His ambition was to become the first person to continuously circumnavigate the globe on foot, which saw him travel through 29 countries, overcoming a series of obstacles which repeatedly forced him to alter his route.

Now on UK soil for the first time in near 30 years, Mr Bushby is due to continue to his family home in Hull, East Yorkshire, where his 28-year adventure will officially come to an end.

Karl said: “Feels good to have UK soil under my feet after all these years. It hasn’t been easy, and that’s part of the point.

“Proving I’m more capable than I give myself credit for. All of us can accomplish more than we will ever imagine.”

Family and friends gathered at the beach to welcome him back to Britain. He was also met by acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog and his crew, who are documenting the expedition for a feature-length film titled Walk Of Life.

The final stage of his journey only came after a dispute over how he would get from France to Britain, with months of indecision almost resulting in a much more underwhelming climax.

As the son of an SAS soldier and a former paratrooper himself, Karl had hoped to use the Channel Tunnel rather than enter the busy shipping lane. However, he was refused access to the tunnel this summer.

Eurotunnel said allowing him to use its service tunnel, which runs alongside the main passenger tunnel, would create a safety risk and interfere with essential maintenance operations.

French officials also pointed to a 2018 prefectoral order, stating Channel crossings by swimmers are permitted from the UK to France, but not in the opposite direction.

He ultimately secured the necessary permissions after much back and forth and coordinated with the French and UK coast guards before undertaking the swim.

Before the swim, Karl spent time in Mexico, where he retires between stages of his expedition to comply with visa requirements, recover and plan future routes – before crossing to Belgium and on to France.

The Channel was just the latest major obstacle encountered during his expedition, which has taken him across some of the world’s most challenging terrain and waterways.

In 2024, Mr Bushby swam 186 miles across the Caspian Sea to avoid travelling through Russia or Iran amid heightened tensions with the West.

He has also crossed the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama, one of the world’s most difficult overland routes, and became the first Briton to walk across the Bering Strait between North America and Russia.

Despite those feats, Karl said the most difficult aspects of the expedition have instead been securing visas and obtaining permission to use the Channel Tunnel.

The final leg will now take him north to Hull, where his mother, Angela, has promised to wait for him at the front gate of the family home.

Karl has previously estimated that he will fully complete the journey on November 1, nearly 28 years after he first set out from Chile.

The threat to Karl’s journey came with some irony after France stopped his journey despite failing to stop the more than 200,000 small boat migrants who have crossed the Channel since 2018.

British Explorer Returns to UK After 28 Years and 36,000 Miles by Swimming Across English Channel

After nearly three decades away from home, a British explorer has reportedly returned to the United Kingdom following an extraordinary journey spanning 28 years and approximately 36,000 miles, with a final crossing of the English Channel marking the end of an epic adventure.

The story captures the imagination because it combines endurance, determination and the powerful idea of finally coming home after spending much of one’s adult life travelling. A journey lasting almost 30 years is not simply a test of physical stamina. It is also a story about the passage of time, changing identities and the complicated relationship between exploration and belonging.

For anyone who has dreamed of leaving familiar surroundings to discover the world, such an achievement raises an intriguing question: what happens when the journey becomes so long that returning home feels almost like arriving in a different country?

The English Channel, one of the busiest waterways in the world, provides a dramatic setting for the final chapter. Its waters separate Britain from continental Europe, but they have also long served as a symbolic threshold between departure and arrival. Crossing it under one’s own power represents a particularly striking way to complete a journey that has taken an explorer across thousands of miles.

The precise circumstances of this reported expedition would need to be established from reliable accounts. Nevertheless, the central themes of the story offer a compelling look at the demands of long-distance exploration and the meaning of returning home after years spent on the road, at sea and far from familiar shores.

A Journey Measured in Decades

Twenty-eight years is an extraordinary amount of time to spend travelling. During that period, countries change governments, cities expand, technologies transform everyday life and entire generations grow up. A person who leaves home for a prolonged expedition may return to find that the place they remember has evolved almost beyond recognition.

A journey covering 36,000 miles would also involve an enormous range of environments and challenges. Long-distance explorers must contend with changing weather, unfamiliar landscapes, limited resources, logistical complications and the uncertainty that comes with spending extended periods away from a permanent home.

Such an expedition requires more than an adventurous spirit. It demands careful planning, adaptability and the ability to keep moving forward when the excitement of discovery gives way to exhaustion or isolation.

For many explorers, the greatest challenge is not one dramatic moment but the accumulation of thousands of smaller decisions. Every stage brings new questions about where to travel next, how to obtain supplies, how to remain safe and how to respond when plans go wrong.

Over time, travel can become less about reaching a particular destination and more about learning how to live with uncertainty. The ability to adjust expectations may be just as important as physical strength.

A journey lasting nearly three decades also raises practical questions about finances, equipment, communication and relationships. Remaining committed to an ambitious expedition over such a long period requires a way of sustaining the adventure while responding to circumstances that may change dramatically from year to year.

For those who follow stories of exploration, the duration itself is part of the fascination. The traveller is not merely covering geographical distance but experiencing a substantial portion of a lifetime along the way.