Seyella's Journey

Just a quick update. We’re still at Gargrave, as planned. Mags has had her “MOT” and has been pronounced mechanically sound for another 12 months. In fact, the doctor said she’d never looked so well! Must be all the fresh air and running up and down locksides!

We’ve been visiting family and friends over in Ingleton, and been visited here as well. Picked up a car from Enterprise last Friday, and went to Howard’s going away do on Saturday. He left for his new home in Eire last night. It was busy, and Mags had a chance to catch up with people we hadn’t seen since leaving last August.

Then on Sunday we went down to Sheffield for the inaugural Great Yorkshire Run. I’d always intended to run a sub 45 minute 10k, and was disappointed to finish in 45:02 in Manchester in May. So I’d been training hard for this race. I had a good start and a reasonable middle, but the pace and the inclines took their toll and I struggled at the end. Crossed the line with gritted teeth in 44:43, but it felt harder than Manchester. Pleased, though. Placed 317th out of 4500, but I don’t think that qualifies me for Beijing.
The organisation was excellent, as expected from the organisers of the Great North Run and the rest of the Great Run series. They say they will certainly do it again next year. I’m sure the entry will be a lot higher as well, maybe finally rivalling the 20,000 or so at Manchester.

Went to our old friends Val and Johnny for lunch on Monday, and we are having them for a cruise down to Foulridge and back at the weekend. The weather looks promising, so it should be a good few days. I’ll knock off the training for the duration, so we can open a bottle (or 2)!

The rental car went back today, but it’s been useful. I mentioned earlier that I was keeping an eye on a suspect battery; well it was sick, dropping down to 10 volts when disconnected from the main bank. So I used the car to get a replacement, and to environmentally (at Settle recycling site) dispose of the old one.

So that’s it for the time being. Oh, I’ve run some wires down the back of the cabin linings, connected to a switch and the overhead lights, so Mags can turn on the lights without leaving her seat. The problem is, all the light switches run down the centre of the ceiling, and she couldn’t reach them, even on tiptoe.

We’re staying near Gargrave till the end of the month, and will use another hire car from Keighley to get to the Great North Run on the 30th.

PS Just noticed a comment from Mo and Vanessa on NB BALMAHA. Check out their blog at http://balmaha.blog.co.uk/