A broken tower in Gallardon, leaning slightly but still standing after six centuries. Then quiet lanes through Écrosnes and Orphin to the edge of the forest — beech and oak and almost no traffic. And then the wrought-iron gates of the Château de Rambouillet, where French presidents spent their summers for more than a century. One day left.
The penultimate day. Twenty-five miles north-east, via Gallardon, to the edge of the Forêt de Rambouillet — one of the great forests of the Île-de-France — and the town where French presidents took their weekends. At ~344 miles, the end is close enough to taste. One more day.
The route leaves Chartres and heads north-east. Nearly thirteen miles out, Gallardon. The Tour de Gallardon is a 13th-century keep partially brought down in the Hundred Years' War, leaving a truncated, slightly leaning remnant tower standing alone at the edge of the village — listed as a monument historique, still slightly improbable, still standing after six centuries. One medieval ruin on a day that is otherwise about what comes after it. It marks the halfway point. The forest lies ahead.
After the open Beauce plain and two days of cathedral horizons, the trees close in and the world shrinks to what is visible through the pines and oaks. This is not a hard day by campaign standards — twenty-five miles after nearly thirty-eight the day before almost feels like rest — but it asks something different of the runners. The hard physical work is largely done. What remains now is psychological.
The Forêt de Rambouillet covers roughly 200 square kilometres of the Yvelines département. It is old royal hunting ground — Francis I, Henri IV, Louis XIV all hunted here. The Château de Rambouillet at the forest's edge was a presidential residence from 1896 to 2009. Summits have been held here — in 1975, the very first G6. The runners will not be invited in, but they will run past the gates. Two ultra-runners from Bridport, ~344 miles in, passing a French presidential château. These are the details of a journey told on foot.
"One more sleep. Tomorrow they run into the city. At Rambouillet, the reality arrives."
There is a particular psychology to a penultimate day. The body is tired — eleven days of running, ~344 miles — but the mind runs ahead of it. Every step is one step closer. Every mile narrows the remaining miles. The runners know this pattern by now: the last day is always the hardest emotionally, even if not physically. Tonight in Rambouillet, the final preparation. Maps studied. Route confirmed. The Arc de Triomphe is 34.2 miles away. Tomorrow that distance becomes zero.
Ten days ago they left Bridport. They crossed the Channel. They ran the D-Day beaches, through Falaise, through the Perche, across the Beauce plain. They have passed through the history of two nations. All of it — every mile, every waypoint, every difficult morning — has been running toward tomorrow.
Day 10 has three visual registers: the leaning tower at Gallardon, the forest closing in, and the presidential château at the end of it. The drone moves through all three. After nine days of landscape at scale, this is the day the campaign starts to feel like an arrival — and the footage should feel exactly that way. Contained, focused, final.
France Day 10 runs 24.8 miles via Gallardon to the Forêt de Rambouillet to one of France's most significant but least-known châteaux. The drone covers the full route — the Tour de Gallardon at the midpoint, the edge of the Beauce giving way to forest, and the presidential grounds at Rambouillet. If your business sits anywhere in the Yvelines or the Île-de-France corridor, this is the day that puts you in frame.
Rambouillet hotels, restaurants, and hospitality venues — the overnight stop before Paris; the runners sleep here, and so does the story. Forêt de Rambouillet outdoor and leisure businesses — cycling, hiking, trail running, nature tourism in one of the great forests of northern France. Yvelines heritage and tourism brands — the château, the Bergerie Nationale, the forest estates. Île-de-France luxury and lifestyle brands — one day from Paris, with presidential grounds as the backdrop.
Airspace and operational note: All French drone operations planned under DGAC regulations. Flights to be registered and pre-authorised via AlphaTango before each stage. The Château de Rambouillet is a monument historique and a former presidential residence still owned by the state — this combination is likely to carry airspace restrictions beyond standard heritage protocols, and early pre-clearance with both DGAC and relevant security authorities will be required before this shot can be confirmed; it is flagged as a priority permissions case. Forest interior flights within the Forêt de Rambouillet to be planned within standard DGAC open-category rules. Edd Sayers holds a UK GVC (A2 CofC equivalent); the post-Brexit mutual recognition gap means EU/EASA A2 CofC equivalency cannot currently be assumed — appropriate French authorisation to be confirmed as part of pre-campaign planning. All shots listed are indicative; final footage dependent on permissions, weather, and operational conditions on the day.
Summer residence of French presidents from 1896 to 2009 and host of the first G6 summit in 1975, the Château de Rambouillet sits at the end of a 25-mile day with exceptional grace. The medieval round tower — the Tour François I — survives from the 14th century; the rest is 18th-century formality. The park is vast and largely open. The Grand Canal cuts through the forest. In April, the grounds are in early bloom.
Marie-Antoinette's dairy farm — La Laiterie de la Reine — stands in the château grounds: a neoclassical marble dairy built in 1787 so the queen could play at being a shepherdess. One of the strangest and most beautiful follies in France, some seventeen miles from Versailles, on a route nobody runs. The crew visits both.
A 13th-century keep, partially brought down in the Hundred Years' War, that has stood 3 metres off vertical ever since. Twenty-five metres of Beauce limestone, listing dramatically into the sky above Gallardon. It sits beside the church, absolutely unlike anything else in the region, entirely unknown outside France. The campaign passes right through the village.
The crew stops. The runners stop. Nobody who passes the Tour de Gallardon doesn't stop. It is that striking. Shot from below, leaning into the sky — this is the campaign's hidden gem of Day 10, a thing most French people have never heard of.
The château and its formal gardens from above — Grand Canal, parterres, the Tour François I at last light. A contrasting drone shot to the forest days: sudden formality, the precision of French garden design from 40 metres. Subject to DGAC residential zone restrictions (Rambouillet is a state-owned former presidential residence; full airspace assessment essential). If cleared: the approach over the forest to the formal gardens is one of the campaign's most striking visual transitions.
The Tour de Gallardon — 13th-century, 3 metres off vertical, completely unknown. Shot from the base looking up: 25 metres of leaning limestone against a pale April sky. The question nobody asks: why is there a visibly collapsing medieval keep in a village outside Chartres, and why doesn't anyone know about it? We run past it. Transfers to the Day 10 sponsor.
Marie-Antoinette's marble dairy farm in the grounds of Rambouillet: a neoclassical grotto built in 1787 so the queen could play at being a shepherdess, some seventeen miles from Versailles, on a running route to Paris. Carousel: the dairy exterior · interior marble detail · the park · runners approaching the château gates after 25 miles.
End-of-day from the Rambouillet park, château in the background. 24.8 miles. 344 campaign miles. One day from the Arc. The tone shifts: the end is tomorrow. Short caption. The anticipation is the content. Tomorrow is Paris.
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Past a medieval tower. Through the forest. Past the presidential château. One night from Paris. The penultimate day of a campaign that started in Bridport and ends at the Arc de Triomphe. Your name on the day before the finish.
Route Note · Route confirmed for sponsor launch purposes. Total mileage will be refined as hotels are secured, French local routes are validated, and sponsor input shapes the final journey. Designed to maximise historical, cultural and content opportunity across every stage.