Saturday - heading to the Yorkshire dales. No schools. No special visits. Just running. A mist covered the dales in the early morning, rendering much of the scenery invisible.

As it lifted, the reality became clear. Surely this must be some of the most beautiful scenery in all of England.

"This is heaven on Earth!" said Devashishu from the car. As one of the organisers, he has been to this region before, but he still gasped when reminded of the outstanding scenery on the narrow roads through Yorkshire.

Roman fort...

The stone walls, built along the the roads, remain sturdy after many, many years, without the aid of concrete. This is the leftover of the Hadrian's wall.

Running uphill, with the Sun shining down on them, in God's own country (Yorkshire)

The hills were indeed challenging.

We stopped (many times) to admire the scenery from on high. 

Noivedya, from Australia, has seen some long stretches of desolate land in his travels. He never expected to see any in Britain, however. For all the good roads, this is an area that seems nearly untouched by cars.

But occasionally, there were signs of civilisation.

Despite the wondrous peace of running along the quiet roads, it was good to meet other people again, in the villages along the way.

At times, we found ourselves having impromptu ceremonies with the locals.

At one stage, one team found themselves couldn't believe their luck: they were running past a Lotus car rally. Didn't James Bond drive one of these?

Sandro had the honour of spending time in the driver's seat (though he probably didn't think it was quite as good as a Ferrari).

Still, running remains the coolest way to travel!

Well, maybe...

For Abhejali, nothing could spoil the tranquility of running through this region.

Except for a fall, perhaps.

Fortunately, this wasn't an official part of the course.

It's a popular region for motorcyclists, who also enjoy the beauty. The narrow roads seem designed just for them.

On our route, we went through the market town of Barnard Castle.

This is worth visiting for The Bowes Museum, a 19th-century chateau and treasure house, with some of the finest pieces of fine and decorative arts in the land.

Some flat roads for Mladen - a welcome respite from those steep climbs.

In this simple, uncomplicated day, we even had time to notice the native fauna, however small it was.

Deeptaksha practised his flute.

Grateful for the musical interlude, everyone else enjoyed their lunch.

Playtime on the river.

Head over heels with joy......

Another river to enoy... Vladimir, our Russian runner, is almost as agile as Russian figure skating star Pluscenko...

One more fall today, this time captured in different phases by Apaguha.

Words can't describe how nice this region is .....

Onward to the small town of Hawes, the region of Wensleydale cheese and James Herriot, where we stay tonight.

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Video Message from Davidson Hepburn, President (2009 - 2011) of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for 25th Anniversary of the World Harmony Run and a vision for the decade: "Toward a Oneness-World".

Full Text of the 25th annversary message and link to 25 language informal Translations: http://www.worldharmonyrun.org/25

or Click on language button for separate youtube videos wth sub titles in varous languages

See also:

• Youtube video on African experience which illustrates IYY slogan "Our Year Our Voice" International Year of Youth - Zambia World Harmony. They surprisingly mention Presidents and UN Secretary-General in a unique way!

• Listen to the World-Harmony-Run song: 2 min version // 6 min

– Noivedya

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Distance: 95 km

Team Members:
Apaguha Vesely (Czech Republic), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Mladen Vujaklija (Croatia), Sumahat Strohn (Germany), Noivedya Juddery (Australia), Andre Carvalho Ribeiro (Portugal), Petar Mihaylov (Bulgaria), Abhejali Bernardova (Czech Republic), Satyamurti Miotello (Italy), Vladimir Ilyasov (Russian Federation), Laszlo Szente (Hungary), Karolina Hausenblasova (Czech Republic), Simon Hausenblas (Czech Republic), Balavan Thomas (England), Devashishu Torpy (England)

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

Gallery: See more images!

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