British adventurer Karl Bushby completed a 31,000-mile, 28-year journey on Monday, stepping into Queen Victoria Square in Hull after leaving his northern England home in 1998.
The former British paratrooper set off from Punta Arenas, Chile, at age 29, carrying less than $1,000 and bound by two strict rules. He refused to use any vehicle to advance his progress and vowed not to return home until his own feet got him there. What he originally estimated would take roughly five years stretched across nearly three decades of desert crossings, geopolitical hurdles, and harsh wilderness.
Nature and bureaucracy offered few shortcuts. In 2001, Bushby crossed the dangerous Darién Gap connecting South and Central America before spending 18 days behind bars in Panama for wandering into a restricted border zone. Five years later, he and American adventurer Dimitry Kieffer tackled the 90-kilometer frozen Bering Strait, facing a polar bear encounter, frigid water immersion, and an eventual arrest in Russia for illegal entry.
Visa Roadblocks and the Long Detour Through Eurasia
Paperwork proved tougher than terrain. Visa battles in Russia consumed nearly a decade, prompting Bushby to march from Los Angeles to the Russian Embassy in Washington in 2012 to protest a visa denial. When the Kremlin later handed him a five-year entry ban in 2013, he detoured through Mongolia and China, swam across the Caspian Sea to Baku, and pushed toward Europe.
Bushby faced everything from deserts and mountain ranges to crocodile-infested water in Colombia—where he briefly entered the water to bypass a guerrilla war—and a helicopter rescue from an ice floe. Administrative delays stemming from the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic further stretched the timeline of an odyssey that ultimately spanned nearly 50,000 kilometers across four continents.
Crossing the Channel and Returning to Hull
The final obstacle involved water. Denied access to the Channel Tunnel’s service passage, Bushby swam across the English Channel, arriving on Shakespeare Beach south of Dover on October 5 after spending about 20 hours in the water spread over three days.
By Sunday, he had crossed the Humber Bridge into East Yorkshire, where family members awaited him. On Monday morning, hundreds packed a civic ceremony in Queen Victoria Square before he walked to his mother’s row house in Hull.
| Milestone / Event | Year | Location / Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Journey Departure | 1998 | Started walking from Punta Arenas, Chile on November 1. |
| Darien Gap Crossing | 2001 | Navigated the road-free jungle stretch; detained 18 days in Panama. |
| Bering Strait Trek | 2006 | Crossed 90km of ice with Dimitry Kieffer; faced arrest in Russia. |
| English Channel Swim | Swam from France to Dover over three days in early October. | |
| Return to Hull | Completed the trek on Monday, reuniting with family. |
“After 28 years, you just couldn’t ask for more than this,” Bushby told the crowd in Hull. He pushed his two-wheeled supply cart, nicknamed “The Beast,” alongside him as he completed the final leg of the journey.
The homecoming brings him back to his mother Angela, who kept scrapbooks of his global journey at her Sutton Park home, and reconnects him with his family, including his 36-year-old son Adam and a 12-year-old granddaughter he met for the first time on the Humber Bridge.
Earlier coverage: Karl Bushby completes 28-year trek around the world in Hull
