Great British Road Journeys - Kent - Dartford to Sheerness Ep. 18
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- #roadtrip #kent #driving
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For today's road journey we head to Kent to see if it lives up to its "Garden of England" claim. I'm not so sure... Along the way we'll be visiting towns such as Dartford and Gravesend.. oh dear. Still, there's lot of interesting to things to look at... abandoned structures, not abandoned structures, structures... and also some wartime structures so join me on yet another Great British Road Journey and let's go exploring.
"The year 1080p" made me laugh way more than it should have!
me to!
Snap
Yeah, me too!
It was a year of high definition
The year Newcastle upon Tyne was founded, apart from the p
There's one part of that journey you can't make any more - the A226 between Swanscombe and Northfleet collapsed last year at Galley Hill, when the narrow chalk ridge it was built on gave way in a landslip. It has remained closed ever since, while the water company and the council argue about whether the burst water main caused the landslip, or the landslip broke the water main, and who should pay for repairs, which would be a major engineering project.
Something I learned all about on the day of filming, oops! Video on the collapsed road coming soon!
Spot on comment about Sittingbourne traffic, as the town expanded the local government there (KCC/Swale Borough Council) didn't bother much with infrastructure planning. Best avoided.
Hey let me show you how Glorious DOVER is. Like Jerusalem !! Seven hills and seven Vallie's. It has a crap town centre and Council. But the scenery is dramatic and beautiful. I am a proud Man of Kent :o) And DOVER XXX
5:00 What were those bells actually cast in? I looked them up on IMDB but found no mention...!
What happened to the Roman Villa?
Been to Sheerness once. In by rail, out by road after picking up an ex DHL manager's company car. A 1 year old BMW 5 series parked outside a dismal ex council owned terraced house, surrounded by cars at least 10 years old and many of which were heavily vandalised or burned out. (Wonder how many insurance claims he put in??)
"it must have worked, because we won" - lines like this keep me coming back!
I find absolutely no flaws with this logic.
I snorted embarrassingly loud at that! 😂
1080p was a high quality year. Far more defining than most
People were far more resolute
And definitely a Memorable Year.
I wonder what it'll be like in 4k?
@@RichardWatt you probably won't know until 4090
Some might even say "Highly Defining"
Love how he puts down every place he visits.
Dartford to sheppy, hard work to not.
Easy when you just go to shit places
Yeah, Kent isn’t exactly the best place these days, and I don’t even live in Kent!
@@lolzlarkin3059 and Chatham would have been too easy
I don't,. It's done to death by other channels with no wit or imagination. The year 1080p is much better.
Some nice little gems in this one; "Today, it looks likes a field, because it is", and "The year 1080p". Nice one Jon, your wit and humour makes these videos fun to watch
I like this video so I pressed the button specifically for that 👉🏻
If only there was a button specifically for liking comments.
@@shootmcrunfastthere is
@@ninjathedeadguy2655 No way! 😯
Ahh Rochester, the city that forgot to be city. If you don’t know what I mean, in 1998 during a local government reshuffle Rochester had to appoint charter trustees to maintain its city status and they didn’t so the city status was lost. Nobody noticed until 2002 and now that status can never be reclaimed.
More like Nocitychester
Well city status could be granted again, but two monarchs and seven prime ministers simply couldn't be bothered.
The council didn't forget to put the parking charges up but also forgot to fix the potholes.
@@jonbaldwinI may be wrong but my understanding in this case is that they can’t, because there is no local government authority for Rochester in the same way as there was at the point of the first government reshuffle in the 70’s. Medway has applied to be a city and failed so far but Rochester the history city can’t do it. Tom Scott (inevitably) explains it better.
@@SashaGrace94 The good people of Rochester could set up a parish council to sit under the Medway unitary authority. But I think you're right - unless they did that it would be the whole of Medway. :)
You visited Gravesend and managed not to mention the Black Death or Pocahontas. Amazing.
no black death connection so would have been a bit pointless, kudos no poch0 tho.
