Shoreditch In The Sun

10th September 2020

After deciding not to go up the evening before, I drove to Oli's and picked him up from his house in the small hamlet of Saint Michaels. The drive to the station itself was worthy of note, while we chatted away I had one eye on the fuel gauge which was worryingly empty. Several sweat inducing stressful miles later we got to the station with the car thoroughly empty, though I figured there should be enough to get us to the garage a mile or two down the road.

The time on our watches read 11:49. The train was due at 11:50. As a result we hit the gas and sprinted the last leg and just got there in time. As we gasped for oxygen through our masks we realised we needed to get tickets. I'd noticed the machine wasn't working so we had a valid excuse and after speaking with two kind conductors, we were assured that we could buy tickets at the station when we got there.

It was on arrival at the station where we got shafted by the ticket man. The reasonable £11.40 return ticket I was expecting to pay for suddenly became a £17.80 single to Staplehurst (I must note it was my decision to go for the single but I can't fathom how a single could cost more than £6 more than a return?!).

After we had been robbed blind by Southeastern Rail we left the station into a pleasantly cool and sunny London Bridge.

Some of the interestingly designed buildings around the London Bridge area

We had long wanted to come to London again to go and photograph the graffiti and street art in Shoreditch. As a result we loaded up the route on google maps and headed off towards our arty destination. Over the last few weeks I have had the privilege of exploring parts of London that I haven't been to before and this trip was not to disappoint. It truly showed the benefit of going by foot as we came across so many lovely little independent shops and businesses and, although they weren't the cheapest of places, they were definitely worth a trip should you have the money to do so as the sights and smells are not to be missed.

After what must have been about 20 minutes walking we came across what looked like (and subsequently turned out be) a market. Spitalfields Market to be precise. This was one of the finds of the day as it was a bustling, sprawling market overflowing with scents and stalls selling food and jewellery and artwork from all over the world. Within a 20 metre radius we could have easily eaten our way around a large part of the globe! From pulled pork to giant thin crust pizza and gorgeous greek flat breads, Spitalfields has it all and is a brilliant buying opportunity.

Despite this, and for a reason I can't actually figure out, we elected an American diner for our lunch stop, though I was sorely tempted by the pulled pork or a greek flatbread. One highly saturated chicken and bacon burger later we paid and carried on our trip towards Shoreditch, marvelling at the contrast and visual pleasure of the architecture this particular area of London was bringing us.

An example of one of the streets that caught my eye due to the architecture

Having gone the wrong way a couple times we finally got back on track and got to the area of Shoreditch which did not disappoint.

This is definitely one of my favourite streets in Shoreditch simply because these colourful shop fronts house some really nice little independent businesses from bakeries to clothes shops, theres a really nice and surprising range

We wandered round the area near this street until we had had our fill at which point we decided to head back towards London Bridge. It was on our way back that we found exactly what we were looking for, a tiny street filled with cuisines from all around the world and one tiny, initially grotty, corner that was covered in street art and graffiti. At this point we stopped and we went to town with the camera.

Oli admiring the intense colours on display in this 'initially grotty' corner of London

Me taking a sit down when my feet got tired, and again the colours of the graffiti are eye catching

To finish up, I would highly recommend catching the train to London Bridge and then walking to Shoreditch from there, it is a truly worhtwhile walk.