Karl Bushby nears Hull after 28-year, 31,000-mile trek

Karl Bushby is nearing Hull after a 28-year journey on foot from southern Chile, a trek he says has covered 31,000 miles and taken him across four continents. The former paratrooper is now making the final few miles of a challenge that barred him from returning to the UK or using transport to advance his route.

Bushby, who was 29 when he set off in 1998 and is now 57, crossed the Darién Gap and the Bering Strait before swimming the English Channel in recent weeks. He is expected to be met by his son, granddaughter, father and brothers; his mother will be waiting at the family home in Hull.

The long-awaited return also brings an uncertain adjustment. “Everything that I am and everything that I know of me is going to go away,” he told the BBC, describing the prospect of an identity crisis after decades defined by the mission. His walking companion since Dover, American long-distance walker Angela Maxwell, said she thought he might be surprised by how much he misses the road.

Bushby says he spent about 15 of the 28 years walking. Visa applications, geopolitical circumstances and pandemic travel restrictions added years to the undertaking. He says the separation strained family relationships, and that he sometimes met his son and parents abroad rather than return to Britain.

He set out from Punta Arenas on 1 November 1998. The BBC corrected its earlier report of 36,000 miles after Bushby’s team revised the figure to 31,000, accounting for a route change that included a swim across the Caspian Sea.