DOVER, United Kingdom (AFP) — A British adventurer on a 50,000-kilometre, 28-year trek home from South America without using any transport has set foot on United Kingdom (UK) soil after swimming the Channel, his publicists said Tuesday.

Karl Bushby, a 57-year-old former paratrooper, set off from Punta Arenas, Chile, in November 1998, vowing to reach his mother’s home near Hull in northern England without travelling on planes, trains, boats, vehicles or other transport modes.

Nearly three decades and 29 countries later, Bushby stepped ashore in southeast England on Monday afternoon, after securing permission from UK and French authorities to swim across the busy Channel waterway from France.

He and his team said they opted not to publicise the swim for safety and security reasons.

“Feels good to have UK soil under my feet after all these years,” the adventurer said in a brief statement released Tuesday.

“It hasn’t been easy, and that’s part of the point. Proving I’m more capable than I give myself credit for,” he added.

“All of us can accomplish more than we will ever imagine.”

Bushby has paused his journey several times.

Moscow refused him a visa for a long time, while the 2008 financial crisis and then the Covid-19 pandemic proved to be other hold-ups.

At those times, he stepped away from the journey, living notably in Mexico, then once the situation cleared, he would resume his journey at the exact spot where he had left off.

A small gathering of friends and family, including his father and brothers, welcomed Bushby on Shakespeare Beach, just south of Dover, as he emerged from the water on Monday.

He was also greeted by legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog and his film crew, who are making a feature-length documentary about the journey entitled Walk of Life.

The production company behind the film has been supporting Bushby’s progress for the past 16 years, providing financial and logistical assistance, as well as equipping Bushby to document his trek and archiving the footage.

His epic journey has seen him walk the length of the Americas, cross the Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia, and then traverse east to west overland.

In an interview with AFP from northern France last month, Bushby voiced some apparent apprehension about returning to a more normal life back in Britain.

“I’ve got to try and get established in the grown-up world again, because I’m going to arrive home with nothing,” he said.