Sées to Mortagne-au-Perche. Twenty miles through a landscape most maps barely mention. Rolling hills, ancient forests, Percheron horse country. The compass turns east. For the first time since Bridport, Paris is a direction.
The route leaves the Gothic towers of Sées behind and turns east. Not roughly east — east. For the first time since Bridport, the compass is pointing at Paris rather than pointing away from home. The Perche opens up around them: a region distinct enough from Normandy to have its own identity, its own character, its own famous horse.
The Perche is the country of the Percheron — one of the great draught breeds, stocky and immense, bred in these hills for centuries. They were built for sustained effort across this terrain exactly: rolling bocage, wide fields, forest belts that hold the morning mist. The runners pass through the same landscape that produced them. Same hills. Same imperative. Different century.
Through Montchevrel and into the heart of the Parc Naturel Régional du Perche: D-roads through small villages with stone churches and no pavement. The France that exists between the places people visit. Twenty miles of it — and the legs, rested from the recovery day, are finding something. Not comfortable. Nothing after 237 miles is comfortable. But functional. Moving.
"The route turns east. Not northeast, not vaguely toward Paris — east. For the first time in eight days, the destination is a direction, not an act of faith."
Mortagne-au-Perche is a medieval hilltop town that rewards the climb. From the heights, on a clear day, the horizon stretches away to the east. East is Paris. It is also, improbably, the self-declared world capital of boudin noir — the black pudding festival here draws pilgrims from across France every March. There are less dignified things to be the capital of. The runners earn their dinner in the most French town imaginable, at the end of the day the campaign finally found its bearing.
From Mortagne, four stages remain. Paris is within reach for the first time. That is not relief exactly — there is still too much road between here and the Arc de Triomphe for relief. But it is something that was not there before. The campaign has a direction now. It has always had a destination. Tonight it has both.
Day 7 earns its aerial. Twenty miles through Percheron horse country on the day the route turns east — and then, at the end, a medieval hilltop town that's been visible from the route for miles before the runners finally reach it. The drone captures the compass change, the horse country, and the arrival. When they reach Mortagne, it rises above the rooftops to show exactly what they climbed to reach — and exactly how far they've come.
The drone rises above Mortagne-au-Perche at arrival — 80 to 100 metres, the medieval street plan revealed from above: the town square, the tower of Église Notre-Dame, the hilltop setting with the Perche countryside dropping away in every direction. This is the hero frame. A classic town aerial with genuine atmosphere — the kind of image that ends up on a tourism board poster, or the cover of a running magazine. On day eight of a 350-mile campaign, after 257 miles on foot from the English coast, it means something has been earned. That is what makes it the hero frame: not just beauty, but arrival.
Open drone at 100 to 120 metres somewhere between Sées and Montchevrel — rolling bocage, pasture, the odd stud farm visible below, forest belts breaking a wide horizon. The skies of the Perche are bigger than coastal Normandy. Wider. Quieter. A landscape most audiences have never seen. Two runners on a D-road through Percheron horse country, 237 miles from Bridport, heading east. That is the image.
The final mile or two. The drone frames the runners from ahead and above as Mortagne becomes visible on the ridge — the town growing larger, the road rising, the legs working the gradient. The sense of: there it is, and we are going to make it. This is the end-of-day shot that works for every day on the road, but earns its place specifically on Day 7: the day the body starts answering again, the day the rhythm returns, the day the destination was finally close enough to see. The climb in is the story of the whole campaign in ninety seconds.
All three drone clips transfer in full resolution to the Day 7 sponsor. The Mortagne aerial — a medieval hilltop town at golden hour, campaign day eight, after 257 miles on foot — is a standalone asset with broad commercial value. Use it in brand content, social campaigns, or internal communications. This is authentic footage from a real campaign, in a real place, on a real day that meant something. That provenance is part of what you are acquiring.
The Day 7 route passes through the heart of the Parc Naturel Régional du Perche — an area with a strong identity around equestrian heritage, rural tourism, and regional produce. If your business sits along this stretch of countryside, the drone can put you inside the campaign film.
