British adventurer Karl Bushby completes 28-year, 50,000-kilometre trek back to Hull
After 28 years and a 50,000-kilometre foot journey across four continents, Karl Bushby returned to his hometown of Hull, where he was welcomed by a crowd and his family.
British adventurer Karl Bushby arrived in the centre of Hull on Monday after a 28-year, 50,000-kilometre trek that began in Chile and spanned four continents. He was greeted by up to 1,000 onlookers and thanked supporters for the assistance he received along the way.
"I didn't do this alone," Bushby said, describing the effort as a "global effort" and noting the help he received from governments and individuals.
The journey, which Bushby calls the “Goliath Expedition,” was launched in the mid-1990s after a birthday card from his father sparked the idea of walking from London to the tip of South America. He set out with a strict rule that no transport could be used to move forward and that he would return home on foot.
Bushby faced numerous obstacles, including hurricane-force winds on the Patagonian Steppe, the dangerous Darién Gap, a near-fatal plunge during a Bering Strait crossing, visa denials, and pandemic-related delays. He was detained in Panama, jailed in Russia, and forced to swim across the Caspian Sea using a “float-ming” technique.
Support from strangers, occasional sponsors and a production company backing a documentary by filmmaker Werner Herzog helped sustain the expedition. Herzog and a film crew accompanied Bushby on his homecoming.
Hull Mayor Maria Coward praised the achievement, saying the city took "pride in his incredible achievement." Bushby was later reunited with his mother, his son and his granddaughter, whom he had never met before.
"Feels good to have UK soil under my feet after all these years," Bushby said in a statement, adding that the journey "hadn't been easy."
He acknowledged the challenge of readjusting to ordinary life in Britain after the long trek.