British adventurer back on UK soil after 28-year round-the-world walk

Karl Bushby, a 57-year-old former paratrooper, arrived back in the UK on Oct 5, after swimming across the English Channel. He set off for home from Chile in November 1998.

LONDON - A British adventurer on a 50,000km, 28-year trek home from South America without using any transport has set foot on UK soil after swimming the Channel, his publicists said on Oct 6.

Karl Bushby, a 57-year-old former paratrooper, set off from Punta Arenas, Chile, in November 1998, vowing to reach his mother’s home near Hull in northern England without travelling on planes, trains, boats, vehicles or other transport modes.

Nearly three decades and 29 countries later, Bushby stepped ashore in south-east England on the afternoon of Oct 5, after securing permission from UK and French authorities to swim across the busy Channel waterway from France.

He and his team said they opted not to publicise the swim for safety and security reasons.

“Feels good to have UK soil under my feet after all these years,” the adventurer said in a brief statement released on Oct 6.

“It hasn’t been easy, and that’s part of the point. Proving I’m more capable than I give myself credit for,” he added.

“All of us can accomplish more than we will ever imagine.”

Bushby has paused his journey several times.

Moscow refused him a visa for a long time, while the 2008 financial crisis and then the Covid-19 pandemic proved to be other hold-ups.

At those times, he stepped away from the journey, living notably in Mexico, then once the situation cleared, he would resume his journey at the exact spot where he had left off.

A small gathering of friends and family, including his father and brothers, welcomed Bushby on Shakespeare beach, just south of Dover, as he emerged from the water on Oct 5.

He was also greeted by legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog and his film crew, who are making a feature-length documentary about the journey entitled Walk Of Life.

The production company behind the film has been supporting Bushby’s progress for the past 16 years, providing financial and logistical assistance, as well as equipping Bushby to document his trek and archiving the footage.

His epic journey has seen him walk the length of the Americas, cross the Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia, and then traverse east to west overland.

In an interview with AFP from northern France in September, Bushby voiced some apparent apprehension about returning to a more normal life back in Britain.

“I’ve got to try and get established in the grown-up world again, because I’m going to arrive home with nothing,” he said. AFP