@@mattd2129 Graves End has no Black Death connection? You're kiddin' right?🤣
@@grahamcook9289it has nothing to do with graves, surprisingly.
The Gravesend to Tilbury ferry unfortunately stopped running on 30th March 2024. A sad note to add to your excellent video.
Somehow, "Ferry Cross The Thames" doesn't have *quite* the right ring to it...
Shame he does not mention the fact the Ferry stopped running due to Thurrock Council being Broke. Then when they got the money together the Ferry owner decided they had enough so the ferry stopped. We shall see what happens in the future. But then when I had a trip on the Waverley paddle steamer from London we did stop there before going to Southend Pier.
Interesting fact about Rochester: It used to be a city but is now just a town.
As it has a cathedral. it was, by tradition, a city, but when the Kent boroughs of Rochester and Gillingham merged in 1998 to form the unitary authority of Medway separate from Kent County Council, the leaders of the council forgot to properly protect Rochester's city status and it lost it. They have been campaigning to get it back; so far without success.
@DavidJCane. Interestingly, you managed to leave out Chatham, which is much older than both Rochester and Gillingham!!
Having a cathedral doesn't make you a city (Southwark for example). It's totally up to the Monarch. But you're right it lost its city status.
@@hairyairey Anglo-Saxon cathedral, of North Elmham is a good example lol population of 1400 these days and ok its more a ruin than a cathedral but it did have one and up until recently was sign posted as on, they've been changed to say chapel now for some reason
The incompetence of Medway Council, whether red or blue, never ceases to amaze me. Actually, I'm being facetious, I'm never surprised at their astronomic levels of incompetence.
@@norfolkngood8960 I had a look at this on the English Heritage site - it seems it was a cathedral until 1071. Or 1080p-9 to people on this site. So yes, I guess it was downgraded. Bit like poor Pluto.
The casual avoidance of Chatham and Gillingham, probably for the best....
I worked as a doorman in Chatham about 15 years ago and I could not agree with you more.
the date 1080p?! that's a resolution my brother
Dude's a pro-gamer going for a high refresh rate so if he wants a cheap monitor he'd have to stick to 1080p
Can't wait for the year 4k
@@SekritJay This is what we call, a pro-gamer move.
Don't you think he knows that?
Came to the comments to make or like it 👍
Stunning Jon 🥳
An area I was compelled to deliver the cheapest shoddy furniture in Christendom, early to mid 1980’s…….. much of the Medway towns has a veneer of shit…… although the Dickens festival in Rochester is always worthwhile…… Chatham Docks is worth a visit, there’s also a rusting Cold War Russian Submarine (following a failed attempt at a night club or venue) tied up in the Medway…….. plus the unexploded remains of the SS Richard Montgomery - some 440 feet of US Liberty Ship, grounded and sunk during the second small disagreement. It still contains some 1500 tons of exploding murder death kill stuff……. sitting in the Thames Estuary near the mouth of the River Medway. The masts can be seen from as far away as the Pier in Southend on Sea.
If it were to detonate, windows and property might be destroyed in London, Canvey Island and the Isles of Sheppey and Grain could be washed away. There may also be negative effects.
Do please carry on Jon, you are doing important work 🇬🇧
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chatham Dockyard is indeed worth a visit, I was there yesterday. Will now be looking for pics of that Russian sub, didn't know about that.
@@garycollard1981 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_U-475_Black_Widow
🙂
@@iancharlton678 Cool. Thanks.
"There may also be negative effects" 😂😂😂
I went to Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppy for work last week. Interesting to see it on the channel. It's really a little dreary over there.
@@illegalopinions4082 …… extra fingers, webbed feet…… and the distant sound of a badly thumbed banjo 😳
Apparently Sheerness was the birthplace of some guy by the name of “Richard Beeching” What a Kent
A Man of complete Kent or complete and utter Kentish Man?
