How Karl Bushby battled English Channel doubts

British adventurer Karl Bushby says he battled self-doubt to complete a gruelling swim across the English Channel with no training - the final, major hurdle on his 28-year walk across the world.

The former paratrooper set off from Chile, South America, on 1 November 1998 with two self-imposed rules - not to use transport to advance and not to return home to Hull until the journey is complete.

On Tuesday, he announced he had reached Dover, where he was welcomed by family after three days at sea, including 20 hours in the water between rests.

He said: "Getting in the water that first day, I thought 'have I taken too much of a bite here? But you dig deep. Keep on keeping on. You find a rhythm."

Bushby has covered more than 30,000 miles (48,000km), including 29 countries.

The expedition, which aims to walk the longest unbroken path in human history, has included crossing the Bering Strait, which separates Alaska and Russia, evading bandits to trek across the Darién Gap into Colombia, and swimming the Caspian Sea.

He crossed into Europe last year and arrived at the English Channel last month, where he was left with no choice other than to swim after Channel Tunnel bosses vetoed his request for access to a service tunnel.

Despite encountering a "glassy" English Channel, the 57-year-old said he found the swim physically and mentally draining, magnified by a lack of training.

He said: "You have to have respect for the real swimmers who do this swim with very tight rules. They can't even touch the [support] boat, and are moving at twice the speed I was.

"There was no training at all. I tested the wet suit to see if it fit and then it was just go.

"After an hour in the water I was already cramping up and I was really thinking, 'am I going to be able to pull this off?'"

Swimming at night brought "intense moments", he said.

"The support boat was just off to the side... I was laid on my back looking straight up at the sky. You got the whole deal, the whole shebang.

"You're far away from light pollution and have the whole night sky in front of you.

"It gave me something to think about and took my mind off the pain and aches. It was amazing."

His team secured necessary permissions to make the crossing at the "eleventh hour".

"Everyone was very tense," Bushby recalled. "I was mentally preparing myself to knuckle down for another hard fight. It all happened very quickly. Before I knew it, I was in the water."

The journey has been dogged by problems, with visa restrictions, the 2008 financial crash which cost him sponsors, Covid-19 and geopolitics having all stopped him in his tracks.

He is expected to resume his journey on Friday, aiming to arrive at his childhood home in Hull, where his mother still lives, by early November.

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