3A Chatham – Gillingham – Twydall – Rainham

The 3A is one of Nu-Venture's workhorse Medway services, but it makes a surprisingly scenic circuit for anyone willing to ride it from end to end. The journey begins at Chatham Waterfront Bus Station, with the brown waters of the Medway glinting between the new apartment blocks and the Sun Pier just visible to the east. Pulling out of Stop B11, the bus immediately climbs past the council offices and Fort Amherst, the green ramparts of the old Napoleonic defences rising sharply on the right.

Within a couple of minutes the windows fill with the long brick wall of the Historic Dockyard. The Main Gate, with its gilded royal arms and clock turret, is one of the most photographed sights in Kent, and the bus pauses right outside. From here the route slips into Chatham Maritime, the modern quarter built on reclaimed dockyard land, passing the glassy St George's Centre and the retail sheds of the Dockside Outlet before dropping down to Gillingham.

Through Gillingham the character changes. Tightly packed Victorian terraces line James Street and Victoria Street, the kind of streetscape that gave the Medway Towns their solid, working character. The bus weaves past the Asda, the Nasir Mosque and Burnt Oak Primary, then climbs the long ridge above the river. There are sudden glimpses north towards the Hoo Peninsula between the rooftops.

Out on the higher ground the route enters Twydall, a postwar estate of broad avenues and grass verges laid out in the late 1940s. Featherby Road, Eastcourt Green and Goudhurst Road follow in steady succession, the bus calling at the parade of shops that still serves as Twydall's village centre. Just beyond the Pump Lane roundabout the landscape opens, with the Riverside Country Park signed off to the left and the saltmarshes of the Medway estuary stretching towards the Isle of Grain.

Rainham itself comes as a contrast: a proper Kentish high-street village with a parish church, the half-timbered White Horse pub, and a quiet station on the line down to Faversham. The 3A loops around the village, calling at the railway station and the Cricketers, before turning back through Twydall and Gillingham on the return leg. The final descent to the river, past Gillingham King Street and the Dockside Outlet once more, delivers you back to Chatham Waterfront with a fuller sense of how the Medway Towns hang together than any map could give.

The 3A makes an unusually rewarding day out for a town bus, because so many of the Medway's headline attractions sit right on its route. Pick up the bus at Chatham Waterfront and you can string together a maritime morning, a high-street lunch and an afternoon on the estuary without ever needing a car.

Start by staying on as far as the Dockyard Main Gate. The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a vast site, with three historic warships including the Victorian sloop HMS Gannet and the Cold War submarine HMS Ocelot, plus the cavernous Ropery where rope for the Royal Navy was made for centuries. Allow at least half a day if you want to do it justice; a quick visit can focus on the Ropery and the No. 3 Slip galleries.

If the dockyard feels too ambitious, hop off one stop earlier at Chatham Maritime Dockside Outlet for retail therapy beside the old basin, or wander along to the Medway Yacht Club moorings for a view of the river. The St George's Centre, a handsome former garrison church, is worth a look from the outside.

Back on the bus, ride through Gillingham to the Will Adams roundabout area, where a small memorial garden honours the Gillingham-born navigator who became a samurai in 17th-century Japan. There are plenty of cafes around Gillingham High Street for coffee or a bite.

Continue out to Twydall and change focus completely. From the stops near Pump Lane it is a short, signed walk down to Riverside Country Park at Lower Rainham, where 100 hectares of foreshore, lagoons and grassland front the Medway estuary. The Saxon Shore Way runs along the seawall, and on a clear day you can see across to the Hoo Peninsula and the cooling towers of the old Kingsnorth power station site. The visitor centre and Tea Room at Horrid Hill is a good place to pause.

Rejoin the 3A and ride into Rainham village for the afternoon. The parish church of St Margaret, parts of which are Norman, sits at the heart of the old village, and the White Horse on the High Street is a long-standing coaching inn. From here the loop carries you back through Twydall and Gillingham to the waterfront, where Sun Pier and the Command House pub make an easy end to the day.