Biggles and the Charity Walk

[Kismet]

It was one of those months. The aging Austers both required some big maintenance jobs which Smythe had carefully scheduled three weeks apart. By the time a new supplier had sent the wrong parts, he'd been short handed because Davy had broken his leg falling over a Yorkshire Terrier, Jimmy had caught the flu, and Ginger had accidentally taxied into a hanger, both aircraft were going to have to be out of service together for a few days.

Raymond sent for Biggles to discuss the situation.

'Luckily, things are quiet at the moment. So quiet that I think we can do without you for a few days. There's a Round Britain Charity Walk going on, as you know, with the different forces sending teams out to walk the boundaries of their areas. Good publicity. You can join in that. Let me know how much of the country you're going to cover and what your itinerary will be.I suppose you ought to cover as much of Britain as you can, as your beat is a bit bigger than the average bobby's.'

[Fairblue]

Biggles looked at the Air Commodore's desk calendar. It was not April 1st.

[Kismet]

'Wouldn't it be better if I caught up with the filing,' Biggles suggested. 'A new copy of Flight will be out on Friday.'

[Fairblue]

"No. Your department has already been put down for the walk. There's a certain novelty in a policeman who doesn't walk a beat and you've caught the public's imagination, walking round Britain. It'll do you all good."

[Kismet]

'What's happened?' Ginger asked in concern as Biggles walked into the office. 'Has someone died?'

'Worse than that,' Biggles groaned, 'Much worse than that. We've got to participate in a Charity Walk. A long distance Charity Walk.'

[Fairblue]

"How long is long?" Algy wanted to know.

[Kismet]

'To take in as much of Britain as possible on foot.' Biggles lit a cigarette with shaking hands.

[Fairblue]

Three pairs of disbelieving eyes were turned in his direction, then Algy burst out laughimg. "Good one," he enthused. "You had me worried there for a minute.

[Kismet]

Mo from the Police Publicity Department knocked perfunctorily on the door and bounced in.

'Excellent news, Inspector Bigglesworth,' he enthused. 'This will be a great feel good story. Pilots Come Down to Earth for Charity. I'll set you up with a Twitter account and Instagram.'

[RAAF Spitfire Girl]

Three pairs of disbelieving eyes now stared accusingly at Biggles.

"I say, old bean, you weren't pulling our legs then?" asked Bertie mournfully.

[Fairblue]

"No, unfortunately not," Biggles shook his head sadly. "The walk is around the perimeter of our beat...."

[kylie_koyote]

"It won't be that bad," Ginger said, trying hard to remain upbeat. "I once walked from Smettleworth to Newcastle. It only took ten days."

"Completely in the wrong direction, I might add," Biggles murmured.

[Kismet]

'Not all of it,' Ginger insisted. 'I started off alright, Anyone could have got lost.'

[Fairblue]

"We've got the biggest walk of all, " Algy complained. "We're going to have to do it in relays and draft in the mechanics. They're part of our department, don't forget."

[Kismet]

Biggles remembered something. 'There has to be a support team. I'll get a motorbike and stop every few miles to give you coffee and a sarnie.'

[Fairblue]

"Oh, no you don't," Algy retorted. "You can walk with the rest of us."

[Kismet]

'And we won't be able to include Smyth's lot,' Algy pointed out 'as they'll be working on the planes so we can return to being the Special AIR Police at some point. It's the four of us.'

[Fairblue]

"How long timewise is this walk supposed to take anyway?" Ginger asked as he looked at the app on his phone which showed the outline of Great Britain. "And do we walk the Scilly Isles, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight, the Orkneys, Isle of Skye, Shetland Isles, Inner and Outer Hebrides, Isle of....."

"Okay, Ginger,we get the drift." Biggles cut Ginger off with a raised hand. "For simplicity's sake I think we can keep to the mainland."

[Kismet]

Bertie rubbed his eyeglass thoughtfully. 'If we visit some of the islands, old boy, then we are showing that we are interested in the smallest parts of Britain and if we're in a boat going to them, then we're not walking.'

[RAAF Spitfire Girl]

"What do you suggest? That we walk across the water somehow?" asked Biggles with deep sarcasm. "Because if you're going to apply the rules as literally as that, we can't swim either. And we'll have to take a lot of detours to use bridges on the mainland, so that won't be strictly walking the perimeter either!"

[Kismet]

'No, no, you misunderstand me,' Bertie protested. 'I'm suggesting that we do take boats to the islands, have a little trot round for appearances sake, then catch the boat back to the mainland. I'm suggesting that we do all our walking on these jolly little islets and in order to do so, given that we've got limited time to do our charity trot, we'll have to catch the train or bus or what-have-you between each harbour.'

[Fairblue]

"That," said Biggles after a short pause, "is an idea! The mainland is being walked every day, more or less, but the islands are usually left to their own devices. Well done! I'll go and clear it with the Air Commodore."

[Kismet]

The Air Commodore thought that it was a very good idea to visit the lesser known spots to advertise the wide ranging patrols carried out by the SAP. So too did Mo. It was only later, whilst awaiting a more detailed schedule from Biggles, that the Air Commodore wondered just how much walking they would be doing.

[Fairblue]

But he decided to wait for the detailed schedule before questioning Biggles about it. He picked up the phone and rang Mo to find out if there was an average distance which should be achieved.

[Kismet]

There wasn't. It had been deliberately set up that way so those with very limited time or physical disabilities which prevented them from walking far, could participate.

Biggles had decided to start with the Isle of Man before heading up the West Coat into Scotland and then returning down the East Coast. No more than one island a day. Ginger was googling comfortable hotels in ports and harbours whilst Bertie was in charge of finding ferries and boat hire. Meanwhile, he and Algy studied maps, to identify nice, low level, easy walks.