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back on the road

After what feels like weeks of packing the van... making mosquito nets... checking all the cutlery, plates...pans etc etc etc- we have hit the road for a Grand Tour of Europe. (Avoiding fires)

But before we get the ferry from Portsmouth we are having a lovely couple of days catching up with old friends.   First, a really nice lunch in Derby and then a lovely evening meal sitting in the garden down in Woking.
Today we got the train from Woking to Waterloo and went up to the big smoke to look at the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy.  I love the eclectic mix of all the different mediums, skills, sizes, colors although I have to say I thought it was quite monochrome this year...
and there was nothing that grabbed me that said this is ''amazing''.  There was a lot of really nice interesting art though, and we had a very pleasant few hours wandering around trying to pick one that we liked best in each room.
The photos here are indicative of the ones that we liked best which to be honest were the most colorful ones.  The one I like most of all was The beetle color wheel by Jim Moir which is slightly irritating because I am really not a Jim Moir fan  he's just not for me.... but credit due I absolutely loved his beetles David Mach had quite a few pieces in the exhibition as well and in a previous year I was really taken by his Tunnock's tiger that he did with his brother- ( now in Stirling Art Gallery) but this year I thought his art was a bit too whimsical for me but I did like the coat hanger Arms. It vied for best in show with The Beetles...
London was very hot and once we had left the Academy building we just headed back for the train to Woking where we knew there would be a comfy garden to sit and a cup of tea.... and a bbq for tea...

A great start to an adventure....
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