190 Gravesend – Strood – Rochester – Chatham

The 190 is one of those workhorse Arriva routes that quietly delivers some of north Kent's most underrated scenery. It links two of the county's great riverside towns, Gravesend on the Thames and Chatham on the Medway, and in between it slides through the very landscape that Charles Dickens called home.

The journey begins at Barrack Row in the centre of Gravesend, with the bus easing past West Street and the elegant Italianate Clock Tower on Harmer Street. Within a few minutes the close-grained Victorian streets of Milton give way to Denton, where the houses thin and the route picks up the old Gravesend Road through Chalk. Look to the right beyond the rooftops and you'll catch glimpses of the Thames estuary; to the left, the land rises gently into orchard country.

Chalk itself is a quiet straggle of cottages, a parish church and a former forge. This is where Dickens spent his honeymoon, and the route's next few miles are pure Pickwick territory. Shorne arrives with its village green and the half-timbered Copperfield pub, and then comes Gadshill, where Dickens lived out his last years at Gad's Hill Place, the white-fronted house still visible from the road.

Through Higham the bus runs along a ridge with long views south across the Kentish weald. The road then drops down into Frindsbury, past the petrol station and the cluster of old wharves, and you get your first proper sighting of the Medway: a wide, working river, framed by cranes, sailing barges and the tower of Rochester Cathedral on the far bank.

Crossing into Strood, the route runs along the High Street and past Canal Road before sweeping over Rochester Bridge. The view from the top deck (if you've nabbed a front seat) is exceptional: the Norman keep of Rochester Castle squares up against the cathedral, with the red-tiled roofs of the High Street tumbling down to the water. The 190 calls at the Guildhall Museum, the railway station and the Community Hub, threading the historic core.

From Star Hill the bus climbs past Jacksons Fields and St Bartholomew's Hospital into Chatham, finishing its outbound leg at the Waterfront Bus Station beside the Medway. The Historic Dockyard, Fort Amherst and the long brick terraces of the naval town are all within a short walk. Then the return swing retraces the route back to Gravesend, giving you the whole Dickensian ribbon in reverse.

The 190 makes a brilliant spine for a Dickensian day out, beginning at Gravesend's Barrack Row and finishing among the Tudor and Georgian streets of Rochester and Chatham. With a single ticket you can hop on and off through some of Kent's most evocative riverside towns.

Start with a wander around central Gravesend before you board. The Town Pier, claimed to be the world's oldest surviving cast-iron pier, juts out over the Thames, and St George's Church holds the memorial to Pocahontas, who died here in 1617. A coffee on the riverside terrace sets the day up nicely.

Stay on the bus through Chalk and Shorne to Higham, and step off near Gad's Hill. From the road you can see Dickens's last home, and a short walk takes you to Shorne Woods Country Park, a quiet expanse of ancient woodland with waymarked trails and a visitor centre. The Copperfield pub at Shorne is a sensible lunch stop if you'd rather not stray too far from the bus stop.

Back aboard, the 190 drops down through Frindsbury and across Rochester Bridge. Get off at the Guildhall Museum stop and you are right in the medieval heart of Rochester. The Norman keep of Rochester Castle is one of the tallest in England, and the cathedral next door is the second-oldest in the country. The High Street, with its tilting timber-framed shops and tea rooms, deserves at least a slow hour.

From Rochester Star Hill the bus climbs the short distance into Chatham. Alight at the Waterfront Bus Station and walk along the Medway to the Historic Dockyard, where Victorian ropery, three historic warships and the submarine HMS Ocelot make for an absorbing afternoon. Fort Amherst, with its Napoleonic tunnels carved into the chalk, is another option if naval history isn't your thing.

Catch a later 190 back towards Gravesend and enjoy the route in reverse as the light softens over the Thames marshes. A pint at one of Gravesend's riverside pubs, watching the container ships slide past, rounds off a day that has crossed two rivers, two cathedrals' worth of history and a fair bit of Dickens for good measure.