UK adventurer ends epic 28-year, 50,000km trek around the world

After 28 years, British adventurer Karl Bushby on Monday ends a 50,000km (31,000-mile) trek home from Chile across four continents without using any transport.

Bushby, who set off on his odyssey from South America in 1998, had two golden rules for his journey – he should avoid all forms of transport to advance and not return until he completed his challenge.

The route back to his home city of Hull in northeastern England has seen him walk the length of the Americas, across the Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia and then through parts of central Asia and Europe covering jungles, mountains, deserts and a frozen sea.

People on Sunday applauded him as he crossed the Humber Bridge near Hull in thick mist, ahead of his final push into the city centre and then on to his mother’s home.

The 57-year-old former paratrooper, who pushed his belongings with him on a metal-framed cart, told BBC radio he was “absolutely overwhelmed” by the reception.

He was given a civic welcome on Monday by the city’s mayor and members of the public.

“So many people have followed Karl on his epic journey. We have all felt inspired by his spirit, tenacity and dogged determination,” said Hull’s mayor Maria Coward, adding the city took “pride in his incredible achievement”.

He will then embark on the very final leg of his journey to north Hull to be reunited with his mother Angela, his 36-year-old son Adam and a 12-year-old granddaughter he has never met.

Bushby began his odyssey adventure when he was 29 after his marriage broke down and his wife returned to Northern Ireland with their son.

He paused the journey several times, including when Moscow refused him a visa. 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 at a base in Mexico, then once the situation had been resolved, he would resume from the exact spot where he had left off.

He reached Britain early last month by swimming across the busy English Channel from northern France.

A small gathering of friends and family including his father greeted him on the beach near Dover in southern England.

“Feels good to have UK soil under my feet after all these years,” he said afterwards in a statement, adding his journey “hadn’t been easy, and that’s part of the point – proving I’m more capable than I give myself credit for”.

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

Legendary German filmmaker Werner Herzog and a film crew are accompanying Bushby on his homecoming.

Herzog is 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 help.

In an interview with Agence France-Presse from northern France in September, Bushby voiced some 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,” he said.