Today we restarted the Run after the Pentecost weekend, which we used to rest and recharge our inner batteries. We started off in Luxembourg, one of the smallest countries in Europe, but definitely worth visiting. The green and lush scenery with its rolling hills and grassy fields delighted our eyes and hearts the entire day. Running in these surroundings and with this fabulous weather is indeed a great joy.

Our first stop of the day was at the town of Mersch, where a small group of children and their caretakers were waiting for us and ran with us for one kilometre.

From Mersch we traversed towards another picturesque town, Buschdorf, where we were treated to refreshments and a short, refreshing run with the village hosts afterwards.

We then crossed the border with Belgium and headed towards Bastogne (famous to some for its delicious cookies), where a group of children ran with us into the town. At the city hall, a city representative received us.

In the meantime, two of our faster runners crossed the distance towards St. Hubert, some 30 kilometres ahead, where we were to be greeted by an elementary school. We only had 75 minutes to cover these 30 kilometres, but due to an all-out well-coordinated team effort we made it in time, not forgetting to enjoy the breathtaking scenery on the way there.

Some of us felt they had deserved some hard-earned rest.

When we reached the Institute St. Hubert, to our delight the entire elementary school had come out: 300 smiling children.

They sang us a cute and dynamic song about togetherness and in turn we did our humble presentation for them and passed around the torch.

Their eager hands were glad both to hold it...

...and to run with it!

After a final group picture with the children...

...and the teachers...

...it was time to leave and move on to our final destination: the monastery of Chevetogne.

We had been here two years ago and were indeed very happy to be back! The monastery is located in a stunningly beautiful area and is a haven of inner peace and harmony. The monks received us with tremendous hospitality and generosity. This monastery is special because it strives to embrace all different branches of Christianity. Therefore they have two churches: a traditional Byzantine church and a Latin (Roman Catholic) church. The monks may choose the church they wish to follow, so there are two groups, but they still live together as one community - a wonderful example of harmony in diversity.

We attended both the Byzantine and the Latin services and felt completely harmonious at the end of the day.

– Abhinabha

Distance: 130 km

Team Members:
Dipavajan Renner (Austria), David Mouton (France), Csaba Kavai (Hungary), Namitabha Arsic (Serbia), Darya Soboleva (Russia), Ksenia Soboleva (Russia), Abhinabha Tangerman (Netherlands), Anita Borics (Hungary), Sabine Meyer (Belgium), Stephanie Thys (Luxembourg), Peter Zuidema (Netherlands)

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