After 28 Years on Foot, Bushby Gets French Approval to Swim the Final 21 Miles Home

A British ex-paratrooper nearing the end of a 36,000-mile walk around the world has secured French government permission to swim the English Channel, clearing a legal and operational hurdle that nearly derailed his journey.

Karl Bushby, 57, set out from Punta Arenas, Chile, on November 1, 1998, with a simple vow: to reach his mother's house in Hull, England, entirely on foot, using no motorized transport. Nearly three decades later, he has walked across four continents, traversed the frozen Bering Strait, crossed the Caspian Sea, and navigated every major political obstacle from Russia to Central Asia. But the final 21 miles—across the English Channel—became his greatest hurdle. When Eurotunnel refused his request in June 2026 to walk through a service tunnel on safety grounds, citing the 15-hour closure required and operational risks, Bushby faced an unexpected problem: a 1993 French law prohibiting swimming from French territorial waters. The law was designed to regulate Channel crossings, but it meant Bushby could not legally begin his swim from the French coast where he would arrive. After months of lobbying his support team—working from Los Angeles—managed to secure exemption from the French government. Bushby said the French were "willing to play ball" and that his team had "found enough support from within the French government" to allow the swim. He expects to return home within two months, completing what would be the longest continuous pedestrian journey in history.