Day 7 is the day the campaign's equestrian and rural identity is at its most visible. Percheron stud farms and equestrian operations along the route corridor; rural accommodation in and around Mortagne-au-Perche — hotels, chambres d'hôtes, gîtes; regional food producers — Mortagne is the world capital of boudin noir, with an annual festival to prove it; and outdoor and adventure businesses within the Parc Naturel all have a natural home here. The drone footage doubles as a destination asset in the most authentic context imaginable.
Airspace and regulatory note: All drone operations on the France stages of The Long Road Back are planned in accordance with French civil aviation authority (DGAC) regulations. Flights require registration and declaration via the AlphaTango platform prior to any operation. Mortagne-au-Perche contains classified monument historique designations — including Église Notre-Dame and elements of the medieval town centre — and the hilltop arrival shot falls within a monument historique protection zone (restrictions apply within approximately 150 metres horizontally and 50 metres vertically of listed structures). The AlphaTango registration process covers this category of airspace; no separate managing body contact is required for this location. Operations comply with EASA open-category regulations applicable in France. Edd Sayers holds a UK CAA A2 Certificate of Competency; post-Brexit, UK A2 CofC qualifications are not automatically recognised within the EU/EASA framework. Appropriate EU-recognised qualifications or operational dispensations will be confirmed and in place prior to any French flight operations. All flights conducted within applicable altitude limits, visual line of sight, and away from populated areas where restrictions apply. Subject to final airspace assessment and weather conditions on the day.
Nine kilometres south-east of Mortagne, on a road that leads to nowhere in particular, sits a cathedral-scale basilica in the middle of farming country. Most people who pass through this part of France never know it exists.
La Chapelle-Montligeon was built between 1894 and 1911 by Abbé Buguet, who spent his life raising funds from the faithful across Europe to construct a basilica dedicated entirely to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. The scale of it — neo-Gothic, twin-spired, rising improbably from the Perche fields — is the kind of thing that stops you.
It is not on the running route. It is an evening drive, or a crew detour, or a rest-day visit. It is also, for a campaign with a medical backstory and a charity purpose, the kind of place that resonates beyond the obvious. A building constructed entirely on the principle that effort and faith, sustained long enough, produce something extraordinary.
The drone shot — a cathedral rising from farmland, evening light on stone — is one of the campaign's unexpected frames. Available to the Day 7 sponsor or as a standalone asset. Discuss with the team.
Neo-Gothic basilica · Built 1894–1911 · ~9 km south-east of Mortagne
Dedicated to Our Lady, Liberator of the Souls in Purgatory — and home of the world centre of prayer for the departed. Cathedral-scale, in a Perche village most maps don't bother labelling. The kind of building that should not exist where it exists — which is precisely what makes it worth the drive.
Drone shot available: basilica from above, farming country beyond, twin spires against the Perche sky. An unexpected frame for an unexpected campaign day.
The first moment since Bridport that the compass points directly at Paris. Runners leaving Sées, cathedral towers behind them, the Perche opening up ahead — east, east, east. The campaign has found its bearing. Twenty miles of rolling bocage, morning mist in the forest belts, the Percheron hills. Drone from above on the D227 corridor. Transfers in full to the Day 7 sponsor.
The Perche produced one of history's great draught breeds — built for sustained effort across this exact terrain. Rolling bocage, forest belts, the same hills the runners are crossing on foot, four centuries on. Ground-level shot through the hedge-lined D-roads. Carousel option: the landscape that made the horse / the runners in it now. The parallel needs no caption.
End-of-day post from Mortagne-au-Perche, hilltop views east toward Paris. 257 miles. The Perche behind us. La Chapelle-Montligeon in the evening light. Four stages to the Arc. The tone: not relief, not euphoria. Something quieter. The campaign has always had a destination — tonight, for the first time, it has a direction too.
#TheLongRoadBack · #RunToParis · #FranceDay7 · #ThePivotEast · #Perche · #MortagnauPerche · #PercheronCountry · #LaChapelleMontligeon · #CharityRun · #UltraRunning
Into the Perche. The route turns east. The medieval hilltop of Mortagne. Percheron horse country. The day the campaign finds its bearing. Twenty miles — and your name on the day it all began to point the right direction.
Route Note · Route confirmed via Google Maps: Sées → Le Ménil-Guyon → Montchevrel → Sainte-Scolasse-sur-Sarthe → Bazoches-sur-Hoëne → Courthioust → Mortagne-au-Perche · 32.3 km / 20.1 miles · walking route. 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.