See you next Tuesday people used to mutter to him as he passed
Inbreeding is still rife.
Interesting fact about the Kingsferry Bridge:
I used to work for Southeastern Railway. The third rail power supply over the bridge does not include that part of the bridge that is lifted when a ship needs to pass through. This necessitates trains having to "coast" over that section before picking up the power again. Do trains ever fail to do that and get stuck? Oh YES!!!! 🤣🤣🤣
You made one good decision in this video, and one very bad one. Leaving Dartford is a good idea, but going to Sheerness is terrible idea.
I do these trips so you dont have to. :D
@@AutoShenanigans Brilliant, great rejoinder!!!
As someone born in Chatham (although very nearly in Sheerness!), I wholly applaud John's putting down of the area (although Rochester IS actually quite nice).
lol at " the year 1080p" you'll find it was actually 1080i
1440p came much later....🤩
I was waiting for a roman villa built in the year H264...
Should have gone to Queenborough. You might also have mentioned that the new Sheppey Bridge hosted the UK's worst pile-up in 2013 with 130 vehicles, but amazingly no fatalities.
I like that they've done nothing to the bridge to mitigate something like that happening again.
@@PhillipParr They had a 50 speed limit for a while. The problem was the fog, which is not unknown for that area. Perhaps red lights to close the bridge in similar conditions?
@@PhillipParr You cant fix stupid. Weather doesn't cause a 130 car pilleup on its own.
@@fatman3785 indeed, but you can mitigate stupid with various techniques
6:35 - 'Get a fry up, go karting and throw up'
🤣
☮
This lines have me as well 🤣
Should have said we could visit the City of Rochester but that doesn't exist anymore - lost city status in 1998 with local government reorganisation & them not bothering to appoint city trustees
Exploring Dartford to Sheerness by boat is even more fascinating. It really is a very interesting piece of the coast.
Factory factory factory, council estate factory factory warehouse...
@@soyebaswat5382 Lots of marshes and Napoleonic forts too.
@@fatman3785 and a former Royal Navy Dockyard.. The HMS Victory was built there.
Kent is supposed to be "The Garden of England", well it's anything but. More like the septic tank of England. We went there on "holiday" as people raved about the countryside. Well, we couldn't find any. If you have a kink for the A2 that is about it. It has no redeeming features what so ever other than a few castles, Even Bodiam made an escape to East Sussex along with Herstmonceux. I was taken aback by the misery of the towns and having left Herne Bay I needed treatment on the NHS. The only interesting bits are the areas around Dungeness where you might start glowing and the A2 back to London. All Kent has is those pointy houses that twizzle around for rich people and a huge lorry park. Why would people trying to flee the mainland want to come here on a rubber ring goes beyond me. Perhaps if the French Government showed pictures of Dover, Ramsgate and Broadstairs they might want to row back to France. Kent really is dogs rear end of this country.
Well I have lived in nine places along that route.
When I lived briefly in Gravesend in the late 80s the ferry was in operation. I used it to visit the fort on the north side of the river but did not see much else of note.
The Kingsferry bridge was resurfaced at about the same time. They had a slight problem because the bridge would not come down again completely with all the reduced weight after the nights work. Fortunately it was low enough that they could drive loaded trucks onto to provide weight but nobody could drive on or off the island that day.
Surprised that there was no mention of the ship off Sheerness left over from the second disagreement.
Yes, I remember as a child taking the ferry from Gravesend over to Tilbury to visit the fort. It was a highlight of the year! 🙂
Had ancestors in Gravesend (oddly Two of similar names that appear to be distant cousins who independently moved to london then independently married the ancestors of my parents.
local urban myth: the Isle of Sheppy has the lowest gene pool in Europe.............. apparently
I'm pleased that you didn't mispronounce Kent Countryside.
