In brief
Karl Bushby has ended a 28‑year, 50,000‑kilometre walk around the globe, arriving home in Hull, England. Starting in 1998 from Chile, he crossed jungles, frozen seas, and borders, and finally swam the English Channel before the final leg. A feature documentary is in production and he plans a speaking tour soon.
British explorer Karl Bushby completed a 28‑year, 50,000‑kilometre walk around the world and returned to his childhood home in Hull, England, on Monday, according to the Al Jazeera report.
His expedition, called the Goliath Expedition, began in Punta Arenas, Chile, in November 1998, with only a tent, a few hundred dollars and a cheap plastic camera. Bushby set out to reach his home without motorised transport, hiking north through the Americas, crossing the Bering Strait by walking on the ice from Alaska to Russia, and then continuing east across Mongolia and China.
Along the way he swam across the Caspian Sea, negotiated the dense Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, was detained after entering Russia, and struggled with repeated visa issues and funding shortages. The global financial crisis of 2008 cost him major sponsors, extending the expected 12‑year journey into the 28 years it took.
Last month he completed the final major obstacle by swimming across the English Channel, clearing the last lap before his final homeward walk. He then walked the last stretch to his terraced house.
When he stepped onto the pavement outside his mother Angela’s home, a banner reading “Welcome Home Son” flapped overhead and hundreds of cheering supporters lined the city centre. Bushby was embraced by his mother, who was quoted as saying he had “made it” after the long journey, and he joked in front of the crowd that he was “sorry to keep you waiting.”
He said:
They say it takes a village, but literally it took a world to get me here. The kindness of strangers, so many, from individuals to nation‑states, to get me back here today. I didn’t do this alone. There was a big team. The biggest team. Earth.
Al Jazeera notes that a feature‑length documentary about his journey is in production and that Bushby plans to begin a speaking tour around England in the coming weeks.
