Ordnance Survey app is great for finding treasure like this
I'll pop a link in the description below so you can check it out
So this is Kit's Coty, the remains of a neolithical burial chamber
that date from about 4,000 years BC
So that's around 1,000, maybe 2,000 years, older than Stonehenge
It is protected, and maintained, by English Heritage, but it's free to visit
Now let's take a look around
Now, can you see the shape of a woman's head, with here hair tied back?
now I don't think that's an original feature
and, in fact, the reason it's behind railings is it does have a bit of graffiti
but it's Victorian graffiti from about 1850
And to the south of us, we have Chapel Down's Kit's Coty vineyards
as we spin round, we see the other side of the Medway Valley that we covered in part 1
and now time to head towards our final destination of Aylesford
We head up this road, and switch back to our left
now take caution at this junction, there is a cycle lane, and if cyclists are coming down the North Downs, they'll be travelling at a speed
and this section of road isn't used that often by cars, so you may find people trying to overtake coming in the opposite direction
When you do get to the junction at the end, turn right, towards Aylesford
We now arrive on the outskirts of what I call the village of Aylesford
The reason I sat that is because Aylesford is much bigger
and encompasses a whole town
but the bit we'll be focusing on is the small, old, historical part
And we swing round to the left here, and at the junction, we turn right.
there are 2 car parks, on either side of the road, at the time of recording, they are both free
And now let's take a look at Aylesford
with its medieval stone bridge
and the church of St Peter's and St Paul's on the hillside
now the old stone bridge has been modified over the years
but it still retains its character, and now it's only open to cyclists & pedestrians
on the hilltop, again, you can see the church of St Peter's and St Paul's
I also want to shout out the Chequers Pub, whose garden terrace you can see in the centre of the shot
A fine pub and well worth checking out
There's a very Dickensian feel to the High Street, in fact, there's history around every corner
The Norman church of St Peter's & St Paul's is nearly a 1,000 years old, at its oldest point
but like so many churches has been touched up over the years
17th-century Almshouses, which were restored in about 1842, but still, look quite old
Let's jump back in the car and head back through the village
taking in one final destination
We are, of course, heading to the Aylesford Friars
Now, we really didn't jump into the car for this, as it's only a short walk from the centre of the village, but we're heading home after
We'll have a quick look at Aylesford Friars, if you want to see a longer video on our visit, then I'll pop up a link at the very end
Anyway, that does bring this video to a close
I'd like to say thank you so much for watching, I hope you like what you've seen
Don't forget to subscribe, and click on that like button. I'd really appreciate it
Thanks again, stay safe, stay well and happy travels