Karl Bushby, 57, said he stepped onto Shakespeare Beach near Dover at 15:30 BST on Monday after swimming about 20 hours over three days. He left Chile on 1 November 1998 under rules that bar transport and a return home before the walk is finished.
British adventurer Karl Bushby said he has completed a multi-day swim of the English Channel, the last major water crossing on a walk that began in Chile on 1 November 1998. BBC News reported the landing.
Bushby, 57, set two rules: not to use transport to advance, and not to return to Hull until the journey is complete. He said he reached Shakespeare Beach, just south of Dover, at 15:30 BST on Monday after about 20 hours in the water over three days. HM Coastguard said it liaised with French authorities and maritime partners on safety protocols.
His team said a small group of friends and family met him, including his father, Keith Bushby, and filmmaker Werner Herzog, who is directing a documentary titled Walk of Life. Bushby said it felt good to have UK soil under his feet and that the difficulty was part of the point.
Channel Tunnel managers had refused a request to use a service tunnel, the BBC reported, leaving the swim as the remaining route after he reached the French side of the Channel last month. He told the BBC on Wednesday that he had not trained for the crossing and that the swim was physically and mentally draining.
The walk is not finished. Hull, his stated endpoint, is still ahead. No official Channel Swimming Association ratification was cited in the BBC reports used here.
People Sentiments Positive
- Karl Bushby said it felt good to have UK soil under his feet after all these years.
- He said the swim required respect for people who cross the Channel under tight rules.