Olympic Torch to Pass Through Northern Ireland

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog) has confirmed that over 60 towns and villages in Northern Ireland will be included on the route for torchbearers carrying the 2012 Olympic flame. The flame will be lit in Olympia, Greece, in May, and will then be flown by way of British Airways to the UK.

The torch is scheduled to arrive in Belfast on June 3. From there, it will be carried to such attractions as the Northern Ireland assembly at Stormont, Lough Neagh, the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, and the Giant’s Causeway. On June 4, it will be taken across the River Bann. The torch will briefly move into the South of Ireland for a tour of Dublin after symbolically crossing the border at Newry, before moving on into Scotland, where it will visit, among other attractions, the iconic Loch Ness. The torch’s journey through the UK will last for 70 days, and will go through 1,018 villages.