Today was a quiet day in contrast to the frantic schedule of appointments we had yesterday; a time to regroup, to get in some wonderful running along the undulating green hills of County Down, to reflect on the wonderful Harmony Run experiences we have had in Ireland.

We had only one appointment today, a reception at Belfast City Hall, so we set out at a workmanlike pace in order to get there on time. People had obviously heard about us, they beeped their car horns in support as the Harmony Run vans passed by. Some of the runners had nice little experiences on the road. Across the border, Franz could not pay for chocolate in euros and had left the shop when the lady at the till ran after him and offered it as a gift. Another elderly lady had seen Colm in the last town, so she drove her car out to him, parked it, and started running alongside him.

We ran the last kilometre as a group into Belfast City Centre. There we were taken into the beautiful City Hall and served tea in delicate little china cups while we waited for the Lord Mayor, Jim Ekin. He turns out to have been quite a formidable ultrarunner himself, participating in over 50 marathons (with a best time of 2:49) and relating to us how he ran the 56 mile Comrades Marathon in South Africa at a time when it was the only allowed multi-racial event.

We all had a good laugh when Shane, in telling him about some of the people who we had met so far in Ireland, accredited to Richard Donovan the feat of being the first person to run a marathon at the North and South Poles simultaneously!

After we took our leave we went straight to the youth hostel for an early night - we have to be at the ferry port at 6 a.m. tomorrow to catch the boat to Scotland.

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Distance: 110km

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