British Ex-Paratrooper Returns Home to Hull After 28-Year Walk Around the World
Karl Bushby, a 57-year-old former paratrooper, has returned to his hometown of Hull in the UK after walking around the world for 28 years. The trek began in Chile in 1998 and, by his count, covered about 75 million steps.
Karl Bushby, a 57-year-old former paratrooper, has come home to Hull, in the United Kingdom, after a 28-year journey around the world on foot. According to the newspaper Daily Mail, he covered more than 50,000 kilometres, equal to roughly 75 million steps.
The expedition began in Chile in November 1998. Bushby set himself a strict rule: use no form of transport and do not return home until the destination had been reached under his own power. The walk was originally planned to take 12 years but stretched to nearly three decades.
Obstacles along the way
On the journey Bushby had to cross dangerous jungle areas and make his way over frozen sea ice. He repeatedly struggled with bureaucracy and closed borders. Border guards in both Colombia and Russia detained him. He lived through geopolitical crises and pandemic-era standstills, and completed swimming stretches across the Caspian Sea and the English Channel.
A family waiting
While he was away, his son Adam grew from an eight-year-old boy into an adult and became a father himself. For relatives the years were filled with worry, with rare messages followed by long periods of silence. The family nonetheless waited patiently for his return.
In Hull, Bushby was officially welcomed in the city square, where he met the mayor. He then walked the final metres to the gate of his mother's home, where he was reunited with his family. This ended a trek the paper describes as one of the most impressive walks in human history.
