KARL BUSHBY completes 28-year global walk, greeted as hero in Hull
HULL, England — After 28 years, 36,000 miles and crossing 29 countries, Karl Bushby completed a record-breaking walk from Punta Arenas, Chile to his hometown of Hull on Monday, arriving back in the city he left as a young soldier in 1998.
Bushby, 57, arrived back in Hull on the same date he set off in 1998, crossing the Humber Bridge on Sunday to complete the journey he began as a 29-year-old former paratrooper. The walk, which spanned four continents, a frozen sea, deserts, jungles and mountains, saw Bushby adhere to two self-imposed rules: not to return home until the feat was fully completed, and not to use transport to advance.
The journey tested Bushby severely. He crossed the frozen Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia, traversed the notorious Darién Gap in Central America, and faced polar bears, kidnappers and a spell in Russian custody where he was convicted of being a spy and sentenced to deportation. His heavily loaded trolley, Beast 2 — which carried medicine, sleeping bags, headtorches and two very worn tyres — became a symbol of the odyssey; his first trolley broke down en route.
Upon his arrival, Bushby was greeted by a crowd in Queen Victoria Square, where he joked he had no idea which direction he was going and asked well-wishers to point the way. He was reunited with his 75-year-old mother Angela, with whom he shared a tearful embrace. Also present were his 36-year-old son and a 12-year-old granddaughter whom Bushby was meeting for the first time.
German filmmaker Werner Herzog attended the welcome-home event. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's office congratulated Bushby on his "truly remarkable" feat, noting the extraordinary determination and self-belief required.
"It took a world to get me here," Bushby said. "The kindness of strangers — so many, from individuals to nation states, to get me back here. I didn’t do this alone."
Bushby described walking as "boring as hell" in a previous interview, yet his journey has come to be recognised as the longest unbroken foot journey in history, far outstripping the 25,000-mile circumference of the Earth.
He told the crowd he was sorry to keep them waiting. "It’s been a while," he said.
Bushby added: "I guess I’ll be seeing you around."
