File:London 2012 Olympic Torch in Ilkley (June 24th) (7435939444).jpg

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_flame" rel="nofollow">The Olympic Flame</a> is a symbol of the Olympic Games. Commemorating the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, its origins lie in ancient Greece, where a fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the games.

In this video the torch is seen passing through <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tjblackwell/collections/72157621811067256/">Yorkshire</a> on its grand tour of the United Kingdom, as part of the run-up to the imminent Olympic opening ceremonies in London on July 27th. The flame is currently travelling a route through over a thousand communities across the country, taking it within an hour's distance of nearly the entire British populace.

I have never seen the town of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tjblackwell/sets/72157623182918644/with/7435939444/">Ilkley</a> packed with so many people at once. Thousands of sightseers were jostling for a chance to catch a glimpse of the torch as it passed through the area. I managed to stake out a vantage point atop a graveyard near the church (which was ringing out peals of bells to salue the parade) on the central Skipton/Leeds road junction beside Crescent Hotel.

Straddling a tree branch to get a couple of feet higher, I enlisted the support of two kind gentlemen standing in front of me and leaned on their shoulders to reduce the amount of camera shake!

Judging by the turnout in Ilkley, the idea of taking the Olympics to the provinces in this fashion seems to have gone down really well with the British people. Everyone who saw the torch pass by seemed animated and happy to be there, enjoying a respite from the often dreary summer weather of 2012!