British adventurer Karl Bushby has returned to the United Kingdom after a journey that began nearly 28 years ago, swimming the English Channel from France to England on Oct. 5 to complete the final sea crossing of his trek.
Resting in Dover afterward, Bushby reflected on seeing the flag of his home country again. “I’m staring at the Union Jack flying outside this hotel. I’ve seen many flags over the days, but that one is special,” he said. He later shared a photo on social media of one of his first meals back home: a plate of authentic British fish and chips.
The journey isn’t finished yet. Bushby, a former paratrooper, is aiming to reach his mother’s home in Hull by the end of the month, which will mark the true end of a trek that has taken him across 29 countries and more than 30,000 miles.
A Birthday Card Sparked the Idea
According to his website, the idea took root in the 1990s after Bushby received a birthday card from his father describing an argument between two soldiers over whether it was possible to walk from London to New York by way of the Bering Strait. Bushby pulled out a map, traced a single line connecting the two cities, and found what became his life’s mission.
He set out from Chile on Nov. 1, 1998, with only a few hundred dollars to his name. “South America, you were young, it was all new, it was the boys adventure dream,” he said of those early days.
A Long, Winding Route
From South America, Bushby walked north through the United States and into Alaska, where he waited for the Bering Strait to freeze solid enough to cross into Russia. The expedition hit a major snag in April 2012 when Russia denied him a visa to continue. In protest, Bushby began walking in the opposite direction — toward the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. The visa ban was eventually overturned, and he resumed his route through Russia into Mongolia and China, later swimming the Caspian Sea between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan before making his way across Europe.
“You’ll find that you are way more capable than you think you are, people always underestimate themselves. The world always looks bigger and scarier than it actually is,” Bushby said.
He originally thought the whole trip would take about 12 years. Instead, visa troubles, the 2008 financial crash, the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical obstacles, detentions and a series of close calls stretched it out far longer. Bushby credits the people he met along the way with keeping him going.
“The world is an incredible place, and it’s the people, the strangers that I have met along the way, that have kept me upright and moving forward,” Bushby said.
With roughly 240 miles left before he reaches Hull, Bushby says he’s ready for the journey to end. “We went at a reasonable pace, we did what we needed to do and it has worked. I know it’s time to stop, I know that much because I feel that in the knees and ankles,” he said.
