May 2026 – part 2 (16th to 31st)
Now on Saturday (16th), Nicki, Amy and Tom drove up in the evening to stay with Lucy, in readiness to watch her run her first official half-marathon on the Sunday morning, running to raise funds for the Red Cross, and so the following morning we were all up and out by 7am to catch a tube across London, with at least a half hours walk at the other end to reach Hackney Marshes where Lucy could start her final preparations before her allocated start time at around 9.45am.
Amy, Tom and I had planned to catch her at mile 9, and again further along, which was exciting, and we also caught a glimpse of her at around the mile 13 point, just ahead of the finish line. Her time was a PB of 2 hrs, 16+ mins – an excellent result for her.
Once her run was complete, we all met up at the Red Cross stand, where Lucy was treated to a much needed massage and a bit of downtime, and then she was ready for her next activity of the day! This one was less taxing though, meeting up with her friends for post-run drinks followed by a concert. Does she never stop!! At this point, Amy, Tom and Nicki returned to Lucy’s flat (having themselves walked around 8 miles throughout the day), and after a brief rest, Amy and Tom left to head back to Southampton, leaving Nicki to chill for the evening and await Lucy’s return.
The penultimate day of Nicki’s UK visit was less exhausting – Lucy had arranged for them both to see an IMAX screening of Project Hail Mary in the afternoon, and a stage production of Warhorse in the evening, which were both excellent, and they thoroughly enjoyed.
Finally on 19th Nicki was going home, taking a train from London to Heathrow, a flight back to Schiphol and train for the final leg of the journey to Groningen. It was close to midnight when Nicki finally arrived at the rail station, much to Pip’s utter delight – she loves going to rail or bus stations as either she’s going on a ride or, even better, someone arrives that she hasn’t seen for a while – Casper is probably equally enthusiastic in his head, but can’t be bothered to show it!
With Lucy joining us just a few days after Nicki’s return, whilst Nicki was in the air I moved the boat back into the centre of Groningen to make it easier for both her return and also for Lucy’s visit, easily finding a nice mooring on the main canal. Strangely, just as I left the boat to meet Nicki at the train station, I was treated to a singing procession walking along the opposite side of the quay – very probably a religious festival since this seemed to be the start of the Whitsun period (aka Tweede Pinksterdag).
So, our little troop was all back together once again, and we then had to wait a couple more days in Groningen before Lucy turned up, having taken the Eurostar from London to Schiphol, followed by a train ride into Groningen. Once again, Pip was beyond herself with joy at yet another family member’s arrival, and Casper was quietly thrilled too, just in his own way understated way.
Besides coming over to see the dogs first and us second, now that she’s into her running Lucy has also started a Park Run Alphabet challenge, where runners attempt to run at a park somewhere in the world beginning with each letter of the alphabet, and she had located one in the Netherlands which started with a Z and which happened to be relatively close to our mooring – the town itself was Hoogeveen, and the park, Zuiderparc, is one of only a handful that starts with a Z. So we all set off to the park to watch her run (with Pip in tow for part of the way), after which we wandered into the town centre for a brief drink.
After a mere four days with us, it was time for Lucy to return home, and having walked her to the train station, we motored out of the town centre to a nice little mooring along the Reitdiep next to Zernickebrug. We stayed there for four nights, returning to Groningen to stay for just a couple more days, mooring more or less in the same spot as before.
Once firmly installed again, we were happy to be in touch with Howard and Deb (of Moondance) who were also arriving in Groningen, and arranged a get together with them on Shensi the following day, when we spent several happy hours into the evening catching up, drinking and eating. The next day turned out to be the town’s first Marathon run which, amazingly, passed alongside Shensi! We spent much of the day watching and encouraging the runners as they raced past, until Jodi and Eric (of Ria, based at Reitdiephaven) called round with wine and nibbles to join us later on, and another few hours of pleasant company was spent on the stern deck, and that was how we saw in the end of May 2026.
