After a 28-year trek around the world, homebound Karl Bushby crosses the Humber Bridge

The adventurer has said the opportunity to embark on his walk came after the breakdown of his marriage, when his wife returned to Northern Ireland with their son.

"When I left home and I walked down south first of all to test the machine that I first had, I don't remember any of that journey except for the Humber Bridge," he said on Sunday.

"There's that mystic look to it where you can't see the other side of the river.

"It's kind of almost symbolic.

"The Humber Bridge has always been that iconic landmark in my mind."

Aged 29, Bushby said he walked out of Punta Arenas, Chile, with a few hundred dollars in his pocket and turned north for home.

By the time he swum back across the English Channel on 5 October, Bushby, now 57, had crossed four continents, a frozen sea, deserts, mountains and jungles.