DOVER, England — After nearly 28 years travelling home from the southern tip of South America, Karl Bushby stepped onto a beach in Kent on Monday. Britain was finally beneath his feet again. His mother’s front door in Hull remains the finish line.
The 57-year-old former British Army paratrooper reached Shakespeare Beach, just south of Dover, on October 5, 2026, after swimming the English Channel from France. According to BBC reporting by Kevin Shoesmith, Bushby said he spent 20 hours swimming over three days and made landfall at 3:30 p.m. BST.
“Feels good to have UK soil under my feet after all these years,” he said in a statement released on Tuesday.
His return brings the Goliath Expedition into its final stretch. ITV News reports that he has travelled approximately 50,000 kilometres through 29 countries, covering more than 30,000 miles.
A journey from Chile, governed by two rules
Bushby began walking from Punta Arenas, Chile, on November 1, 1998, aged 29. According to his official expedition website, he started with about $500 and no sponsors.
He imposed two rules: he would use no transport to advance along his route, and he would not return home until he arrived under his own power. Walking, with swimming where necessary, would connect the journey from Chile to England.
The idea had taken shape while he was still serving in the Army. His website describes a birthday card from his father containing a story about soldiers discussing whether it was possible to walk from London to New York via the Bering Strait. Bushby drew a route on a map that extended through Europe and Asia to Alaska and down through the Americas.
He initially expected the expedition to take about 12 years. Instead, border restrictions, funding difficulties and a pandemic stretched it across nearly three decades.
His route took him through South America and the dangerous Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama, then north through the Americas to Alaska. In March 2006, he crossed the Bering Strait with fellow adventurer Dimitri Kieffer, travelling over sea ice and negotiating open water between Alaska and Russia.
From there, Bushby continued through Siberia and Asia. In 2024, he swam roughly 300 kilometres across the Caspian Sea from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan after difficulties with alternative land routes. He reached Europe in 2025 before continuing towards the Channel.
The expedition’s duration includes lengthy pauses. Russian visa problems, the 2008 financial crisis and Covid-19 all interrupted progress. During enforced breaks he lived elsewhere, including Mexico, then returned to the exact point where he had stopped to resume the route.
The Channel crossing—and the homecoming still ahead
Even after reaching northern Europe, Bushby faced uncertainty over how to enter Britain. His request to walk through the Channel Tunnel’s service tunnel was refused, leaving him to seek permission for a swim across the busy waterway.
He eventually secured approval from British and French authorities. His team said the crossing was kept out of the public eye beforehand for safety and security reasons, according to AFP’s account of his return.
A small group of friends and relatives, including his father and brothers, welcomed him ashore. Filmmaker Werner Herzog was also waiting with a crew making Walk of Life, a feature-length documentary about the expedition. AFP reports that the production company has provided financial and logistical support for 16 years, helping Bushby record the journey and preserve the footage.
His statement acknowledged the difficulty of the undertaking and the confidence it had given him in his own abilities.
“All of us can accomplish more than we will ever imagine,” he said.
But returning to ordinary life brings uncertainty of its own. Speaking to AFP in northern France before the crossing, Bushby said he would have to establish himself again after arriving home with nothing.
He now faces the final walk north to his mother’s home in Hull, with an arrival expected around early November. Reaching Dover is a major milestone; the expedition will end when he reaches home.
For a journey measured in continents, years and tens of thousands of miles, the last destination is a familiar front door.
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