Firstly a caveat - I have no particular financial knowledge or qualifications, just an opinion, however....
Don't panic!
30 isn't middle aged, so don't get into a hunkering down mindset. You've got plenty of time to do things with your life.
Despite the fact that there are loads of "experts" out there who tell you that you need to be salting away vast amounts of money into your pension, I don't believe it. I have pretty much zero confidence in financial markets and the ability of pensions providers to act in my best interest or protect the value of my savings.
That said, if you've had a pension since 19 and it has been an essentially painless way for you to save then carry on with that as it's good to spread your risks. My wife is a teacher and has a very good occupational pension, but as we've seen lately even a pension like that is not the "safe" haven that people thought they had been buying into over the years (20 years in my wife's case).
In your position I'd be paying off the loan.
Then I'd be building up a war chest of easily available money - just in case. 6 months salary sounds like a handy amount to have around, which I'd personally invest in premium bonds so I can have a bit of fun with the chance of getting a good return on my money + no chance of losing it.
You might also want to adjust your mindset to how life might actually be in 30-40 years, because it won't be like it is now. My opinion is that global issues such as climate change, resource depletion, population growth, economic meltdown etc are going to totally transform the outlook, so at the least I'd be thinking about how to cut down my reliance on world energy markets - so invest in making your house energy efficient (which may require you buying a house!) - may cost 000's but insulating you from risk. In fact think about how/where you want to live and whether you might need real money to be able to afford to move house in the future without building up more debts.
You might also turn your mind to whether you are really going to retire on that pension you are building up. I don't think I will be, but I'm not really bothered about that - I've got lots of skills that I'm hoping to use to keep working so long as I'm physically able, just in a reducing amount - I don't ever want to "retire"
I've also gone a bit further than many people in the "survivalist" mode - I've an allotment and I grow food, and I'm hoping at some point to move onto a smallholding with utility woodland to hand for fuel. I'm also actively involved in some community groups as I believe that "social capital" is going to become increasingly important as financial capital becomes less important. Work on building up strong relationships, not just strong finances.
If you have kids at some point in the future (if you've not got them already?) you may find that that £500 doesn't go that far.
I expect you've enough to be going on with there for the next few years, but if not I also quite like moneysavingexpert.com as a good place to look for ideas.
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No willies being waved here. I'm just saying that £860 a month is far from a "massive" mortgage.
