LEAD: Loch Ness and Stonehenge on Olympic torch relay route

Nov 7, 2011, 13:11 GMT

London - The Olympic torch for the London 2012 Games will cross Loch Ness on an inflatable boat, visit Stonehenge and fly via zip wire from Newcastle's Tyne Bridge.

Olympic organizers on Monday unveiled the full route of the May 18-July 27 relay which culminates in the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony of the July 27-August 12.

After being lit according to tradition in ancient Olympia, Greece, the Olympic flame comes to Britain and will be carried by 8,000 torchbearers to 1,018 cities, towns and communities.

'I'm delighted that the Olympic torch relay will take the 2012 Games to almost every corner of the UK and that we have achieved our ambition to take the flame to within an hour's journey of 95 per cent of the population,' said organizing committee (LOCOG) chief Sebastian Coe in a statement.

'Now everyone is invited to plan their welcome and find out where they can go to be part of this historic occasion. The Olympic Games are coming to you as the Olympic Flame gives our people and places their moment to shine.'

The 10-week-journey starts at Land's End and on the final day will travel towards the Olympic stadium by rowing boat on the River Thames.

By then, the Olympic flame will have ascended the highest Welsh peak, 1,085m Snowdon, crossed Lake Windermere by steam boat, rode in an Isle of Man TT sidebar motorbike and travelled by tram, horseback, cable car and bicycle as well.

The Snowdon ascent is set for May 29, the spectacular zip-wire ride in Newcastle for June 15 and Stonehenge for July 12.

'There could be no more poignant backdrop for the flame than the Tyne Bridge, an enduring symbol of our people and our region,' Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes was quoted as saying by the BBC.

The London 2012 Games no longer have an international part of the torch relay after the International Olympic Committee abolished it in the wake of protests during the relay, mainly ahead of the Beijing 2008 Games.

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