Another early start for the team from the Temple of Peace in the centre of Cardiff at 8am. There was quite a tight schedule to stick to, so we moved swiftly on to the Senedd or National Assembly of Wales.

There we were met by the presiding officer Lord Daffydd Elis-Thomas.

He expressed his wish to meet the run on the road next year out of a genuine interest to cover some miles with us. He then directed us to a guided tour by the Chief of Staff, Mr Richard Jones who took us on a fascinating tour of the assembly building. It is a truly amazing construction.

This gave us lots of questions for our much-anticipated meeting with the First Minister of Wales, the Right Honourable Rhodri Morgan.

We were very interested to meet the First Minister because we heard a lot about the innovative educational reforms implemented in Wales and was intrigued to find out about their progress. However the Right Honourable Rhodri Morgan was more engaged in his interest of our project and announced to us that he had once run a marathon in 3hr 1min!

We were greatly touched and honoured by the First Minister’s sincere interest in what we were trying to achieve which was reinforced by his warm and direct contact with each member of the team.

As we surveyed our surroundings, we found that amazing architecture of the Senedd was in astounding company as we noticed first the Opera House and then the contrasting style of the Town Hall.

The next school then beckoned, Mount Stewart Primary, and we ran to visit this school which had recently been visited by the Queen. We found this school more multicultural than our team! Hence the language game that we normally played was not much of a problem for these children.

Dianne Channon, one of our local coordinators, started off the torch passing to a pupil from Mount Stewart Primary,

Radnor Road Primary School was our next destination where the children are taught in both Welsh and English. I’m sure our weak effort at the Welsh version of our song gave them some entertainment if nothing else.

Our final engagement in Cardiff was with a certain branch of a famous chain of running shops called Run & Become. Located on Wood St in the heart of Cardiff, we had a chance to replenish there any road weary running gear with help from knowledgeable and patient staff. So bright was the light in Cardiff this afternoon that a colour photo would not have shown Roger and Fran Chamberlains' faces. We hope this "X-ray" picture does justice to our stalwart coordinators!

We then made our farewells to the country of the Red Dragon (Wales) as we wended our way to the neighbouring land of tea-drinkers (England) by way of Newport and finishing in Bristol, all the while bearing our flaming torch endowed with the wishes of hundreds more Welsh souls.

So we crossed into England across the Severn bridge, which spans the gap from one side of the Severn Estuary to the other, connecting Wales and England.

As I glanced back over my shoulder, the lengthy bridge disappeared into the afternoon haze, but the memories of Welsh kindness and hospitality were still very clear!

We would like to thank our magnanimous hosts and coordinators - Charana and Prabhavati Evans, alongside Fran and Roger Chamberlain. Thanks also to Bijon Chaudhari and Sanjaya Spettigue for their sterling filmwork and photography.

We also apologize for the decreased quality of the pictures, as Ondrej's digital SLR camera broke down a few days ago, and now we are depending on small pocket cameras!

Distance: 96km

Team Members:
Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Andrea Fidrmuc (Slovakia), Abichal Watkins (Wales), Marc Schrader (Germany), Jirka Albrecht (Czech Republic), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Charana John Evans (Wales), Prabhavati Evans (Wales), Roger Chamberlain (Wales), Edi Brodtrager (Austria), Erika Pongracz (Hungary), Angela Muhls (Germany), Zuzana Tobolkova (Czech Republic), Sanjaya Spettigue (England), Dianne Channon (Wales).

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