The Olympic flame was brought from Greece, as is the tradition, and reached England on Saturday 19 May 2012. It arrived at Land's End in Cornwall, which is the most extreme south-westerly point in Britain. From there it moved north-east as far as Bristol, and then north-west into Wales (the first part of the torch route is mainly the western parts of the country). On 1 June it came back into north-west England, reaching Liverpool.

From Liverpool the torch crossed the sea and travelled around Northern Ireland. It retuned across the sea on June 9 and moved up to the far north of Scotland from Glasgow, visiting the Orkney and Shetland Islands on the 10th before travelling down the east of Scotland.

It's currently in the north-east of England (Sheffield) and will move down through the east and Midlands. It is scheduled to end its journey in London on Fri 27 July at the Olympic Stadium, a total of 70 days.