100 MILES: 1 MONTH 10 CODES: BEHIND ENEMY LINES

1 - 30 April

Bletchley Park to Paris  

100 mile challenge to deliver an encrypted message before it's too late... 

Calling all Secret Agents... Operation Bletchley: Paris is your codebreaking challenge supporting the Army Benevolent Fund

Your mission is to cover 100* miles on foot, travelling from Bletchley Park to the heart of Paris, cracking codes and meeting with our Agents on the ground as you go. 

Your mission starts on 1 April 2024, and you have until midnight on the 30 April to crack the codes and deliver the final message to Winston Churchill before your time runs out. 

With three levels of codes; junior, codebreaker and cypher expert to tackle, get the whole family together this summer - do you have what it takes? Sign up now! 

*If 100 miles is too little/much, you will also have the ability to adjust your challenge to suit your ability. This can be done during registration or in the 'My Fitness Activity' tab on your event page once you have signed up.

How it works

Operation Bletchley: Paris is a challenge event that you can take part in anywhere in the world. Here’s how it works...

  1. Sign up for just £15* and link your phone or fitness tracker to your fundraising page (you can also record your miles manually if you prefer).
  2. Start walking at your own pace (from 1 April).
  3. Receive updates and codes to crack after every ten miles completed - three levels are available - Junior, Codebreaker or Cypher Expert.
  4. Codes will be delivered straight to your inbox and you can select your level then.
  5. Solve the codes to decipher the hidden message.
  6. Complete the journey and deliver the message by the midnight on 30 April.

*Also available is a £40 registration where you can opt out of fundraising.

Your mission

It's 1942 and the situation in France is at boiling point. The Nazi occupation has cut us off from our agents on the ground, so we need you to go behind enemy lines to make contact. We cannot afford for our intelligence to be compromised, so you must move through the shadows and crack codes along the way to avoid detection. This mission is not for the faint hearted. Do you have what it takes? 

You are an elite member of F Section Special Operations Executive (SOE) and are about to be dispatched on a highly unusual mission behind enemy lines in France. You will board a Halifax bomber departing from RAF Tempsford in Bedfordshire and parachute into France along with several containers of supplies for the French Maquis - the local resistance to the Nazi occupation. From there you will need to crisscross occupied France, meeting with the French men and women whose acts of resistance represent astonishing bravery in the face of imminent danger. Each will supply you with a new code to crack with the answers adding up to a final message which must be delivered before time runs out. 

It is up to you how you would like to complete the walk. The challenge can be completed over a few days, or the whole month, but you need to complete the 100 miles before the 30th April 2024. You can crack the codes as you go or save them up until the walk is complete. Once all the codes have been successfully decrypted you must decipher the final message to the secret agent in the heart of Paris.

The difference your generosity can make

Operation Bletchley was created to raise money to support soldiers, veterans and their families, through the Army Benevolent Fund. We hope you'll use your place to raise as much as possible:

£50 - could help cover travel costs so a veteran can attend a job interview.

£75 - could go towards the cost of a temporary wheelchair ramp, allowing an injured soldier to enter and leave their home.

£250 - could contribute towards the care home fees of a frail elderly veteran who requires continuous care.

£1000 - could help pay for home adaptations so that a veteran’s young disabled child can live in a safe and accessible environment.

The Army Benevolent Fund is the Army's National Charity, here for soldiers, past and present, and their families for life.

Sponsor a friend

Find the fundraising page of someone already taking part in Operation Bletchley.