Trot on for the London Christmas Drive 2023 - photos and video by Bela Varadi
It's that time of the year again when well over a hundred lots (horses and carts) loaded into lorries, onto flatbacks, and into horse boxes, roll into somewhere in east London to unload and set up, before trotting off to take part in the annual London Christmas Drive.
This year the route of the Drive crossed and re-crossed the River Thames, took in a pit stop at the Hawley Arms, Camden Town, made a failed sally at Buckingham Palace (which was blocked off for last Saturdays Pro-Palestine demonstration), picked up a small police escort along the way, and then another pit stop in Soho, before heading south and over London Bridge to finish in Borough Market.
(Above - SWIPE LEFT or click on the little black dots to see the next photo in the slide show)
Also this year we had not one, but two Travellers' Times photographers come along to record the event at the invite of John, who was arranging things this year (get well soon Donna), so we have loads of great photos and a bit of video that cover the whole drive, as it clip-clopped through the morning rain, and then the cloudy overcast day, and into the night.
(Above - SWIPE LEFT or click on the little black dots to see the next photo in the slide show)
Although in this case, you probably can have too much of a good thing, loading all those photos and videos into one story would probably break our website. So this year we are publishing two articles on the drive, and first up are the videos and photographs taken by Bela Varadi. The next article will be the photos taken by Eszter Halasi, plus a few taken by myself and Katie Jones, along with some words from a short interview with John, just after he pulled in to Camden Town, leading the drive from the front.
(Above - SWIPE LEFT or click on the little black dots to see the next photo in the slide show)
The Travellers' Times would like to thank all those of you who took part for the welcome our photographers received, and hopefully see you again sometime next year.
Mike Doherty/TT News
(Photographs and video by Bela Varadi for the Travellers' Times)
