British adventurer Karl Bushby has completed a 28-year journey on foot from Chile to England, covering approximately 50,000 kilometres. Bushby, 57, set off in November 1998, shortly after his marriage broke down and his wife moved to Northern Ireland with their son. He walked to reunite with his family after nearly three decades on the road. Bushby's journey took him through various countries, including the length of the Americas, over the frozen Bering Strait, and through Central Asia and Europe.
Bushby's idea to walk around the world came from a birthday card from his father, which described two UK Special Forces members arguing over whether a person could walk from London to New York through the Bering Strait. Bushby decided to try it, then to go further, with two rules: use no form of transport to move forward, and do not come home until it is finished. He pushed his belongings the whole way on a metal-framed cart and faced numerous challenges, including catching amoebic dysentery in Colombia and being robbed in Ecuador.
Bushby's journey was not without its setbacks. He was jailed in Panama over his immigration status, and Moscow refused him a visa at one point. The 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic also caused him to stop. During those breaks, he lived at a base in Mexico, then resumed from the exact spot where he had stopped. Bushby had a catch to his no-transport rule: when he could not walk, he swam, including across the Caspian Sea.
The last obstacle for Bushby was the English Channel, where a request to walk through the Channel Tunnel was refused. With special permission from the French authorities, he swam across in early October, setting foot on UK soil for the first time in 28 years. A crowd of up to 1,000 people cheered him into the city centre of Hull, a day after he crossed the Humber Bridge in thick mist.
Bushby was reunited with his mother, Angela, outside her house in Hull. He had not seen her in about three decades. Later, he was due to meet his 36-year-old son, Adam, and a 12-year-old granddaughter he had never met. Bushby, a former paratrooper, was 29 when he set off from Punta Arenas in southern Chile on November 1, 1998, with a tent, a few hundred dollars, and a cheap plastic camera.
Filmmaker Werner Herzog and a crew followed Bushby's final steps for a documentary called "Walk of Life." The production company behind it has supported Bushby with money and logistics for 16 years. Bushby told the crowd that he did not do this alone, calling the journey a "global effort." Hull Mayor Maria Coward said the city took pride in what she called his "incredible achievement."
Ahead of his return, Bushby expressed apprehension about life back in Britain, saying he had to try and get established in the grown-up world again. With his journey complete, Bushby can now look forward to spending time with his family and adjusting to life back in the UK.
Key points
- Karl Bushby walked 50,000 kilometres from Chile to England over 28 years.
- Bushby faced numerous challenges, including illness, robbery, and visa issues.
- A crowd of up to 1,000 people welcomed Bushby back to Hull.