Like Trevor McDonald's famous Spoonerism on News at 10 one time ;)
"Sheerness. What a treat..." Jon, your sarcasm and comic timing are spot on. I have been to Sheerness once, and once only. It appeared to be closed.
You were lucky, I had to go lots of times for my job 😕
That pier is the remains of the old Gravesend pier station. The Thames Way road follows the old track alignment and uses an old railway tunnel. As you pass through you can see the arches within the tunnel for pway workers to shelter in when trains passed. The floor has been dig out to allow better clearance and the arches are half way up the walls
You are correct that people from Gravesend don't want to go to Tilbury, but people from Tilbury want to go to Gravesend, then they have to get back again. When I was a child in the 1960s a family day out would be a visit to Coalhouse Fort followed by a trip on the Tilbury Ferry.
Great video as always. I'm a lorry driver, I've heard other drivers complaining about driving over Thelwall on the M6 as it can be a bit hairy in bad weather. Which i don't doubt, but its not as bad as going over Dartford QE2 bridge, which in turn isn't as bad as the Sheppey bridge. Its virtually always windy going to Sheppey, but when its really bad the older bridge is a very thankful site, although I've only had to use the older bridge a couple of times. People pay alot of money at the fairgrounds for thrill seeking rides, I'm not desperate enough to get it for free!!!!
As a former resident of Gravesend, I can confirm it's a shit-hole.
Gravesend aint that bad lol
Since you are in that park of the UK make a trip to Ramsgate to This Museum is (not) Obsolete, I think you’ll find it is right up your street
Nells Cafe in Gravesend, came into existence when the A2 was a dirt road 😀
Pocahontas is buried at St George's Church, Gravesend.
I'm a proud Kent boy and I take offense to your suggestion that Kent isn't beautiful, brilliant, full of opport.. oh, who the f**k am I kidding...?
South Kent, in the Weald of Kent is proper pretty. But yes the North Kent coast is a complete shit hole.
I actually live in the Weald now, but grew up in Rainham. Thought for my entire childhood all of Kent was like that!
I’m waiting for you to wear a different outfit - and see if The Matrix glitches…😊
Love these videos. The combo of info and snark are excellent. Keep up the good work.
I grew up in these areas. Even watching the video of you driving through Dartford and Gravesend, I was reaching to lock my imaginary car door.
Excellent - I think an updated guide book would only have one page - it would say AVOID. North Kent was never going to be beautiful (excepting little bits of Rochester) Even Dickens set some of his grimmest stories here! (love the Saab - class!)
8:38... Wait, what? Hold on...
Yeah, I thought that's what it said. “Monkey Farm”? What's a monkey farm, and why was there one in Sheerness? And why didn't you try to find out, you slacker? I mean, rocks that aren't rocks and naval defences that look a bit like houses are all very well, but surely nothing can be more fun than a farm full of monkeys.
I used to live near Dartford. I can confirm you summed it up nicely and got out of town quickly. PS. How do I do a 'super like'? I can see 'buy us a coffee' but not the super-duper likey likey option. PS. I did hit the button to show specifically I enjoyed your clip.
And you didn't mention that Sherness could be blown up by the ammunition ship that sunk during the 2nd disagreement.
Came to mention the SS Richard Montgomery as well. Theres still about 1500 tons of ordinance on it in a constant state of decay! From learning about it years ago, I got into looking up just how much munitions were dumped at sea and its practically all around the UK, particularly in a deep trench south of Plymouth and west of Guernsey called Hurd's Deep.
@@chriszanfPlans to deal with it are regularly postponed - they are hoping to remove the masts first. I reckon it'll blow up, taking a lot of the town with it before anything is done.
