Put the date 10th July 2012 in your diaries – it’s the day when the Olympic torch is set to pass through beautiful Henley-on-Thames. The torch will be carried in relay-style by 8,000 runners on a whistle-stop tour of some of Great Britain’s finest places.
People looking for a great holiday break should consider taking some time off next July to visit some of the picturesque settings which will feature during the South Oxfordshire leg of the torch’s tour.
Settings like Wallingford – ‘Causton’ in Midsomer Murders – which will feel the heat of the torch shortly before it reaches Henley. This bustling market town was the place where Agatha Christie wrote some of her most thrilling novels.
Residents of the village of Crowmarsh Gifford – which is connected to Wallingford by a bridge – will also be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the flame. If the Olympic runners weren’t in such a hurry they could stay and find out that Crowmarsh is the place where agriculturalist Jethro Tull invented his revolutionary seed drill in 1701.
Nettlebed is the final South Oxfordshire spot on the torch’s route before this symbol of Corinthian values ends its tour of the country with a trip on the Thames courtesy of a Henley rowing boat. The row will take place on the exact site where the Olympic rowing competition was held in 1908 and 1948.
Olympic organisers have planned the route so that 95 per cent of the population will be within one hour’s travelling time of seeing the torch. And fans of Olympic rowing in South Oxfordshire will only have a short trip to Eton Dorney when they want to catch the Olympic action next year.
You have to feel a bit sorry for the other five per cent – perhaps they’ll get free tickets to the Games instead!