The walking journey of Karl Bushby has come to a close in his British hometown, welcomed by the entire community and in the arms of his aging mother. The 57-year-old British adventurer had walked 31,000 miles (about 50,000 kilometers) non-stop for no less than 28 years, beginning in Punta Arenas, Chile, and ending at his birthplace, Kingston upon Hull, commonly known simply as Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
The former English paratrooper had set off in 1998: he crossed four continents, and today he was welcomed in his city.
In the city center, a crowd gathered around him as he completed the final stretch to be reunited with his mother Angela at the family home in Sutton Park.
The Long Journey
Karl set out about 28 years ago from Punta Arenas, the largest and most populous city in southern Chilean Patagonia, the capital of the Magallanes Region and of Chilean Antarctica. Overlooking the historic Strait of Magellan, it is a crucial reference point and a launching pad for expeditions toward Antarctica and the region’s natural parks. The route also touched Peru and Ecuador. In 2002 he reached the United States of America.
In every movement, he never took airplanes, trains, boats, vehicles, or any other form of transportation. He walked all the way or relied on improvised means.
Among the many adventures and misadventures that have happened over all these years: he crossed the Bering Strait on a sheet of ice that eventually cracked and required rescue by helicopter, he swam across the English Channel, and he traversed the Darién Gap, a vast jungle between Panama and Colombia, for long stretches impenetrable and inhabited by very dangerous animals. In some countries he was even arrested: he was detained in Panama for about twenty days because he was suspected of being an irregular migrant, and in Russia, where he was released after two months. Between journeys, Karl would rest in Mexico.
Sometimes he also put his life at risk. Time and again, he relied on the goodwill of people he met along the way for food and shelter; other times he shared the journey with fellow adventurers like himself. His only constant traveling companion was “The Beast,” a sort of wagon that carried everything needed, from food to a sleeping bag.
Among his travel companions there is also Angela Marie Maxwell, who walked across four continents for more than 22,000 miles (about 35,405.568 km), through 18 countries and a handful of islands. She crossed solitary deserts, snow-capped mountains, and bustling ancient cities. “With 12 pairs of worn-out shoes and an incalculable number of instant noodles, she covered a distance almost equal to the Earth’s entire circumference,” she writes on her blog Shewalkstheearth.com.
In the beginning, the journey was supposed to last only 12 years. In the meantime, he had to pause several times due to visa issues in different countries, problems arising from wars, the pandemic, or lack of funds (he largely financed himself through a book and some sponsors).
