Morning at the youth hostel in Norrköping: cloudy greyish blue skies, morning dew on fresh green lawns, the singing of birds, Swedish breakfast.

Slowly people awake from their slumber, open their windows and greet the skies with a great big yawn and a stretch, awakening to the purity, beauty, freshness and serenity which a September morning in Norrköping brings.

A great morning awaits us again. We run to meet a multicultural assembly of school-children. Sweden, Bangladesh, Thailand, Bosnia, Macedonia…

All gathered together on the schoolyard. To be sure they all have friends in other countries and are very receptive to our message.

The teachers are completely attuned to the idea of the run as well. As the children are lined up waiting to hold the torch and pass it along, one of the teachers tells them to really reflect on what friendship and harmony means to them and holding her heart comments, “Isn’t it a good feeling.” In general we’ve observed that many of the teachers we’ve met in Sweden seem to put a lot of emphasis on oneness, kindness and cooperation in their instruction, which is exemplary. Hats off to you!

We take the children for a large and very enjoyable loop around the quarters. We’re not in a hurry luckily, and so have some more time to spend with the kids and let them ask us questions, which is a treat, for everyone in our team loves children.

Then we run. Hardly surprising, to be sure. More surprising is that we manage to get lost quite a bit (honestly, that is surprising :) ). The consequences fall hardest on Laslo from Hungary, in the form of 5 extra kilometres. It’s not easy, though, as our map is not very detailed. We also have to make a detour around some road work, but in this case we are skilful enough not to get lost :). However, as we’re driving into what turns out to be a dead end, a military base in fact, we catch the eye of a pair of reporters who make an extemporaneous interview and take some pictures. Serendipity!

The picture-perfect rural landscapes have this mythical and mysterious Nordic air to them. Towards evening cotton-fields, mostly harvested, stand completely still where they are. Deep dark pine forests shield off the horizon. The sky is breathtaking. A bright, dazzling star is the sun behind a thin silk of cloud, which is its throne. Beneath layers of clouds arrange into a glorious heaven. Rays of sun fall like waterfalls from one cloud to the next, which become slightly illumined in shades of yellow, pink, light blue and purple. Due to different kinds of slits in the cloud cover, the rays of the sun manifest themselves in countless beautiful ways, as beams, rivers, bubbles… Only the sky above the tree lines is revealed and it is richly golden. Across the imagination passes pictures of fairy-tale creatures such as trolls, gnomes and elves living their life in this magical countryside.

Camping grounds in the fresh living nature of Ödeshög serve as our lodgings for the night. Yesterday our Swedish coordinator Moa cooked up a delicious meal, and tonight it was time for our charming Austrian, Martin, to show his skills in the kitchen and he passed with high honours.

Autumn is coming, there’s no denying it. It’s getting darker. It started getting dimmer already past eight o’clock and now at the time of writing, ten o’clock it is pitch dark…

Distance: 141km

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