Today marks the halfway point of the 70-day Olympic Torch relay through the United Kingdom. Since arriving in Cornwall on May 18, the flame has been carried through villages and cities, across lakes and mountain ranges, on foot, by train, on horseback, and through the air, from Cornwall to the Shetland Islands. By the time it reaches London to launch the 2012 Summer Olympics in 35 days, the torch will have passed through the hands of 8,000 torchbearers.
The 2012 Olympic Flame: Halfway to London
-
Torchbearer Peter Jack holds the Olympic Flame aloft on the Giant's Causeway, County Antrim on day 17 of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay on June 4, 2012 near Belfast, Northern Ireland. #
LOCOG via Getty Images -
-
Actress Ino Menegaki, dressed as a high priestess, lights the torch at a ceremony in Panathinean stadium in Athens, Greece, on May 17, 2012. The torch began its 70-day journey to arrive at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, from the Greek capital, to cover about 8,000-mile trip through England to start the games. #
AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris -
Metropolitan Police Inspector Andy Marriner sits with the Olympic flame, secured in seats 1A and 1B for the flight to the UK, on board a British Airways jet in Athens, Greece, on May 18, 2012. #
Reuters/Chris Radburn/LOCOG -
British soccer player David Beckham lights the Olympic torch from the lantern carried on board a special British Airways flight, following its arrival at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose in Cornwall, on May 18, 2012. #
AP Photo/Alastair Grant -
British television presenter Ben Fogle rises up, attached to a helium filled balloon, while holding the Olympic flame inside the rainforest biodome at the Eden Project, a massive multiple greenhouse complex near St. Austell, England, on May 19, 2012. #
AP Photo/Alastair Grant -
Blaire Hannan, a competitive sailor and member of the British Paralympic Transition Squad, lights the cauldron at the end of Day 4 in Bath during the Olympic Torch Relay, on May 22, 2012. #
AP Photo/Yui Mok/LOCOG -
-
Zara Phillips, member of the British Olympic equestrian eventing team, and the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, holds the Olympic torch while riding through Cheltenham race course in Cheltenham, on May 23, 2012. #
Reuters/Kieran Doherty -
Joanne Gregory, a Scout leader from Llangollen, travels across the thousand-foot-long Pontcysyllte Aqueduct with the Olympic Flame during the Torch Relay leg between Wrexham and Trevor, on May 30, 2012. #
AP Photo/Gareth Fuller/LOCOG -
Torchbearer John Bishop carries the Olympic Flame down from the top of one of several huge radio telescopes at the Jodrell Bank Observatory on May 31, 2012 in Jodrell Bank, England. #
LOCOG via Getty Images -
-
Davie Austin, an employee of the Nevis Range, carrys the Olympic Flame on a gondola on the Nevis Range, a mountain ski resort in the the Highlands of Scotland near Ben Nevis and Fort William, on June 9, 2012. #
AP Photo/Danny Lawson/PA Wire -
-
Torch bearer Mathew Cox and the Jarl vikings in Lerwick in the Shetland Islands, Scotland, on June 10, 2012. The Jarl vikings provided an honor guard during the torch relay on the islands. #
Reuters/David Moir -
Katherine Milne holds the Olympic Flame next to the historic bridge of Carrbridge (built in 1717), during the torch relay between Aviemore and Carrbridge, on June 11, 2012. #
AP Photo/Danny Lawson/LOCOG -
-
The Tyne Bridge, illuminated, as the city of Newcastle prepares for the Olympic Torch Relay by displaying the Olympic rings on the famous landmark on June 13, 2012 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. #
Stu Forster/Getty Images -
-
Torchbearer Jamie Green, the Children's Patron at young people's mobility charity Whizz-Kidz, holds the Olympic Flame at Scarborough Open Air Theatre during Day 31 of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay. #
AP Photo/Ben Birchall/LOCOG -
Torchbearer David State stops midway through his Torch Relay leg between Marske-by-the-Sea and Loftus to propose to his girlfriend Christine Langham before continuing the relay, on June 18, 2012. Christine reportedly said "yes." #
AP Photo/Chris Radburn/LOCOG -
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.