We said goodbye to Sheffield early in the morning. Thanks to the Holiday Inn Express for giving us an extra-special deal for the night.

Not far out of the bustling life of Sheffield, we were back to ye olde England countryside.

Happily, the roads were notably flatter than the hilly terrain that we had enjoyed so much over the past few days.

Our first strop was visiting the excited kids of historic Castle View Primary School in Matlock

Balavan, one of Britain's World Harmony Run organisers, has joined the Run for our entire England tenure. As one of the runners, he joins us in the "Which country are you from?" game - and as he's as English as Yorkshire pudding, he's the easiest one to guess.

While the other runners revel in the glamour of their home countries - the music of Italy, the sporting prowess of Serbia, the native beauty of Scotland, the indisputable charm of the Australian people (Noivedya, please stop being ridiculous! - website editor), Balavan talks of the simpler pleasures of England, of drinking tea, eating fish-and-chips, and watching the football. For all the greatness of England - Shakespeare, the Empire, Isaac Newton, the Beatles and of course Monty Python - the simple things in life are the best.

Castle View Primary School has a view of Riber Castle, former castle and location of wildlife centre, soon to be residential, but always wonderfully regal.

The Sun was still out in force, and the kids felt the glare... especially if they wore reflective blouses!

We presented the school with a Certificate of Appreciation for welcoming us to Matlock.

Horsley Primary School was a wonderful experience, in which students and teachers alike embraced the World Harmony Run with delight.

Vladimir once again performed his juggling skit - in which harmony is found in a juggling lesson.

Again, through the magic of World Harmony Run stamps, the kids could claim to have visited the whole world in a few minutes, without leaving the school oval.

One boy hobbled from "continent" to "continent" on crutches - but was so fast that our cameras could hardly keep up with him. If you are determined to get all the stamps, nothing will stop you!

We presented the wonderful staff with our Certificate of Appreciation.

Sadly, no ceremony was planned for Nottingham. It was too late for schools, and we had much distance to cover. After all, we have all of Europe to run in a few months. Not far away, there were other destinations that we will have to miss - including Birmingham, Britain's second-largest city. The World Harmony Run has visited these places in the past, and will visit them again in the near future. But for now, we move closer to continental Europe...

Usually, the runners are given their directions on a map. This time, Noivedya was given very specific directions: "straight ahead". This was all well and good, but what he expected to be a simple country highway was instead the leafy suburbs of Nottingham. While it was great to be running through Robin Hood's home town, he had not been warned about this, and wandered around looking lost - until a lady noticed him. To where was he running? Strangely, he wasn't sure. We were staying in Oxford tonight, but that was off-route.

She invited him to her house, where her family took out their own maps - and discovered that, despite his concerns, he was actually going the right way! That was a relief. "I'm glad we could bring some harmony into your life," said her husband, with a smile.

The team took a wrong turn - and this time, it really WAS a wrong turn - in the village of Keyworth, about eight miles south of Nottingham. This time, these good people came to our rescue. One of the great things about the World Harmony Run: meeting helpful and friendly people! As Balavan could tell you, the simple pleasures of life are often the best...

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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: 134 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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