After 28 years walking 30,000 miles around the world, Englishman Karl Bushby returns home to Hull

A journey that began in Chile

Bushby set out from Chile on Nov. 1, 1998, at age 29. The expedition, known as Goliath, took him north through Central America, the United States and Canada before he crossed the Bering Sea to Russia.

Delays and dangers along the way

Illness and Russian visa restrictions delayed Bushby for months or years. Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine also affected his route, while swimming vast stretches of water added to the challenge.

In Central America, armed gangs threatened his life in the Darien Gap, and he was jailed in Panama. In Siberia, he also faced a polar bear.

A welcome in Hull

After arriving in England, Bushby completed a roughly three-mile walk from near Hull’s town center to his mother’s home. Children cheered as an honor guard led him through the neighborhood.

He embraced his mother outside her home as the crowd grew quiet. Now 57, Bushby said he is trying to process the experience and reconsider what home means after spending a generation around the world.

Looking back and ahead

Bushby credited the people and the planet for helping him return. “I didn’t do this alone,” Bushby said, describing Earth as the biggest part of his team. He said the world is facing a difficult period, but expressed confidence in humanity. Bushby also argued that people should dream beyond what they see as a limited mental space.