Hello Jon How the devil are you have you had a good week and also I liked the video and used the button specifically for that
3:43 Nice 400kv twin transmission route, Singlewell - Kingsnorth. Those look like L6 towers (also called pylons by morons). Jon, your followers love all different types of infrastructure 😄
hhmm, kind of following the main 'industrial' parts of kent.. But good all the same
A journey from shit-hole to shithole with a few nice bits in between. (I live Dartford so I can say that)
I was born in Dartford but left when I could just about walk so that's why it ran down hill afterwards! My Dad worked on the paper mill mills as well. So thanks for popping in there! 🤣
You missed one the most significant sights of Sheerness, the wreck of the US Liberty Ship Richard Montgomery, still holding 1400 tonnes of bombs and the masts of which are visible from the beach. The jury is out about how safe it is and what might be done about it but one thing is agreed - if/when it goes up it will be a VERY big bang! A waterspout 3km high and 15m high tidal wave. Someone calculated it could flatten Sheerness, doing as much as £150 worth of damage, so it's not all bad.
Before my mother in law started dating someone recently out of prison she met and married someone who had a holiday static caravan in Sheppey. What a shit hole that place is. Sadly that person is now dead so two positives we don’t go to Sheppey and due to the serious nature of conviction we don’t see mother in law.
Ahhh, Sheerness. Well the second little disagreement left a rather large explosion waiting to happen in the estuary. The SS Richard Montgomery that has slowly been rusting away and has the potential to be the largest non-nuclear explosion should the bombs on board happen to go off.
Gravesend 😂😂😂
Was a shit hole in the 80s when I visited my relatives every summer holidays...
Don’t shit on every town.
Just for clicks. Your better than that
Do you mind, I grew up in the area around Gravesend and ..... yes it is shit! Ah the A226, I know it well. St George's Church which you decided to avoid is the burial place of Pocahontas (yes she from the Disney film), though they can't remember exactly where they buried her, which has really pissed off some of our American friends who want her back.
“Must have worked, as we won”, genius.
I used to know Sheppey well, as had friends at Warden Point. Minster was quite interesting and Leysdown on Sea was a classic piece of crappy British seaside.
A little known fact about Sheerness. Circa 1950 an industrialist, called Wadia Murad started the Murad Car company. Sadly a number of problems, including Government intervention, apparently they wanted him to move his companies to Wales! Things halted before serious production began. One example still exists.
Great video Jon, thank you.
Dartford Crossing anyone?
Rumour has it that said crossing has been paid for over and over, and that the authorities have renaged on the original agreement that once it was paid for, it would be free to use.
True or false?
Ahh Dartford. I grew up there, and that's why I drank a lot. I moved away, a long way, and now I am teetotal. It wasn't just the place to blame though, it was the people too.
Smart, cynical and probably accurate as always ! 😎
Jon, could I plead with you to do an additional mid week video, for the next 6 weeks, so we get some relief from the Election crap 😎
Really funny mate thanks, Subscribed.
My childhood stamping grounds, lived on an estate built on the old RAF Gravesham with the old airport turned into Thong Lane sports centre now called Cascades, wasn't the worst place to grow up if one had a trusty Raleigh Chopper and enjoyable activities like winding up the Cobham hermit to learn brand new swear words. My late father in the 70's worked every signalbox in the area, he was quite well known in railway circles as a bit of a signally god just a shame in home circles he was a proper tit to brother and I. Still, it never got old when calling out to the girls to admire ones purple chopper :P
Thanks Jon. You can’t polish a turd!
Back in the early 90's Sheerness was where I took the ferry to Vlissingen in the Netherlands (the Brits called it Flushing as they couldnt get their head around fliss-ing-ge). I had a GF in Sutton and working in Hamburg so it was a handy overnight crossing (only a 4 hour drive on the other side). I guess the railway may have handled any foot passengers. Sadly, no longer a ferry port. The new bridge may have just been in time to see the ferry stop.
When the ferry terminal was being built they accidentally buried a large excavator, they were pumping in sand to reclaim the beach and it was too expensive to stop. Cost a fortune to dig it out again a few months latter.
