Karl Bushby ends 28-year walk home, reunites with mother in Hull
- British adventurer Karl Bushby finished a 28-year walk from Chile back to his mother's home in Hull, England.
- He covered about 31,000 miles across four continents and roughly 30 countries without motorised transport.
- His mother Angela greeted him with "Where have you been?" as supporters and family gathered.
A British adventurer who set off from South America in 1998 has finally walked home to his mother in northern England, ending a journey of about 28 years and 31,000 miles (50,000 kilometres).
Karl Bushby, 57, arrived at the family house in Hull on Monday, November 2, where his mother Angela was waiting. The house carried a banner reading "Welcome Home Son".
According to reports, her first words were: "Where have you been?" Bushby replied with a joke about the years that had passed.
He left the same rowhouse in 1998 as a 29-year-old former British Army paratrooper. He returned greyer and weathered, having crossed four continents and about 30 countries.
How the walk unfolded
Bushby began on November 1, 1998, in Punta Arenas, southern Chile, with a vow not to use boats, planes or other transport to move his journey forward. He had said he would not come home until the walk was done.
The route took him through the roadless Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama, across the frozen Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia, and through swims across the Caspian Sea and the English Channel.
He was jailed for 18 days after crossing a restricted border zone in Panama, and was later detained with an American companion after entering Russia illegally following their Bering Strait crossing. Russia also denied him a visa in 2012, prompting him to walk from Los Angeles to the Russian Embassy in Washington in protest.
The expedition, which he once thought might take about five years, was stretched by funding problems, visa restrictions, harsh weather and the COVID-19 pandemic. He told the Associated Press that even his own revised estimate of 12 years or more fell far short of reality.
Before heading to his mother's door, Bushby was given a hero's welcome at Hull City Hall, where hundreds of supporters gathered. "Sorry to keep you waiting," he told them.
He also reunited with his son Adam, 36, and met his 12-year-old granddaughter for the first time. His father and brothers had greeted him on a beach in Dover after he crossed the Channel last month.
Reflecting on the help he received along the way, Bushby said the kindness of strangers, individuals and governments around the world brought him home. "I didn't do this alone," he said.
He has spoken of feeling anxious about the journey ending and about not knowing what comes next, describing the feeling as stepping into a black hole.
What happens next
Bushby has said he does not know what lies ahead in his life after the walk. A documentary film crew captured the reunion with his mother.
