#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <sstream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <complex>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <list>
#include <deque>
#include <stack>
#include <queue>
#include <set>
#include <map>
#include <bitset>
#include <functional>
#include <utility>
#include <algorithm>
#include <numeric>
#include <typeinfo>
#include <cstdio>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <cstring>
#include <cmath>
#include <climits>
#include <ctime>

using namespace std;

#define dump(n) cout<<"# "<<#n<<"="<<(n)<<endl
#define debug(n) cout<<__FILE__<<","<<__LINE__<<": #"<<#n<<"="<<(n)<<endl
#define repi(i,a,b) for(int i=int(a);i<int(b);i++)
#define rep(i,n) repi(i,0,n)
#define iter(c) __typeof((c).begin())
#define foreach(i,c) for(iter(c) i=(c).begin();i!=(c).end();i++)
#define allof(c) (c).begin(),(c).end()
#define mp make_pair

typedef unsigned int uint;
typedef long long ll;
typedef unsigned long long ull;
typedef vector<int> vi;
typedef vector<vi> vvi;
typedef vector<string> vs;
typedef pair<int,int> pii;

const int INFTY=1<<29;

struct Edge{
	int src,dst,weight;
	Edge(){}
	Edge(int src,int dst,int weight):src(src),dst(dst),weight(weight){}
};

bool operator<(const Edge& lhs,const Edge& rhs)
{
	return lhs.weight<rhs.weight;
}

bool operator>(const Edge& lhs,const Edge& rhs)
{
	return lhs.weight>rhs.weight;
}

typedef vector<Edge> Edges;
typedef vector<Edges> Graph;

void Dijkstra(const Graph& g,int begin,vi& cost,vi& prev)
{
	int size=g.size();
	cost.assign(size,INFTY);
	prev.assign(size,-1);
	
	priority_queue<Edge,vector<Edge>,greater<Edge> > pq;
	pq.push(Edge(-1,begin,0));
	cost[begin]=0;
	while(!pq.empty()){
		Edge e=pq.top();
		pq.pop();
		if(prev[e.dst]!=-1)
			continue;
		prev[e.dst]=e.src;
		rep(i,g[e.dst].size()){
			Edge cand=g[e.dst][i]; // candidate
			if(cost[cand.dst]>e.weight+cand.weight){
				cost[cand.dst]=e.weight+cand.weight;
				pq.push(Edge(cand.src,cand.dst,e.weight+cand.weight));
			}
		}
	}
}

int main()
{
	for(int w,h; cin>>w>>h,w|h;){
		vs field(h+2);
		field[0]=field[h+1]=string(w+2,'.');
		rep(i,h){
			cin>>field[i+1];
			field[i+1]='.'+field[i+1]+'.';
		}
		h=field.size();w=field[0].size();
		Graph g(h*w);
		rep(i,h) rep(j,w){
			int di[]={-1,1,0,0};
			int dj[]={0,0,-1,1};
			rep(k,4){
				int ni=i+di[k],nj=j+dj[k];
				if(ni<0 || h<=ni || nj<0 || w<=nj)
					continue;
				g[i*w+j].push_back(Edge(i*w+j,ni*w+nj,field[i][j]=='#' && field[ni][nj]!='#'));
			}
		}
		vi cost,prev;
		Dijkstra(g,0,cost,prev);
		rep(i,h) rep(j,w)
			if(field[i][j]=='&')
				cout<<cost[i*w+j]<<endl;
	}
	
	return 0;
}