Our journey began today at Brecon Fire Station, where we had stayed overnight. We had been hoping to slide down a pole and leap into the vans in true firefighter style, but when it came to it we just took the stairs. Not a typical fire station, as you can see! :-)

On our way out of Carmarthen we called in at the headquarters of Carmarthenshire County Council, where a delegation of councillors headed by Meryl Gravell came out on to the steps to receive the torch and join us for the first few yards as we headed eastwards towards Llanarthne.

The council members each took the torch in turn for a few moments to offer their thoughts and prayers for World Harmony.

After leaving Carmarthen our next port of call was the National Botanic Gardens of Wales.

We were met by the director Ray Butt and the chairman of Carmarthenshire County Council, Councillor Roy Llewellyn.

To mark the occasion of the World Harmony Run coming to the gardens for the first time, Councillor Llewellyn planted an olive tree dedicated to the ideal of world harmony. We all hope to come back on one of our future international relays and see the tree flourishing - just like this one.

It immediately began to attract attention as visitors gathered to see the new addition to the garden.

Although the Botanic Gardens are beautiful throughout,

the most eye-catching feature has to be the Glasshouse - a huge dome built into the landscape which houses flora from every corner of the world. Although it was early Autumn outside, the season within the glasshouse was two months ahead of us.

The milder conditions on the outside were perfect, though, for our next event - a fun run around the gardens taking in a circuit around the Glasshouse and a lap (or two for the fittest participants) of the lakeside paths around the garden.

Taking part in the quarter mile run around the Glasshouse were a fantastic group of children from Caerphilly. They were full of enthusiasm as they set off, and thrilled at the finish to receive their World Harmony run medal, presented in person by Councillor Llewellyn. The one mile and two mile courses were run by pupils from Amman Valley school.

He then went on to honour all the Harmony Run team and other helpers and organisers of the fun run with medals too. Abichal Watkins(right) waited in trepidation as none went home undecorated!

As well as an impressive collection of plants from all over the world,

the National Botanic Garden has an impressive menu at its restaurant, and kindly gave the runners a wonderful feast before they set off towards Llandovery. Hills, forests, rainbows and ruined castles were all in view as the road to Brecon unwound before us.

This changeable Autumn weather brings its challenges, with runners struggling to find dry clothes and shoes every day to continue the run, but the wonderful light and the clear rain-washed air are a great reward for enduring the storms.

The day ended with our arrival at the Cantref bunkhouse near Llanfrynach, with the sun setting over the hills of the Carmarthen Fan and the moon rising over the Black Mountains as we settled down to our evening meal and went over the plans for the next two days - a journey southwards through the hills to Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, then eastwards over the border to England, the last of the 48 countries we are passing through on this eight month odyssey.

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Distance: 75km

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), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Charana John Evans (Wales), Prabhavati Evans (Wales), Bijon Chaudhuri (England), Rebecca Xerri (Wales), Roger Chamberlain (Wales), Edi Brodtrager (Austria), Bakul Keaney (Ireland), Erika Pongracz (Hungary), Angela Muhls (Germany), Zuzana Tobolkova (Czech Republic).

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

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