Marina’d

We don’t generally do marinas, but we quite like Pillings Lock Marina as a temporary stopgap when we’ve things to do in the Soar Navigation area.
We came in on Friday morning, slotting into a space on the dedicated visitor moorings. We’ve got a gap either side of us, so we’re not peering at another boat when we open the curtains.

Coming in to Pillings Lock Marina.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. On Thursday we stayed put at Barrow, a fine day after early mist. I took Meg out first thing and got these photos…..

The sun starts to show through the mist….

Geese on the water….

……And ducks flying along the river.

Moored at Meadow Farm Marina, this chap’s just lit his fire.

The sun just breaking through, turning the silver grey to green.

There’s that tree again.

Reflections of autumn.

Cobweb morning….

We just pottered about for the rest of the day, enjoying the sunshine.

Friday, as I’ve said, we moved downstream through Barrow Deep Lock and Pillings Flood Lock, now in use for the “rainy” season, and moored in the marina. I collected a car from Enterprise in Loughborough, taking advantage of the “We’ll pick you up” offer, and did a bit of shopping on the way back.

It was nice to wake up at 06:30 on Sunday, with the sun just brightening the sky. We were on the road at 07:45, and an hour and 15 minutes saw us parked up in Worksop. The half-marathon here is a small event compared to the “Great Runs”, but for all that it’s well organised and the route takes the runners out of the town and through Clumber Park before returning. At this time of year it’s a beautiful run, with the trees in a variety of autumn shades. Sorry, too busy for photographs though.

I’d entered this race as an afterthought, being a bit disappointed with my Great North Run performance. I’ve not run it since 2006, and as such had limited memories of the course. I’d forgotten it was so hilly! The write-up calls it “undulating”. Undulating hills, I reckon. Anyway, I usually get wound up the few days before a race.  Silly, I know. It’s not as if I can compete with the big boys. But this time I stayed relaxed and unstressed, intending just to enjoy myself. And that’s just what I did. The bonus was that I also got a satisfactory time, a Personal Best for this course, coming in 860 something out of 2000 starters. So I can now pack away my running gear till after Christmas, when I’ll start training for next year’s events. I’ve already entered the Manchester 10K (in May) and I‘m waiting for the entries to open for Great North Run.

We did a bit of shopping today before I took the car back. Tomorrow we head out onto the river/canal again, heading towards Birstall. Meg is due for her annual boosters and check-up, so I’ll take her to Borrajo’s in  the village. Then we’ll turn around, aiming to be around Mountsorrel next Friday.

Locks 2, miles 1½