Karl Bushby’s 28-year walk home to Hull hits Channel Tunnel block: Jobsworths threaten final stretch

Former British paratrooper Karl Bushby has spent nearly 28 years walking more than 36,000 miles from Chile back to Hull. European red tape now threatens to stop him short of the finish line.

GetLink, the Channel Tunnel operators, rejected his formal request to walk the 31-mile service tunnel. French rules that forbid swimming from the French coast to Britain have created a second major obstacle.

Bushby left Punta Arenas in November 1998 under two strict rules for his Goliath Expedition: no mechanised transport to advance, and no return to the UK until the unbroken path is finished. Wars, visa problems, arrests and funding collapses stretched what he thought would be a 12-year trek into almost three decades.

Arrests, stolen kit and a 31-day Caspian crossing

Bushby forced his way through the lawless Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, spent 18 days in a Panama prison for entering without a visa, and later overstayed a US visa that forced him back to Colombia. His trailer vanished on New Year’s Day 2003 just before the Canadian border. In 2006 he crossed the Bering Strait from Alaska to Siberia, only to be detained by Russian border officials until then-UK Deputy PM John Prescott stepped in.

Sponsors pulled out during the 2008 financial crisis and left him stranded for two years. More Russian visa trouble sent him walking from Los Angeles all the way to the Russian embassy in Washington DC. He reached Mongolia in 2017 and Uzbekistan in 2019 before further blocks in Turkmenistan and Iran, plus the Covid pandemic, slowed everything yet again.

To avoid Russia and Iran in 2024 he swam more than 170 miles across the Caspian Sea from Kazakhstan towards Azerbaijan in 31 days. By early June this year he had walked through Armenia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and, after a Mexico break to reset his Schengen allowance, into Belgium, putting him roughly 600 miles from Hull.

Eurotunnel’s safety-first rejection

Bushby put in a formal request to walk the dedicated service tunnel that runs between the two rail tunnels. GetLink turned him down. A company spokesperson said they had carefully considered every option but could not accommodate the request. Closing the service tunnel for the estimated 15 hours (or possibly two days) would create safety risks for passenger services and disrupt essential maintenance. Access is tightly controlled and needs specialist planning. Passenger, staff and infrastructure safety remains the highest priority. They congratulated him on the journey so far and wished him well for the rest of the way home.

Bushby then responded that the entire circumnavigation had only been possible thanks to help from people, organisations and governments along the route. He said it was his sincere wish that Eurotunnel would reconsider and help him complete the final few miles so the dream could come true.

Swim plan runs into French rules

Bushby once joked that taking hostages would be preferable to swimming the Channel. He has admitted he is “just not into the swim thing” after the Caspian and Bering experiences, saying the English Channel is colder and far busier with shipping. He has still prepared for it, by getting a support boat for an October attempt that could take two or three days.

French authorities only tolerate organised swims from the UK coast towards France. A 2018 order blocks departures from French shores to Britain. Bushby’s team is in contact with the French coastguard and Maritime Prefecture asking for an exception. He is currently in Mexico sorting visa requirements and plans to return to Belgium in early September, reaching France later that month to prepare. Walking the service tunnel remains his preferred option.

Once on British soil he intends to walk north to the doorstep of his childhood home in Hull’s Sutton Park, where his mother Angela has said she will be waiting. Typical British officiousness cannot be the end of the road for this heroic challenge.

A petition to get authorities to allow Karl Bushby to finish his epic walk is available to sign at Change.org.

Karl Bushby is nearing the finish line of his 27-year “Goliath Expedition”—a 36,000-mile walk around the globe.

Having crossed the Darien Gap, Bering Strait, and even tamed the Caspian Sea by swimming, he now hopes to finish by September 2026.pic.twitter.com/2mx16uZKLY

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 16, 2025