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Commonwealth Games 2022: Baton relay route in England

batonImage source, Birmingham 2022
Image caption,

The baton will contain the Queen's message to the Commonwealth

The Commonwealth Games takes place in Birmingham in July and the final leg of the baton relay route has been unveiled.

The Queen's Baton Relay route is 2,500 miles, takes 294 days and travels to each of the 72 nations that make up the Commonwealth.

When it arrives back in England - the host nation - it will start a 5 five-day tour of London - linking up with the Queen's Jubilee.

That's before it visits 180 towns, cities and villages before ending its journey in Birmingham marking the start of the Games.

Image source, Birmingham 2022
Image caption,

This year's baton is high-tech and is home to a camera, a heart-rate monitor, atmospheric sensors and LED lighting. It was designed by Laura Nyahuye - an artist who was born in Zimbabwe and lives in Coventry.

In October the baton left Birmingham and headed to Cyprus to start its journey.

So far it has spent Christmas Eve in Seychelles, New Year in the Maldives and spent Easter in Jamaica.

In June it will spend five days in London during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, before heading to the Falkland Islands, in the South Atlantic, Channel Islands, Isle of Man.

Then it will do tours of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales before heading to England

What are the Commonwealth Games?

The Games take place every four years, it's an international multi-sport event, involving 72 nations and territories of the Commonwealth.

England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland compete by themselves - there's no TeamGB at these Games!

The Commonwealth is a collection of countries that are linked to Britain in some way, all apart from Mozambique.

England is the nation hosting the Games, so a 25 day tour of the baton relay will take place there, before ending the journey in Birmingham to kick-off the Games.

Some well known locations it is heading to in England are the Eden Project in Cornwall, Nottingham Castle, Lake District and Blackpool Tower.

Could you see the Queen's baton?

Here are just some of the places the baton will pass on its tour of England...

Plymouth, Bournemouth, Dover, Canterbury, Southend-on-Sea, Luton, Great Yarmouth, Cambridge, Northampton, Lincoln, Skegness, Bradford, hull, York, Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Gateshead, Carlisle, Blackburn, Salford, Wigan, Liverpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Malvern, Uttoxeter, Wolverhampton, Dudley.

Image source, BIRMINGHAM 2022
Image caption,

The map shows the baton relay route

We hope communities across the country join the excitement, attend events near them, line the streets to cheer on our incredible baton bearers and celebrate the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

— Phil Batty, Director of ceremonies, culture and Queen's Baton Relay

The route is set to attract crowds and have special events when it journeys around the country.

The baton contains a special message from the Queen, which will be read out at the Games' opening ceremony.

You can head to the Commonwealth Games website to find out how close it comes to where you live.