Yaeesh Collins|Published
Nine months ago, I wrote about Karl Bushby, the former paratrooper traversing the globe under two absolute rules: do not advance via transport, and do not return home except on foot.
Bushby finally reached British soil at Shakespeare Beach near Dover on October 5, 2026, after finally swimming the English Channel successfully.
Karl Bushby’s TikTok archive
Bushby’s first post was a Stitch with Dylan Page, titled “Welcome to my TikTok!” The card introduced “The Longest Walk In History!” and placed a 27-year expedition into the quick, direct format of TikTok.
Four days later, he posted “Hi, I’m Karl”. It was a simple introduction from a man arriving on the social media platform near the end of a journey that had already lasted decades.
The opening sequence gives the account its shape: a countdown to Turkey, a first-day memory, an explanation of the Caspian Sea crossing, a video on why Bushby says “we”, and an early reference to the final stretch.
“What my first day was like, walking around the world,” Bushby returns to November 1998. Bushby says, “It was a little overwhelming. A little exciting.”
The Caspian Sea and the Darién Gap
Rather than keeping a strict chronological diary, Bushby’s TikTok account jumps through time.
While he was walking through Turkey and Europe, several videos returned to the Darién Gap, the roadless region between Colombia and Panama that he crossed during an earlier stage of the expedition.
The account also unpacks his Caspian Sea crossing. While swimming contradicts the typical idea of a walking expedition, Bushby had to find a physical workaround that maintained his strict rule against forward transport.
Turkey, Romania and the return to Europe
By late July 2025, Bushby was building towards Turkey.
His titles show the route in stages: “Twelve days' til Turkey,” “The final stretch”, “Back in Turkey”, “Just a few days from Europe”, then “Back in Europe!”
Returning to Europe, however, did not spark a victory lap. Instead, his content documented the daily grind: fielding passport questions, spending seven days in Romania, finding food, accepting local hospitality, and getting “off the ground once again”.
His passport video highlights the expedition's administrative hurdles. A person can physically walk across continents, but they must still navigate rigid systems of visas, identity documents, and border control.
The European route
From February 2026, his posts shifted focus to Hungary, Austria, and Germany. Bushby filmed updates around Györ, Vienna, Linz, and Regensburg, frequently tracking the Danube River.
In several consecutive posts, fellow adventurer Angela Maxwell joined him on the road near Linz.
The English Channel
Bushby's English Channel crossing surfaced later in his feed, with a post tagged “#channeltunnel” sitting next to a “#channelswim” update.
Before the swim, Bushby described uncertainty around permission.
“We thought we got permission to swim from the coast of France. Turned out that is not the case.”
The final road
The Channel swim created the image that will travel furthest: Bushby emerging onto an English beach after nearly 28 years away.
But the Goliath Expedition still requires him to keep moving. About 400km remained between Dover and Hull when he landed.
For a journey measured across continents and decades, it is a short final stretch. It is the part that will finally take Bushby home to his son.
That boy is now 36, a dad himself and still waiting.
IOL