Karl walking through Turkey in 2025. (Image: Karl Bushby)
MPs are demanding the French help a globe-trotting British Army veteran who desperately needs permission to walk the length of the Channel Tunnel so he can get home to his mum’s house by Christmas. Former Paratrooper Karl Bushby, 56, has been trekking an incredible 36,000 miles from Patagonia, South America, to his childhood home in Hull, East Yorks, since setting off in 1998 after “making a bet in a bar”.
The determined Yorkshireman is now less than 500 miles from home, having reached the German-Belgian border on his most recent leg in June. Karl and his supporters have written to the French firm Getlink, which runs the Channel Tunnel, for permission to access the roughly 30-mile-long service tunnel, which runs between the railway lines 148 feet under the seabed of the English Channel.
They hope to be able to pass through the iconic structure by the end of September, but so far, there has been no firm response to the request. Walking the tunnel without special dispensation is illegal and punishable with a prison sentence.
MPs are now urging the French to show some bon ami and make an exception for the ex-military man who was part of the same regiment that helped liberate France during World War II.
Workers inside the Channel Tunnel in 2009. (Image: Getty)
Conservative MP Sir David Davis, who served in the Territorial Army’s 21 Special Air Service Regiment, said it was “absurd” that Karl’s epic journey could be halted by “red tape”.
“Karl Bushby’s 27-year journey across multiple continents is a triumph of human endurance,” he told the Daily Express.
“Having braved the world’s most hostile environments to walk 36,000 miles home, it would be an absolute absurdity if this epic feat were derailed at the final hurdle by simple bureaucratic red tape.”
Former Royal Air Force Flight Lieutenant Cam Thomas, Lib Dem MP for Tewkesbury, said he would be writing to the French Ambassador in London to encourage France to help Karl on his mission.
“Speaking as a retired RAF Police Officer, Karl is neither the first nor last Para to make an extraordinary decision in the bar. I salute his tenacity,” he said.
Karl travelling in South America in 2000. (Image: Karl Bushby)
“In 1944, the British 6th Airborne Division dropped to liberate France. I will write to the French Ambassador, to request our allies facilitate this veteran’s return to his mum”.
In 1994, more than 100 people walked the tunnel led by Olympic decathlon gold medallist Daley Thompson and raised more than £1million for charity. In 2016, two Iranian men were jailed for crossing under the Channel via the route. In the same year, a Sudanese man was found inside the structure. He later pleaded guilty to obstruction, but walked free from court due to time served.
Speaking to the Express last night on the latest with his tunnel crossing, Karl said: “It’s been radio silence for a while from the tunnel, a month ago I sent another email chasing, and my father has been involved as well to see if we can get someone’s attention.”
Should Karl be refused permission to walk the tunnel, he will be forced to swim the 21 miles across the Channel instead.
He said previously: “It would be pretty miserable if it were a no, even if the Russians let me through (their country), despite world tensions.”
Karl crossing the Bering Strait in 2006. (Image: Karl Bushby)
If Karl had to swim the Channel, it wouldn’t be his first plunge after he swam 186 miles across the Caspian Sea, in Asia, over 31 days last year.
While he awaits the decision, he plans to spend his downtime in Mexico for the summer – flying there and back doesn’t affect the challenge – before taking to the road once more in September.
Along the way, he’s been supported by his father, Keith, his mother, Angela and his brother, Adrian, along with his US sponsors, Westwood Productions. Throughout our chat, he often uses “we” to refer to them, despite being on the road by himself.
Karl took his first step in Patagonia with just $500 in his pocket and all his possessions strapped to a “golf cart” serving as his luggage carrier, nicknamed “The Beast”.
Stepping onto the road that morning was a mix of things – relief and a bizarreness that we had got to that point,” he said. “Until then, most of the time it seemed like a silly daydream and then, one day, you’re standing on a road that’s possibly 36,000 miles long.
“You feel like you’re further away from home than a manned mission to Mars or Jupiter at that point, and if you’re not looking for adventure, adventure is coming for you like a tsunami. You’re at the mercy of the whole world.”
His journey started well, but the Beast had broken down by the time Karl reached Peru.
He tried to replace it with pack animals, but had little joy with a grumpy donkey he dubbed “Genghis Khan” and later a horse that also didn’t enjoy the long walks.
Karl backpacked the rest of the way to Nicaragua, where a Beast II was made, which is still with him now. Karl has crossed around 25 borders in total and headed through the United States and Canada before crossing the frozen Bering Strait, and dodging polar bears, in 2006 to get between Alaska and Russia.
Once in Asia, Karl faced a few setbacks including being followed and arrested by Russian secret service agents and being forced to constantly exit Russia when his visa ran out. Last year Karl made it as far as Turkey and has trekked, or tabbed as they call it in the Parachute Regiment, through Romania Hungary and Austria and Germany so far in 2026.
Now 97% along the way of his mammoth walk home, Karl admits there isn’t much he’s missed about the UK – except for our national dish.
“It’s very difficult to find good fish and chips in the world,” he laughs.
Express.co.uk have contacted Getlink for comment.
