A2: London - Dover

Section 1: London - Strood
An important historic road this - connecting the capital with the cathedral cities of Rochester and Canterbury, the naval military base at Chatham, and the port of Dover. Follows the line of the Roman Watling Street, give or take a few bypasses.

Starts at the A3, at Borough Tube Station, as Great Dover Street - a suitably portentous name. After a while, we reach the Bricklayers' Arms junction with the Ring Road, and we are thus joined in our journey by traffic coming from Westminster and the Elephant along the New Kent Road via the flyover. We're now on the distinctly shabby Old Kent Road - the cheapest square in Monopoly, and not for nothing. Look out for the DIY superstores, discount food retailers, and drive-thru McDonalds that have unfortunately sprouted here in recent years.

Eventually we get to New Cross, where there are two one-way systems which are effectively triangles with the tips together. The A202 comes in/leaves from the west, and the A20 exits to the south-east. At this point, the A2 is signed to Dover, and the A20 to the Channel Tunnel, which is surpising as they're so close together. The A2 trundles through Deptford, and just when you thought you couldn't take any more red traffic lights, we suddenly climb a hill and emerge on Blackheath - an oasis of (relative) calm. Now at the Sun- in-the-Sands roundabout we diverge from Watling Street (which carries on as the A207), and we won't meet it again for some time. Rochester Way was built in the 1920s/30s to allow long-distance A2 traffic to bypass Shooters Hill and the by now sprawling SE suburbs. However, by the mid 1980s the western section was getting very congested itself, and so the Rochester Way Relief Road was built: effectively a bypass of a bypass. At Kidbrooke Park we pass the last set of traffic lights out of London (and they're always green anyway). The original Rochester Way joins us at Falconwood, and we're now on East Rochester Way. Until last year, this was the cue to accelerate into the blue yonder, as a 70mph speed limit applied from here. This was removed, and replaced with a 50mph limit up to the Kent border. Additionally, the inside lane (of 3) was reserved for local traffic, thus making merging at the (grade-separated) junctions easier.

From the Kent border, the road is motorway standard as far as I can see, with wide hard shoulders, a 70mph limit, 3 lanes and even some variable message signs! The A2 now bypasses Dartford, meeting the M25 at the Darenth Interchange (roundabout with slip roads in each direction). The junction at Bean has recently been completely changed as part of the Bluewater shopping centre development (quite an impressive sight - it's been built in a massive ex-quarry - but I wouldn't advise actually going in...). Shortly after this we meet the A296 which has come from Dartford, and we're on Watling Street again. The Channel Tunnel Rail Link is currently being constructed to our right, parallel with the A2. We pass the magnificently-named Thong Interchange. This bit of the A2 is currently suffering severe roadworks - not sure how long for though. We wind up at M2 J1, which has recently been remodelled to give access to a new road, the A289, which links to Grain and the Medway Tunnel. The M2 departs to the south, which leaves us with no alternative but to go through the Medway Towns.

An account of the first mile can also be found at London Geezer's Webpage

Tom

Section 2: Strood - Faversham (M2 J7)
Much of my childhood is connected with this stretch of road. At one end, I attended school in Rochester. At the other, I visited my grandparents' house in Whitstable (by turning left onto the A299 Thanet Way at Brenley Corner, just south of Faversham). We lived roughly in the middle, in Sittingbourne.

I suspect most drivers find themselves with heavy heart as they indicate to leave the motorway-style A2 just north of Strood. Not so myself, as quite apart from the attachment I have with this area, at the time of writing (November 2002) the M2 that replaces this section of A2 is in the midst of what I would guess is the largest road widening scheme currently underway in the country, requiring every junction, flyover and bridge to be completely re-constructed… Not an easy drive at the moment!

So, after leaving the dual carriageway section at the start of the roadworks and negotiating the new flyovers and underpasses that now define this junction, we start with a short run down a wide boulevard down the Medway valley, past 1930's housing and into Strood. After negotiating the Strood one-way system - which involves all traffic driving over (and in places, breaking up) relatively newly-laid herringbone brick in some places - we cross the Medway.

There has been a crossing here since Roman times; currently, there are three bridges. Westernmost is a purpose-built road and pedestrian bridge.The one nearest the sea carries the railway. The one in the middle is a road bridge built on the piers of a second - long since redundant - rail bridge. Further detail of the history of river crossings at Rochester (and much more about the town) is available on the Shewan family's well written and researched website.

