Karl Bushby completes English Channel swim

Karl Bushby completes English Channel swim

Karl Bushby is now one step nearer the end of his journey after arriving in the UK.

Adventurer Karl Bushby says he has finished a multi-day swim across the English Channel, setting foot on UK soil after a 28-year journey.

Bushby, 57, set off from Chile in South America on 1 November 1998, guided by two self-imposed rules: he would not use transport to move forward, and he would not go home until the journey was finished.

On Tuesday, he said he had swum from France to the UK, the final major obstacle on his way back to his childhood home in Hull.

Bushby said: "[It] feels good to have UK soil under my feet after all these years. 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 said the swim took 20 hours across three days, with landfall at Shakespeare beach, just south of Dover, at 15:30 BST on Monday.

Bushby's team said he was greeted on the beach by a small group of friends and family, including his father, Keith Bushby, a former SAS soldier, and acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog, who is directing a feature-length documentary about the journey called Walk of Life.

For many years, the French have only allowed cross-Channel swims to begin in the UK, not in France.

However, Bushby's team said permission had been obtained from both French and UK authorities, and said they chose not to reveal exactly when it would happen "for safety and security reasons".

So far, Bushby has travelled more than 30,000 miles (48,000km), passing through 29 countries.

He walked the length of South America, crossed the dangerous Darien Gap and carried on north to Alaska.

From there he crossed the Bering Strait on foot, swimming where needed.

Bushby then made his way across Siberia and the rest of Asia before swimming across the Caspian Sea, a crossing that took 31 days.

He entered Europe last year and reached the English Channel last month.

The journey has been plagued by setbacks, with visa restrictions, the 2008 financial crash that cost him sponsors, Covid-19 and geopolitics all halting his progress.

In June, Channel Tunnel bosses blocked his request for access to a service tunnel, which he said left him with no choice but to swim.

In September, when the BBC met Bushby in Belgium, he said it was "definitely time to call it a day", adding: "I don't want to keep this going for much longer."

He said he had always been drawn to nature and horizons, which inspired his appetite for adventure.

He is expected to reach Hull by early November.