Chauffeur Services in Rochester

Twice a year, in early summer and again before Christmas, Rochester makes something of its Dickens connections, and on those weekends the High Street shuts completely while the parades go by. Across the whole peninsula parking has gone by mid-morning, and the Esplanade cannot be driven at all. Collections move to the Corn Exchange end or to Star Hill, agreed beforehand, and we allow a good deal longer than usual for anything booked straight afterwards. Summer river festivals on the Esplanade work the same way.

Then there is the river to plan around. Three crossings serve the same movements, the M2 bridge between junctions one and three, the older A2 crossing and the Medway tunnel on the A289, so restrict one and the others fill within minutes. Southbound on the A229, Blue Bell Hill towards Maidstone queues reliably in the morning. Before a Gatwick departure our general suggestion is to leave Rochester about three and a half hours ahead.

On a long journey, Britain's weather does more damage than its traffic ever will. Winter afternoons close in early, and that matters a great deal when the final leg is a single-track road. Highland and moorland routes can run substantially longer than any summer estimate suggests. Those allowances go into the timings from the start, rather than being discovered together halfway up a glen. Where a departure hour makes the schedule uncomfortable, we propose a better one.

Demand tracks the calendar closely. Bank holiday weekends fill fast, so do the weeks either side of Christmas, the summer wedding season and those university terms that all begin and end together. The further from London a journey runs, the sooner a car wants committing to it. Midweek travel in the shoulder months, by contrast, is the easiest thing in the world to arrange.