The adventurer and former paratrooper is nearing the end of his historic walk across England – but after his plans to walk through the Channel Tunnel have failed, he may be ready for a big swim.
(Photo: Anadolu/Contributor via Getty)
Published June 17, 2026 07:08 pm
Where most thru-hikers spend six months or less pursuing their goal, Carl Bushby has been hiking for 28 years. Now, on the home front, he faces one of the biggest hurdles in his journey.
By any standards, nearly three decades is a ridiculously long time to spend on a one-off excursion. On 1 November 1998, when Bushby departed Punta Arenas, Chile, from what he said goliath campaignBill Clinton was president, and consumer Internet was more of a novelty than a major thing in the average person’s life. (I didn’t get a chance to cover the beginning of Bushby’s walk because, unfortunately, I had just turned 10.)
Over the past three decades, Bushby has covered thousands of miles, traveling on foot from America’s south to north, and crossing the frozen Bering Strait into Russia (and being detained by border officials for his trouble). He spent years sorting out visa issues that threatened to sink the entire enterprise. As Bill Donahue wrote in 2012 backpacker In Bushby’s feature, “The Long Way Home”, the former British paratrooper steadfastly refuses to use transportation to move forward or visit his childhood home in Hull, England, until he gets there with unbroken steps and swimming strokes.
The latest, and possibly last, difficulty surfaced earlier this week. On 16 June, the authority in charge of the Channel Tunnel linking the UK and France announced that it would not allow Bushby to complete the journey on foot through its service tunnel. Bushby had earlier hoped that he would be able to reach a tunnel to bypass the English Channel, the last major geographical obstacle between him and the end of his expedition. but sreaching bbcA spokesman for Eurotunnel, the authority in charge of the tunnel’s administration, said that “regretfully (Eurotunnel) was unable to meet Mr Bushby’s wishes.”
“The Channel Tunnel’s service tunnel is a dedicated safety and maintenance route,” Eurotunnel said. “Closing the service tunnel for more than 15 hours or two days would pose a safety risk to passenger services and affect essential maintenance work.”
While Bushby told the BBC that he and his team were still processing the news, the denial left him with only one way to get home according to campaign rules: swimming the Channel.
“I may have to start paddling again,” he said.
This wouldn’t be the first time Bushby had to swim across an obstacle. In addition to tackling expanses of open water during his Bering crossing, Bushby swam 179 miles across the Caspian Sea in 2024 to avoid running afoul of Iran or Russia. The entire journey took him 31 days, during which he swam 6 hours a day and rested on a support boat at night.
Bushby expected to reach Calais in September; From there, depending on whether he can convince Eurotunnel to reverse its decision, it’s either a straight walk of 31 miles or a difficult swim of approximately the same distance to the English shores. What awaits him on the other side? Her mother, childhood home, and (we’re guessing) a Goliath-sized case of the post-thru-hike blues await her for the start. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess.
“Carl Bushby refused to deviate from his grand plan, and the picture of his life reflects that decision. Certainly, he has experienced moments of triumph, but he has also paid a heavy price for his stubbornness, as have others around him. When he set out on his journey some 14 years ago, he left behind an eight-year-old son. Along the way, in Colombia, he met “the only woman who mattered to me.” However, They are no longer together, and Bushby is not responsible for anything other than his dream. Is he the ultimate inspiration for the adventurous visionary? Or is he instead a tragic case of arrested development?
