We were well refreshed from our overnight stay in Bristol, having been given so much to eat and take away with us that the suspensions on both vans were tested to full capacity! We bounded off to meet the children of Hannah More Primary School - the first of three in our morning Bristol program.

Unfortunately we were on a tight schedule, so Mark, our Bristolian coordinator, could not spend as long as he would have liked in presenting the Run to a school and children with whom he was already familiar. Despite this, we were given much positive feeling and loud cheers by the enthused children as we rushed on up the hill to St George’s Church of England Primary School where we were received by really attentive group of 60-70 children who unusually matched our song with a far more intricate one of their own. Outside, murals depicted exactly the kind of spirit we value.

After running circles around our team in the playground with the torch the children sent us off to cries of ‘Harmony!’

Just as the first droplets of rain caused the torch to cough and splutter its discontent, we arrived at the doors of the last school in Bristol - St Michael’s on the Hill. A little behind schedule, we were ushered into the assembly room filled to the brim with a couple of hundred expectant faces tracking our every move. We soon broke the ice as we each stepped forward to speak in our own languages and the children had a chance to show us that geography was not their weak point. When everyone had added their wishes for harmony to the torch we attempted a simulated ‘round the world’ run in the playground and were saved from chaos by the level heads and experience of the teachers of each class!

Feeling that winter was following closely on our heels, we headed off down the rain washed cobbled streets to head on out of Bristol.

Our next stop was Bitton a town on the way to Chippenham, where we were welcomed by yet another enthusiastic School, Meadows Primary. There we met a very nice school director and many children! Ondrej, our European team leader, got to practise the skill of public speaking to an audience that surrounded us on all sides!

He soon had all the children’s rapt attention,

No small feat, and 20 minutes later we had a few hundred extra team members, all eager to run on with us to Swindon.

Our only goal now was to cover the running to a point in between Swindon and Oxford - a mere 80 km, to which Zuzana (left) and Hemabha made great contributions.

However we did have an interesting stop on the way into the town of Avesbury, where there are some ancient standing stones that pre-date the Roman period.

Their mystical power was somewhat tempered by the chilling persistant rain but photo opportunities are never lost!

We even met a lady from London who had run with Paula Radcliffe in her teens and who expressed a wish to run with us closer to London.

We continued on, even braving a ridge run that overlooked hillsides into which white horses are carved.

We finished at the junction of two roads, probably not too dissimilar from quite a few others in the rest of Europe, but I could not help but feel that after a day of this intensity, I would not forget this one in a hurry. Even Suswara Payne, one of our Bristol coordinators, found time to meet some of the local wildlife!

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Distance: 114km

Team Members:
Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Andrea Fidrmuc (Slovakia), Abichal Watkins (Wales), Marc Schrader (Germany), Jirka Albrecht (Czech Republic), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Edi Brodtrager (Austria), Erika Pongracz (Hungary), Angela Muhls (Germany), Zuzana Tobolkova (Czech Republic), Mark Rollasson (England), Balavan Thomas (England), Bakul Keaney (Ireland).

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

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