Welsh Route for the Commonwealth Baton

This year, the famous Commonwealth Games are being held in the Scottish city of Glasgow, and to celebrate the run up to the events the Queen’s Baton Relay has begun in earnest.

The Queen’s Baton Relay is an integral part of every Commonwealth Games; the aim is to bring together all the nations and territories of the Queen’s Commonwealth in preparation for the games. To celebrate the Commonwealth 2014 Games, over 288 days the Queen’s baton will visit 70 different countries, cover a whopping 190,000 km and involve a staggering one third of the world’s population!

The relay began back in October last year at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace where the Queen herself placed her personal message inside the baton to all the people of her commonwealth.  So far, on day 90 of the relay the baton has visited New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the African nations of Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Ghana.

The baton will be carried by thousands of people across the world; each one honoured and chosen by their community to participate in this somewhat bizarre, but unique tradition.

And this summer (May), the baton is due to make it’s arrival in sunny Wales! The baton will start in the valleys of South Wales, before heading north through the country to visit Machynlleth, Bala, Llanberis, Anglesey, the Clwydian hills and Ruthin, before heading eastwards out of Wales to continue it’s journey through England.

There will be 68 stops altogether in Wales, and we’re excited to hear just how close the route will pass to us here at the Oakeley Arms. After oodles of community spirit turned out to cheer on the Olympic baton last year as it passed through the nearby town of Porthmadog, we can’t wait for the same fun and fanfare for the Queen’s baton! We’ll let you know of it’s progress closer to the time…. watch this space for more updates.

You can find out more about the baton’s journey a the Commonwealth Games website, click here

This year’s Commonwealth Games will take place in Glasgow Image by Thomas Nugent on wikicommons