135 Chatham – Rochester – Warren Wood – Borstal

The 135 is one of those genuinely local Medway services that quietly stitches together a surprising variety of scenery in under an hour. It begins at Chatham Waterfront Bus Station, where the tidal Medway slides past the modern bus stands and the old Sun Pier, and immediately heads west along the riverside towards Rochester, passing Anchorage House and the turning for Hospital Lane.

Within a few minutes the bus is rolling through the edge of Rochester itself, with glimpses of the Norman castle keep and the cathedral tower rising above the rooftops near Bath Hard Lane. Rather than dwelling in the High Street, the 135 turns inland at Furrell's Road, climbing through the tightly packed terraces of Troy Town. The streets here are steep and Victorian in character, with brick chapels, corner shops and the unmistakable look of a Medway hillside neighbourhood.

Past Onslow Road and Jasper Avenue, the route threads its way through the Delce, a residential quarter of pre-war semis and post-war estates. The bus pauses outside The George and St Luke's Methodist Church, then climbs steadily through Beatty Road towards Warren Wood. This is the highest part of the loop, and on a clear day the gaps between houses give brief views back across the Medway valley towards the Hoo Peninsula.

At Arethusa Road the bus skirts The Thomas Aveling School and the Warren Wood estate before dropping back down past the Grammar Schools on Maidstone Road. From here the descent into Borstal feels almost rural: the road narrows, the trees thicken and the Medway reappears below, with the great concrete sweep of the M2 viaduct soaring overhead.

Borstal itself is a quiet riverside village, famous (or infamous) for lending its name to the reformatory system that began at HMP Rochester nearby. The bus loops slowly past the Foord Almshouses, the White Horse pub and the village surgery, giving riders a proper look at this tucked-away corner of Medway before retracing its steps. The return leg climbs back past St Margaret's Cemetery and Watts Avenue, where the philanthropist Richard Watts is commemorated, before rejoining the riverside road at East Row and gliding back into Chatham Waterfront.

It is a short journey, but a properly characterful one: castle views, hillside terraces, a 1960s motorway viaduct and a riverside village all in a single loop.

The 135 makes a fine half-day pottering route around the older corners of Medway, especially if you fancy combining a proper walk around historic Rochester with a quieter riverside village most visitors never see. Start at Chatham Waterfront Bus Station, where you can grab a coffee at one of the cafes near the Pentagon Centre before boarding.

Hop off near Furrell's Road and walk the short distance into Rochester High Street. This is the Dickensian heart of Medway: Eastgate House appears in The Pickwick Papers and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, while Restoration House across the gardens inspired Miss Havisham's Satis House in Great Expectations. The Guildhall Museum, free to enter, tells the story of the Medway towns from prehistory to the present.

From the High Street it is a five-minute stroll up to Rochester Castle, whose Norman keep is one of the tallest in England and offers panoramic views over the river and the cathedral precinct. Rochester Cathedral itself, founded in 604, is the second-oldest in the country and well worth the visit for its crypt and medieval wall paintings.

Back on the 135, continue up through Troy Town and the Delce towards Warren Wood. This is a chance to see the residential Medway that visitors rarely glimpse, with its hillside streets and chapel architecture. Stay on board as the bus loops past the Grammar Schools and drops down through the woods towards Borstal.

In Borstal, alight near the White Horse for a riverside walk along the Medway. A footpath leads under the immense M2 viaduct, where you can crane your neck at the engineering and watch peregrines that sometimes nest on the concrete piers. The Foord Almshouses, founded in the 19th century, sit handsomely on the lane back through the village.

Pick up the return 135 to head back via Watts Avenue, named for Richard Watts whose 16th-century charity still maintains almshouses for travellers in Rochester. Round off the day back in Chatham with fish and chips by the waterfront, or wander across to the Historic Dockyard for the late afternoon. A small loop, but one that packs in castle, cathedral, river and village in a single afternoon.