The relay began when the Queen handed it to Elle McPherson

The Queen's baton relay, which started at Buckingham Palace on Monday, will take in 71 countries on its way to Melbourne, Australia.

Lyn Davies brought the baton into the Millennium Stadium before the Grand Slam decider between Wales and Ireland.

It is then travelling to north Wales for Sunday.

Assembly First Minister Rhodri Morgan and Sports Minister Alun Pugh were due to receive the baton at about 1430 GMT from Mr Davies, who won his medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

QUEEN'S BATON RELAY ROUTE 14 March: The baton relay starts outside Buckingham Palace in London 18 March: Reaches Cardiff 21 March: Reaches Douglas, Isle of Man 24 March: Reaches Belfast 27 March: Reaches Glasgow 31 March: Reaches St Peter Port, Guernsey The baton then travels to Gibraltar, Cyprus and Malta before returning to St Helier, Jersey by 12 April It returns to London by 15 April en route to Gambia It will arrive in Melbourne on 24 January 2006, having visited all 71 Commonwealth nations

Myrddin John, chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Council For Wales, said: "It's very appropriate that Lyn Davies should be doing it.

"He's the only [Olympic] gold medallist that Wales has ever had.

"The relay is good because it raises the profile of the games."

The baton will continue on its journey from the Millennium Stadium to north Wales.

There, three Commonwealth Games medallists will collect the baton at Caernarfon on Sunday and run with it over the bridge to Anglesey, where cyclists will pick it up and take it to Holyhead.

The baton will travel 110,000 miles on its journey to Melbourne for the Games in March 2006.

The relay began with the Queen handing the baton to Australian supermodel Elle McPherson.