After 28 Years and 31,000 Miles, Karl Bushby Finally Walks Home

British adventurer Karl Bushby has returned to his childhood home in Hull, completing an extraordinary journey that began at the southern tip of Chile almost 28 years ago.

The former paratrooper was 28 when he left Punta Arenas in 1998, determined to travel home without using motorised transport to advance his journey. Now 57, he has crossed four continents and around 30 countries, covering approximately 31,000 miles on foot and through a series of formidable water crossings.

His route took him through the Darién Gap in Central America, across the frozen Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia and through vast sections of Asia and Europe. When walking was impossible, he swam—including a 31-day crossing of the Caspian Sea and, most recently, the English Channel.

The journey took far longer than the 12 years Bushby originally anticipated. Visa restrictions, border disputes, funding difficulties, the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic repeatedly stopped his progress, with only around 15 of the 28 years spent actively walking.

Hundreds of people welcomed him into Hull’s Queen Victoria Square before he completed the final miles to his mother’s home. There, he was reunited with his family, including his adult son and the 12-year-old granddaughter he had never met.

It was the quietest destination imaginable after one of the world’s most demanding adventures: not a mountain summit or distant landmark, but the front door he had promised himself he would only enter again once the journey was complete.

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