Today marks the end of the 70-day Olympic Torch relay through the United Kingdom, leading to the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. 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 central London. The torch has passed through the hands of more than 8,000 torchbearers on its 8,000 mile (12,800 km) journey. Be sure to also see first half of the journey. And stay tuned: as the Opening Ceremony takes place tonight, I'll be gathering photographs, which I will post tomorrow morning, Saturday, July 28.
The Olympic Flame Arrives in London
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A young girl squeezes between an honor guard of soldiers to get a glimpse of Johnson Beharry VC carrying the Olympic torch at the National War Memorial on Armed Forces Day on June 30, 2012 in Alrewas, Staffordshire. #
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Torchbearer 071 Lauren Reeder holds the Olympic Flame surrounded by local children on the running track at Lynnsport and Leisure Park, on July 4, 2012 in King's Lynn, England. #
LOCOG via Getty Images -
Richard Game passes the Olympic Flame to Caroline Emeny in front of the beach huts at Southwold during Day 48 of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay on July 5, 2012 in Southwold, England. #
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Sir Roger Bannister holds the Olympic Flame on the running track at Iffley Road Stadium in Oxford, England, on July 10, 2012. Bannister was the first person ever to run a sub-four-minute-mile, on May 6, 1954, at this track in Oxford. Bannister returned to the site of his greatest sporting achievement, to participate in this Olympic Torch relay. #
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Schoolgirls from Leadenhall School hold the torch of Olympic gold medalist former sprinter Torchbearer 001 Michael Johnson at Salisbury Cathedral on July 12, 2012 in Salisbury, England. #
LOCOG via Getty Images -
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Kathy Gore runs with the Olympic Flame at Seaford Head, with a view of the Seven Sisters cliffs in East Sussex during day 60 leg of the Olympic Torch Relay in Seaford, England. #
LOCOG via Getty Images -
British Artist Tracey Emin holds the Olympic Flame inside the Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate alongside "The Kiss" sculpture by Rodin, on July 19, 2012 in Margate, England. #
LOCOG via Getty Images -
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Tall ship Stavros S Niarchos struggles into harbor past the white cliffs of Dover as bad weather prevented the Olympic torch handover between the tall ship and an RNLI lifeboat, which had to be completed in the harbor at Dover in southeast England, on July 18, 2012. #
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Former English basketball player, John Amaechi, and former Romanian gymnast, Nadia Comaneci, pose for a photograph with the Olympic Flame on the roof of the North Greenwich Arena, on July 21, 2012. #
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A torchbearer passes the Olympic Flame to another in front of Buckingham Palace in the presence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry on the Torch Relay leg through Westminster, on July 26, 2012. #
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Paralympian Ade Adepitan waves to crowds below as he carries the Olympic Flame across the Millennium Bridge in front of St Paul's Cathedral ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games in London, on July 26, 2012. #
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The last Olympic torchbearer Tyler Rix, from London, lights the flame on stage at the Olympic Torch Relay Concert in Hyde Park, before he gave a rousing speech, in central London, on July 26, 2012. #
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