Round-the-world walker hits Channel Tunnel snag

Karl Bushby wants to use the Channel Tunnel to return to the UK after a 28-year journey

A Briton nearing the end of a 36,000-mile trek around the world without transport says he may be forced to swim from France to England if he is not allowed to use the Channel Tunnel.

Ex-paratrooper Karl Bushby, 56, set off from Chile in 1998 and is nearing Budapest in Hungary.

He hopes to reach his home city of Hull in September following an adventure that has seen him dodge gangs in the Darién Gap in South America, cross the Bering Strait and swim across the Caspian Sea.

However, securing permission to use a service tunnel to cross the Channel is proving difficult. The BBC has contacted the Channel Tunnel's parent company GetLink and LeShuttle, which runs the train service, for a response.

Mr Bushby set off on his global adventure in November 1998

According to the rules he has set himself, Mr Bushby cannot use any form of mechanised transport – including ferries.

Speaking from the roadside, he said: "It would be pretty miserable if it was a no.

"Even the Russians let me through [their country], despite world tensions."

His support team told the BBC they had made repeated attempts to contact Channel Tunnel officials in order to seek permission but had yet to receive a response.

Mr Bushby, who wants access to a service tunnel separate to that used by the trains, said: "If I have to swim across, I obviously will. But it will be colder than the Caspian."

Last year, he completed a 186-mile (300km) swim across the Caspian Sea – the first person to do so.

Mr Bushby plans to make a special delivery when he reaches Austria next year..

He said: "Back in Chile, right at the start of the walk, a doctor gave me 50 bucks and asked me to hand deliver a postcard to his brother in Vienna, Austria. I intend to do that. I expected it will be the longest-ever delivery time for any letter!"

The adventurer has often relied on a handcart to carry his provisions

He admitted that nearing the end of his 36,000-mile adventure was a "positively scary" thought.

"It's going to be hard," he said. "I've spoken with a number of long-distance walkers, some walking five years or more, and they have told me it's very difficult returning to normal society.

"The key will be throwing myself into another mission, to have another goal."

Mr Bushby said his faith in humanity had never faltered.

"I can see myself in a classroom, giving the good news to children that 99.99% of the world is good. The world is not as scary as you might think.

"Even in the places you might not expect, I have found kind and generous people. In Peru, I was welcomed into homes, literally built from cardboard, to share a bowl of rice."

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