Karl Bushby, a 57-year-old former paratrooper, has spent 28 years walking from Chile to Hull, but his final leg—swimming the English Channel—has been blocked by French authorities. They only permit swimming from the UK to France, not the reverse direction. Bushby, who set off in 1998, has reached Belgium and is now near the end of his 36,000-mile journey.
Channel crossing challenges
Bushby's rules forbid using cars, trains, buses, or planes. Eurotunnel bosses refused his request to walk through the service tunnel in June, leaving swimming as the only option. He stated, 'We are talking with the French coastguard.' A 2018 prefectural order restricts swimming from France to the UK, and the French Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre has referred his support team to the Channel and North Sea Maritime Prefecture.
Bushby still hopes to use the Eurotunnel but has secured a support boat for October. 'I would expect it to take two to three days to swim across to the UK,' he said. He is currently in Mexico, managing visa regulations and planning routes, and will return to Belgium in early September. 'I am not angry it has come to this. I am more disappointed. But things could still change,' he added.
Previous water crossings
Bushby is experienced in crossing large bodies of water. In 2006, he became the first Briton to walk across the Bering Strait, a 58-mile stretch of frozen sea. In 2024, he swam over 170 miles across the Caspian Sea in 31 days to avoid conflict zones. Despite this, he said, 'I'm just not into the swim thing. The English Channel is a different stretch of water; it's colder, we'll see.'
Journey setbacks
Bushby began his journey from Punta Arenas, Chile, in 1998, expecting it to take 12 years. He has faced numerous obstacles: evading bandits in the Darien Gap, detention by Russian officials for illegal entry, 18 days in a Panamanian prison for visa issues, and a stolen trailer in Canada in 2003. He also overstayed his US visa and had to return to Colombia for a new one.
Despite these challenges, he reached Armenia last June, then traveled through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, and Slovakia. After sorting his Schengen visa in Mexico, he traversed Europe and now seeks a way to cross the final sea. Once back in the UK, he will walk to his childhood home in Hull, completing the journey.
