In just one week the Queen’s Baton will arrive in the South West of England to begin its 25-day tour of England before returning to Birmingham. Today is the Baton’s final day in Northern Ireland, the 70th destination in its journey to every Commonwealth nation and territory.

Visiting Plymouth, Exeter, Portland, and Bournemouth on 4 July, followed by Devizes, Bath, Bristol, Hereford, Gloucester, and Cheltenham on 5 July, the Queen’s Baton will be carried by local community heroes who will take on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be Batonbearers.  

The Relay in the South West begins at the Eden Project in a private event that engages with local school children, and will later travel by boat to arrive at the historic Mayflower steps before Batonbearers relay through Plymouth.

Dates and highlight activity from the route includes:

South West 

Highlights in the South West: Eden Project, St Austell (4 July); sunrise at Stonehenge, Salisbury (5 July); Roman Baths, Bath (5 July). 

Monday 4 July: St Austell, Plymouth, Exeter, Portland, Poole, and Bournemouth 
Tuesday 5 July: Devizes, Bath, Bristol, Easter Compton, Hereford, Gloucester, and Cheltenham 

South East 

Highlights in the South East: A relay through Windsor (6 July); Canterbury Cathedral (7 July); White Cliffs of Dover (7 July). 

Wednesday 6 July: Stoke Mandeville, Maidenhead, Windsor, Aldershot, Winchester, Hambledon, Southampton, and Portsmouth 
Thursday 7 July: Guildford, Tonbridge, Canterbury, Folkestone, Deal, and Dover 

East of England 

Highlights in the East of England: On the water at Lee Valley White Water Centre, Waltham Cross (8 July); Venetian waterways, Great Yarmouth (9 July); travelling by punt in Cambridge (9 July). 

Friday 8 July: Gravesend, Tilbury, Basildon, Southend-on-Sea, Maldon, Waltham Cross, Luton and Hemel Hempstead 
Saturday 9 July: King's Lynn, Great Yarmouth, Bury St Edmunds, Hinxton, and Cambridge 

East Midlands 

Highlights in the East Midlands: Trent Bridge, Nottingham (10 July); Loughborough University (11 July); Skegness High Ropes (11 July). 

Sunday 10 July: Northampton, Corby, Rutland, Leicester, Nottingham, Lincoln 
Monday 11 July: Skegness, Boston, Grantham, Loughborough, Derby, Bakewell, Matlock, and Buxton 

Yorkshire & The Humber

Highlights in Yorkshire & The Humber: English Institute of Sport, Sheffield (12 July); Going underwater in a shark tank at The Deep, Hull (13 July); a walk to the historic York Walls (13 July). 

Tuesday 12 July: Sheffield, Rotherham, Huddersfield, Bradford, and Leeds 
Wednesday 13 July: Hull, Beverley, Market Weighton, York, Malton, Scarborough, Robin Hood’s Bay, and Whitby 

North East 

Highlights in the North East: Travelling by speedboat in Stockton on Tees (14 July); abseiling from a wind turbine in the Port of Blyth (15 July); Angel of the North, Gateshead (15 July). 

Thursday 14 July: Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Redcar, Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Darlington, Durham, Seaham, and Sunderland 
Friday 15 July: South Shields, Whitley Bay, Blyth, Alnwick, Gateshead, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne  

North West

Highlights in the North West: Blackpool Tower Ballroom (16 July); Media City, Salford (17 July); Bellevue Sports Village, Manchester - 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games legacy (17 July). 

Saturday 16 July: Carlisle, Lake District, Blackpool, Preston, Blackburn, Darwen, and Bolton 
Sunday 17 July: Salford, Manchester, Stockport, Northwich, Wigan, and Knowsley 

West Midlands

Highlights in the West Midlands: Travelling by coracle on River Severn (19 July), wakeboarding at Chasewater (20 July), Black Country Living Museum, Dudley (24 July), abseiling from Galton Bridge, Smethwick (25 July)  

Monday 18 July: Liverpool, Keele, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Kidsgrove, Stoke-on-Trent, and Shrewsbury 

Tuesday 19 July: Ironbridge, Telford, Newport, Lilleshall, Stafford, Stone, Rudyard, and Leek 

Wednesday 20 July: Uttoxeter, Burton upon Trent, Lichfield, Burntwood, Chasewater, and Tamworth 

Thursday 21 July: Bodymoor Heath, Atherstone, Market Bosworth, Nuneaton, Bedworth, Rugby, and Coventry 

Friday 22 July: Kenilworth, Whitnash, Warwick, Gaydon, Stratford-upon-Avon, Broadway, Pershore, Upton-upon-Severn, Malvern, and Worcester 

Saturday 23 July: Redditch, Bromsgrove, Kidderminster, Bridgnorth, Codsall, Rugeley, Hednesford, Cannock, and Walsall 

Sunday 24 July: Wolverhampton, Halesowen, Stourbridge, Dudley, Brierley Hill 

Monday 25 July: Oldbury, Wednesbury, Tipton, Cradley Heath, Rowley Regis, Blackheath, Bearwood, Smethwick, and West Bromwich 

Tuesday 26 July: Castle Bromwich, Fordbridge, Chelmsley Wood, Marston Green, Hampton in Arden, Meriden, Berkswell, Balsall Common, Knowle, Dorridge, Cheswick Green, Hockley Heath, Dickens Heath, Shirley, and Solihull 

Wednesday 27 July: Edgbaston, Northfield, Cotteridge, Bournville, Hall Green, Bordesley, Balti Triangle, Small Heath, Birmingham

Thursday 28 July:  Birmingham, Jewellery Quarter, Perry Barr, Sutton Coldfield, Aston.