There's so much more rubbish in Medway you could've talked about. Literally, like queen Elizabeth fields and how it was a chalk mine, rubbish dump and filled over to make a field all in the span of 70 years and the locations of the bus stations in Medway, Gillingham bus station, Chatham pentagon bus station, then Chatham waterfront bus station. It's not just all about rochester. But good video none the less
There's always lots to talk about and look at, but I cannot fit it all in sadly.
They say it's grim up north, it is in North Kent. What a sh*th*t*!
Your enthusiasm for your destinations this week was just oozing out of you John. Be well.
I lived in Sheerness between the ages of 7 and 17, whereupon my parents relocated us to Bristol (from one of John's most favourite places to another!). I'm sure they did this to give us kids (I was the eldest) better job opportunities.
9:22 WE WON🎉
You heard it hear first...
18 weeks of pure joy. Long may this road trip continue. 👏👏👍😀
Gravesend - Tilbury ferry isn't running at the moment :(
Anyone notice the Russian Sub moored near to Rochester Castle.
The disguise on the watch tower must of worked because we won😊😂 Classic auto John😊
fartford to sharthess
-burger40
also surprised the SS Richard Montgomery didnt come up in this video, i suppose it is a more recent thing than the guidebook. im fairly sure you can see the exclusion zone in the final drone shot.
Rochester used to be a city for over 800 years until 1998 and is now part of the borough of Medway.
I guess the scorpions hadn't taken-up residence in Sheerness docks when your guide was written...
Brilliantly produced, written, researched, edited and delivered. What an awesome channel!
You should be immensely proud
I’m crying 😂😂, being from Kent, this is absolutely spot on and I hope you have a few Kent videos in stock 🤣🤣 love the videos fella
Nice one, thanks for watching!
1080p hahahaha love it
Thank you for asking. Just had an excellent Sunday lunch.
North kent absolute dump
The king's ferry bridge was used in the Jason Statham movie 'The Beekeper' as that was DEFINITELY filmed in America - honest guv.
Are you going to casually ignore the submarine @4:44?
That sub has been explored on the urban explorers page 28days later, it’s Russian
I've moved a few thousand cars into and out of Sheerness over the years. It's expanded a bit after the railhead was closed which is a bit odd given one train has the capacity of 25 trucks. Go back 20-25 years and pretty much all the kit that arrived in Gefco in Corby had come through Sheerness with the exception of the Pug 206 which were built in Coventry.
Good video. But a little short in the facts about Sheppey. Should have headed towards Leysdown where you past East Church . This area was instrumental to aviation history including visits from the Wright brothers to the Aero Club and later Royal Aero Club and a business that Charles Rolls (of Rolls-Royce) once had related to building planes. Worth another visit….
sittingbourne also has a history of being a papermill, in the local weatherspoons (idk how true this is) apparently sittingbourne produced the most paper in 1912 in england
Your casual lines of mild abuse always amuse.
We're not discussing the SS Richard Montgomery then.
Gravesend used to have an airport to the east of the town. Opening on 1932 it was a fighter base in the Second Small Disagreement. It closed in 1956 and a council estate was built on the site.
Ahh, the shithole that is the Isle of Sheppey. I went on holiday there once. I still don't know what possessed my mum to take us all the way down there from Yorkshire. I'm 30 now, and I was probably 8 back then. It must've been a crap place because I can't remember any of it.
Rochester, a place they used to make Flying Boats and where I once watched a light aircraft land on a Ford Orion (mistakenly I should add)
Ah, that'll explain all the pictures of flying boats in the hotel I'm staying at.
@@garycollard1981 glad to be of service 👍
Coincidently I flew the length of Kent yesterday to Manston and was struck by the amount of commercial and industrial sites around the area to the south of the estuary. I guess it's better than thousands of acres of dull housing as it contributes to what's left of the country's wealth.
Just always chuckle at the “small disagreement”
Another great video thank you, informative and enjoyable, I love your presentation skills
First
Well your a lucky devil. You win the twat awards for being and saying first in the comments.