The line of the original A2, following Roman Watling Street, is (unsurprisingly) dead straight from here, down Rochester and Chatham High Streets (both now pedestrianised), and then onwards up Chatham Hill. The current route follows the rather tatty duelled Commercial Road to the east of, and in parallel with, Rochester High Street, before crossing the original A2 at the foot of Star Hill and then following an equally tatty relief road to the west of Chatham - half of a figure-of-8 around the two towns, in effect. Rochester in particular still has some wonderful old coaching inns along the High Street as a reminder of travel in previous ages.

We finally rejoin the original road at junction under some high railway arches at the foot of Chatham Hill. The current manifestation is a sort of double mini-roundabout, one placed either side of the arches. However, authorities have been tinkering with this junction certainly as far back as I can ever remember, and I beg to suggest the current incarnation is far from ideal and unlikely to last….

Having cleared the junction, we proceed up the other side of the Medway valley towards Gillingham. It is worth stopping about three quarters of the way up and looking back to survey the valley with the Rochester Cathedral and Castle nestling at the mouth of the river. The dramtatic impact of this view on pilgrims coming from the south in centuries past can only be guessed at, as now, sadly, this glorious vista is partially obscured by a tower block.

On reaching the top of the hill, and a parade of shops, the road broadens to a 1930's style dual carriageway. The 2 or 3 miles between Gillingham and Rainham are peppered with small bits of industry and retail units, of which the most interesting is a branch of Tesco's with a large, globe shaped water tower emblazoned with their name immediately next to the road. Known to local children, (minimum age, I should think, now about 25!) as the "Blue Balloon" from a former tenant's colour of it, I assume it's now known as the 'Tesco's Balloon'. Nonetheless, it forms by far the most interesting landmark on an otherwise highly forgettable stretch of road.

Neither of the next two towns, Rainham and Newington, are bypassed. So although there are inevitable delays working through traffic lights, we are following the direct course of a route that has been in use for over 1000 years. Rainham parish church provides an interesting view on the right, but the Inglenook public house in Newington, another ancient coaching inn, was sadly run down last time I passed.

After another mile or so, we come to the A249/A2 junction. Today the A249 (linking Maidstone, the M2 and M20 with Sheerness docks) is dualled all the way to the Sheppey Bridge and at this point runs in a cutting with the roundabout forming the junction on top. When I was a child, this was a cross-roads! And then we're in to Sittingbourne, a long ribbon of a town stretching along for about the next 4 miles. As with Chatham and Rochester before it, Sittingbourne High Street - the original A2 - is now pedestrianised and a one-way system of relief roads runs to the east of the town, carrying the through traffic past light industrial and retail premises. We rejoin the original road at either a very large mini-roundabout (or a very small roundabout 'proper' - I can't quite decide which) and continue out of town and on towards Faversham.

Scenery along this part of the road is the most traditional of Kent we have seen thus far. Oast houses are at regular intervals on both sides of the road, with distinctive hop fields, their wood and wire supports jutting above the hedgerows.

Faversham has never been on the main A2, but sits just to the east. At one time, Faversham claimed the highest number of pubs per capita of anywhere in the country. As the town once hosted breweries for Shepherd Neame, Whitbread and Courage, this is hardly a surprise. Now, just Shepherd Neame survives.

Another hill or two, about three further miles, more picturesque fields and houses… and this section of the road comes to an abrupt halt, terminating at Brenley Corner, a large roundabout sitting over the merge point of the M2 and the A299 (Thanet Way) with the A2 continuing on a largely featureless dual carriageway to Canturbury and Dover…. and to get to those towns, that was the only road I ever used. But the original route, buried in the villages along the way is bound to have interesting features, and I look forward to reading another correspondent's insight on it.

Lucas Elkin

Section 3: Faversham - Dover
Things are much busier now the M2 has reared its ugly head again and dumped all the Canterbury- and Dover-bound traffic back onto the A2. We're dual carriageway again, with grade separated junctions for the moment. Dunkirk is bypassed, and so is Canterbury - the old route is now numbered the A2050 I think: it splits at Harbledown and rejoins at Bridge.

At Bridge, we're back onto Watling Street for a few miles. At Slbertswold, the Dover bypass starts. However, put away any thoughts of racing down to the sea at 70mph: the road becomes single carriageway again. It looks like this was the place where the authorities ran out of money to upgrade the A2. After a couple of junctions (A256 Whitfield and A258), we're onto Jubilee Way (that's QEII's Silver Jubilee). This is a great downhill stretch of road cutting into the cliffs, past Dover Castle on your right. Culminates in the road jetting out above the harbour, then turning right through 180 degrees to meet the A20 and the Eastern Docks access at a roundabout. Here endeth the road.

Tom