A beautiful clear morning greeted us as we headed out from Llanfrynach for the short run into Brecon to visit Llanfaes Community Primary School.

The doors of the hall were open and we could hear the children of the school singing as we ran into the playground - the singing was soon replaced by cheering as the international team ran in to the hall carrying a flaming torch. Once the children had played one of our favourite games - guessing the nationality of each runner in the team - we sang them the World Harmony run song and invited them out to join us for a run on the school field.

Llanfaes is blessed with a wonderful group of children who really embraced the World Harmony Run by joining in enthusiastically both in the running and in making a wish for world harmony as they each held the torch for a few seconds.

The weather was very kind to us today, and it was both mild and dry as we climbed up into the Brecon Beacons.

The gradual ascent of some 1000 feet to Storey Arms took us past waterfalls, crags and rugged hillsides.

We received lots of encouragement from the passing motorists, and somewhat bemused looks from the sheep.

After Storey Arms the road ran downhill for several miles, so we made good time into Merthyr Tydfil, allowing us a rare luxury: we were able to stop and have lunch!

Suitably refreshed, we ran up another steep hill on the outskirts of Merthyr which took us to our second school of the day, Ysgol Santes Tudful.

Here we were joined by hundreds of enthusiastic new Harmony Runners who ran laps of the field alongside the school accompanied by members of the international team.

Ysgol Santes Tudful is a school that really values sport and fitness, and the pupils here have to be some of the fittest and healthiest we have met in all our months of running across Europe.

They are also some of the fastest, and have a hallway full of trophies won in local cross country championships.

Each young runner from the school received a World Harmony Run medal for their efforts, and the school kindly presented us with two gifts to carry with us on our journey - an Ysgol Santes Tudful shirt and a plate commemorating Richard Trevithick, the pioneer of steam-powered transport and a famous son of Merthyr Tydfil.

From Merthyr our route continued southwards through the beautiful valley of the River Taff and into Cardiff.

Welcoming us into the Welsh capital was the Lord Mayor, Councillor Gareth Neale, who met us on the steps of the Temple of Peace and Health in Cathays Park. Councillor Neale was generous in his praise of the World Harmony Run team, but being a marathon runner himself he knows all about the efforts the team are making each day on the run.

Cardiff is a truly diverse community with many faiths and races living successfully together in the city. Representatives of three major faiths - Islam, Judaism and Christianity - came to the temple to welcome the runners and to speak about the significance world harmony, before wishing the runners well on the remainder of their journey. At the end, members of famous music group Shindu performed a few songs before joining with the Harmony runners to sing the Harmony run song in both English and Welsh.

As a grand finale to this touching evening the Harmony Run presented the Temple of Peace with a lectern bearing the plaque shown below with an aphorism from the founder of the Harmony Run, Sri Chinmoy.

Team Members:
Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Andrea Fidrmuc (Slovakia), Abichal Watkins (Wales), Marc Schrader (Germany), Jirka Albrecht (Czech Republic), Fran Chamberlain (Wales), Amelia Lloyd (England), Natalie Lehonkova (Ukraine), Charana John Evans (Wales), Roger Chamberlain (Wales), Edi Brodtrager (Austria), Bakul Keaney (Ireland), Erika Pongracz (Hungary), Angela Muhls (Germany), Suswara Martin Payne (England), Zuzana Tobolkova (Czech Republic).

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