Bucky Doo Square, Bridport to Poole Ferry Terminal. 42 miles through the county that made them. The morning it all begins. The last night in England.
The run begins where their lives are rooted. Bucky Doo Square in Bridport — the civic heart of the town — is where all the important moments happen. The Mayor is here. The town council is here. The crowd is here. And then they leave.
They run east through Dorset. South first to Burton Bradstock and the coast, then inland through the Bride Valley — Littlebredy, Martinstown, the chalk downs above Dorchester. These are roads they know by name, fields they have driven past a thousand times. But running is different. Running is slower, closer to the ground, and on this morning every mile carries weight.
This is Dorchester — and Dorchester has a twin. It has been twinned with Bayeux since 1959, a friendship that grew from the Dorset Regiment's part in the liberation of Bayeux in June 1944. Two days from now, after the crossing and the D-Day coast, the runners will sleep in Bayeux. The route runs from Dorchester to its twin, on foot.
Then comes the stop that is unlike any other stop on the entire 350+ mile route. Dorset County Hospital. Ward staff and supporters gather at the entrance. Both runners have been patients here — James on the Prince of Wales Renal Ward, Andy treated for bladder cancer on Abbotsbury Ward. The Prince of Wales Renal Ward and the Fortuneswell Cancer Ward are two of the three causes the campaign is running for. Now they run past the door. Not through it. Out of it. Ahead of them: 310+ miles to the Arc de Triomphe.
"Every runner on the road has been the person in the bed. That changes what running means."
The afternoon takes them east through Thomas Hardy country — West Stafford, Lewell, Crossways, then south toward the Frome valley. Through Wool, where the river meets the heath. Through Wareham, the ancient Saxon town at the head of Poole Harbour. Lytchett Minster. And finally, the harbour opens wide.
Poole Ferry Terminal is where the running ends. The support car is waiting. Ninety minutes north to Portsmouth, where the Brittany Ferries overnight sailing to Cherbourg departs at 22:00. This was always the plan — Bridport to Poole, 42 miles, one Dorset day. The Portsmouth crossing is the adaptation that kept the schedule intact when the direct Poole service closed. The campaign is flexible. It always was. France in the morning.
Tonight is the last night in England. The last familiar language, the last familiar roads. The campaign has begun. The UK Day is not a warm-up. It is 42 miles through everything that matters.
42 miles done. The legs have the full length of Dorset in them. The running stops at Poole Ferry Terminal — but the day doesn't. The support car heads ninety minutes east to Portsmouth, where the Brittany Ferries overnight sailing to Cherbourg leaves at 22:00. Tonight England disappears behind us for a very long time. The evening is ours, briefly — and most of it happens on the move.
We'll eat well. We'll probably manage one of these. Then we'll sleep in a cabin like people who've just run 42 miles, because we have.
The running ends at the ferry terminal, a stone's throw from the old quay — one of the finest harbour fronts on the south coast, with working boats, the Brownsea Island ferry and the old town buildings backing onto the water. Ten minutes on the quayside with the supporters who made it to the finish, a photo with the harbour behind us, and then into the car. The harbour in the evening light, before the crossing. Worth it.
This is the last English meal before France — whether it's fish and chips in Portsmouth before check-in or the ship's restaurant once we're under way. We'll eat everything on the table and keep one eye on the boarding time. Portsmouth is the port the D-Day armada sailed from in June 1944; tonight two runners from Bridport sail out of it too. After 42 miles, calories are not a concern. Order the chips as well.
The ship docks in Cherbourg at around 07:00 and France Day 1 is 42.2 miles. The legs have 42 miles in them already. The cabin is, without question, the right call. Watch England disappear astern for five minutes, then lights out. Brownsea Island will still be there. Portsmouth will still be there. Paris will still be there. Sleep is the preparation. Everything else is just procrastination.
Edd Sayers rides alongside the runners on a medi-bike for all 12 days of the campaign — and operates the campaign drone throughout. UK Day runs through open Dorset countryside with no airspace restrictions expected. What that gives your sponsorship is something most charity runs simply cannot offer: professional aerial footage of the day the campaign began.
Edd's drone has good range — and if your premises sit on or close to our path through Dorset, we can plan something that goes well beyond a logo on a shirt. A sweep from the route, over your building or forecourt, and back to the action: your brand, filmed from the air, in your own backyard, as the campaign passes through.
Your hotel on the route? Picture the drone lifting off as the runners leave your door — your property framed from above against the Dorset landscape. A business near Wareham or Poole? That could be an aerial of your building woven into the closing miles of UK Day. If the geography works, we will make it work.
* All drone operations are subject to CAA regulations and local airspace checks conducted in advance of the event. No restrictions are currently anticipated for the UK Day route through rural Dorset. In the unlikely event that a specific location is restricted, equivalent ground-level coverage or an alternative aerial position will be arranged. Edd Sayers holds the relevant qualifications for commercial drone operation. Airspace confirmation for all 12 days will be completed as part of pre-event planning in 2027–28.
The UK Day is the launch. It sets the tone for everything that follows. Your name on the day the whole campaign begins — at Bucky Doo Square, at the hospital, at Poole. Before France. Before everything.
Route Note · UK Day route confirmed at 42 miles. French stage mileages will be refined as hotels are secured, local routes are validated, and sponsor input shapes the final journey. Designed to maximise historical, cultural and content opportunity across every stage.