London 2012: Torch relay heading for 1,000 places

The London 2012 Olympic torch will fly by zip wire from the Tyne Bridge, ascend Snowdon by rail and cross Loch Ness during its journey around the UK. The relay will visit UK landmarks like the Giant's Causeway and Stonehenge. London Games organisers Locog have set out the 1,018 places the torch will pass through when it is carried around the UK from 19 May to 27 July 2012. On the last day of the 70-day relay it will travel down the River Thames to Olympic Park for the opening ceremony. During the 10-week relay, the torch will be carried by 8,000 torchbearers and will travel about 8,000 miles. Locog say the torch will come within 10 miles of 95% of the population. It will go through every English county and every local authority area in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The scope of the route reaches from Lerwick, in the Shetland Islands to St Helier, Jersey, as far east as Lowestoft, Suffolk to Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. While the communities and landmarks the torch will visit have been set out, the street-by-street detail of the route will not be confirmed until later in 2012. London 2012 Chairman Lord Coe explains what happens if the torch goes out Locog chair Sebastian Coe said the relay would take the 2012 Games to almost every corner of the UK, saying: "Now everyone is invited to plan their welcome and find out where they can go to be part of this historic occasion," he said. He added on the BBC: "We originally started out by saying 95% of the population would be within an hour's journey of the route - we now have that as within 10 miles. We've got to get the torch to as many communities as possible. "Fifty per cent of the torchbearers will be aged between 12 and 24. We are going to focus on young people, it is a young people's torch." The flame, in the torch or Olympic lanterns, will also be transported by more novel methods including boat, bicycle, tram and train.