Bushby's preferred solution was not to swim the English Channel.
He had hoped to find a way through the Channel Tunnel while still respecting the rules of his expedition.
But the proposal faced safety and access problems.
Reports said his request to use a service route through the Channel Tunnel was ultimately rejected.
That left him with an extraordinary choice.
Stop before Britain?
Or enter the water.
For a journey that had already involved frozen seas and a 288-kilometre Caspian swim, the answer was perhaps predictable.
Bushby would swim.
But crossing the English Channel from France is not as simple as entering the water and heading toward England.
The crossing required permissions and coordination with authorities, and French rules created additional complications because Channel swims traditionally operate under different arrangements depending on the direction and starting point.
The necessary permissions were secured only after a difficult process.
Then Bushby entered the water.
After 28 Years, Britain
On 5 October 2026, Bushby finally reached Shakespeare Beach near Dover.
Britain was no longer somewhere on the other side of the world.
It was beneath his feet.
After almost 28 years away, he had returned to the country where his journey began in his imagination.
He had travelled through approximately 29 countries and covered tens of thousands of kilometres.
The English Channel crossing itself took several days and was completed with support from a boat and team, while Bushby remained in the water for the actual swimming sections. Reports described the final crossing as lasting around three days and 20 hours, with a swimming distance of roughly 28 kilometres, though conditions and reporting methods mean individual figures vary.
For most people, arriving in Britain after swimming from France would be the unquestionable end of an adventure.
For Bushby, it was not.
Because Dover is not Hull.
The Final Miles
His mother is still waiting in Hull.
That detail may be one of the most emotionally powerful aspects of the entire story.
Bushby did not spend 28 years travelling around the world simply to establish a geographical record.
The destination has always been home.
And now, home is finally within walking distance.
The remaining distance is commonly reported at roughly 250 miles, or around 400 kilometres, although the exact figure depends on the route he takes across England. Bushby's own expedition website describes approximately 400 kilometres remaining from his landing point.
Compared with the tens of thousands of kilometres already behind him, 400 kilometres may sound almost insignificant.
It is not.
After 28 years, every remaining mile carries a different meaning.
There is no longer another continent waiting beyond the horizon.
There is no visa application that might suddenly change his route.
There is no frozen strait to cross.
No jungle.
No Caspian Sea.
No international ocean passage.
Just England.
Roads.
Villages.
Fields.
Towns.
And eventually, Hull.
His mother's front door.
The Strange Problem of Finishing
There is something almost unsettling about reaching the end of a journey that has defined your entire adult life.
For nearly three decades, Bushby has always had a reason to keep moving.
There was another country.
Another border.
Another mountain.
Another sea.
Another legal problem.
Another 100 kilometres.
Another impossible obstacle.
The journey gave his life a structure.
When he finally reaches Hull, that structure disappears.
This is one reason the final stage may be emotionally more complicated than it appears.
The physical challenge remains enormous, but the psychological transition could be just as significant.
For 28 years, the question was:
How do I keep going?
Soon, it will become:
What do I do now that I have arrived?
The Financial Times, reflecting on Bushby's journey as it approached its conclusion, noted the unusual psychological dimension of returning home after spending most of his adult life travelling toward it.
The end of an expedition can be surprisingly difficult for adventurers.
The goal that once seemed impossibly distant suddenly becomes real.
And when the goal disappears, a person has to discover what comes next.