Today the Olympic torch was lit at Land’s End, the southernmost tip of the UK. It was a very touching ceremony. The flame had been carried from Greece to Cornwall in the safety of an old brass Davey lamp, as carried by miners back in the days when we still had a mining industry. They had to get all kinds of permissions to carry a flame on an aeroplane, but the miner’s lamps would have been by far the safest means of transporting it.
Ben Ainslie, the first torch bearer, shows the torch to the crowd.
Ben Ainslie was the first in the relay. A local lad, a sailor with several Olympic gold medals and, we hope more to come, he was clearly delighted to have the honour of starting the journey. It was very touching to see him move slowly through the crowd allowing them to have their moment to hold the torch as he passed.
Over the next 70 days the torch will pass from hand to hand as it is carried through the towns and villages, from city to city, passing through all the most densely populated areas and a few where there are just sheep 🙂
To celebrate this event a bunch of us have got together and will be making a post a day about the areas through which the torch will travel. The site is here and I’ll be posting links as and when I remember :D. My first slot will be Day 8 – next Saturday! – and I’ll be covering the southern valleys of Wales. Yep there will be sheep!
Elin Gregory 
Aww! This brought a lump to me throat strangely enough. Very nice post, Elin. God I’m such a wuss. 🙂
Wuss *poke* 😀
I loved it. Ooh and did you see the security guys bring down that bloke who tried to cut through the runners? Whack! Very macho.
Oooh this sounds lovely! If there be sheep, will there be spinners??!! I’m a bit of a spinner myself, now and then anyway. I like to dye and knit with my own yarn!
I can’t get the hang of knitting but I’ve done a lot of spinning with a drop spindle, a bit of dying, a bit of weaving. It’s fun to try the stuff one writes about.
It’ll be sheep, rain and rugby for next Saturday I think, and later in the month I’ve got the Edinburgh to Alnwick stretch too so I can use a bit of my story about Cynfal and his mates.