The key facts

  • Karl Bushby completed a 28-year trek, having set out in November 1998 from Punta Arenas in Chile
  • Under the rules of the route he did not return to the UK until the end of the journey and did not use transport to advance
  • Under the rules of his route, he did not return to the UK until the end of the journey and did not use transport to make progress
  • In Hull he was met by his mother Angela, and on the Humber Bridge by his son, granddaughter, father and brothers
  • In Hull he was met by his mother Angela, while his son, granddaughter, father and brothers greeted him at the Humber Bridge

The finale of a 28-year route

British traveller Karl Bushby, a former paratrooper, completed his journey on 2 November, arriving at the home of his mother Angela in the Sutton Park area of Hull — 28 years after setting off. This was reported by BBC News,whose correspondent worked in Hull. According to the outlet, the route's length was 31,000 miles (50,000 km); however, another BBC piece devoted to the completion of the journey gives the figure of 36,000 miles — the outlets do not explain the discrepancy.

The rules and key stages of the journey

In November 1998, the 29-year-old Bushby set out from Punta Arenas in Chile, setting himself two conditions: not to return to the United Kingdom until the journey was over and not to use transport to advance along the route. The path crossed four continents; among the key stages were the Darién Gap jungle, the crossing of the frozen Bering Strait in 2006 and, at the finish, a swim across the English Channel in October this year. Only about 15 of the 28 years, he says, were spent actually walking: delays were caused by visa problems, the 2007 global economic crisis and the Covid pandemic; between stages he often stayed in Mexico, where expenses are low.

The reunion in Hull

In central Hull the traveller was greeted by a crowd; he was received by the Lord Mayor, Maria Coward. 'There has never been a homecoming like this, I'm sure. It's madness. A huge thank you,' Bushby said, adding that what 'brought me back was the biggest team of all — Earth.' At his mother's house, where, as had been agreed many years earlier, Angela was waiting for him, he said: 'It's good to be home. It feels surreal.' His mother, who had not seen him for ten years, asked: 'Where have you been?' and told the BBC: 'It's good to have him home. I feel relief'. The day before, as he crossed the Humber Bridge into East Yorkshire, Bushby was met by his 36-year-old son Adam, his 12-year-old granddaughter, whom he was seeing for the first time, his father and his brothers.

What happened along the way, and what comes next

Bushby set out, in his words, 'a penniless backpacker', relying on handouts and sometimes on food discarded by the roadside; later sponsors appeared, along with a book contract. Near the finish he signed an agreement with the renowned German director Werner Herzog — the two were photographed together on Shakespeare Beach near Dover immediately after he came out of the water in October. The traveller himself warned that a difficult adjustment lies ahead: 'Everything I am and everything I know about myself will disappear. There will be the good old identity crisis, because Karl is [the traveller], and has been for half his life.' The start of the route, he says, was 'an innate wanderlust' and the end of his marriage: his wife returned to Northern Ireland with their son. Under the rules of the journey he could not return to the UK, so he saw his son and his parents (they are divorced) only occasionally, in other countries.

Mum and son in a crowdImage source, PA Media
Image caption,

Karl Bushby and his mother Angela reunited at the end of his 28-year journey

Karl Bushby, with a thick beard covered in snow and ice. He has a hood up.Image source, Karl Bushby
Image caption,

Karl Bushby crossed the Bering Strait in 2006

A distance shot showing a man in a wetsuit wading out of the English Channel, the white cliffs of Dover in the background. Five people are on the sand to greet him.Image source, Karl Bushby
Image caption,

Bushby emerges from the English Channel near Dover

Karl Bushby, wearing a fleece and shorts, pushes a handcart along a fast rural road. An orange hi-vis bib is attached to the front of the cart.A person in light-coloured expedition clothing, a wide-brimmed hat and dark sunglasses stands in the opening of a crumbling stone wall in a dry, desert-like landscape. Beside the wall is a two-wheeled cart carrying a large white box covered with Union Jack flags and the words “Goliath Expedition”, while several tall cactus plants rise from the scrub-covered ground under a clear blue sky.A man wearing a green camouflaged poncho, a baseball cap and boots walks along a wet road, pushing a two-wheeled trolley containing all of his possessions.Global adventurer Karl Bushby places his arm on the shoulder of the BBC's Kevin ShoesmithA bespectacled woman with greying light brown hair rests her hands on a wrought iron gate in front of her home. The photo is taken at night, with light coming from the living room behind her.