A homecoming in Hull
Karl Bushby, a 57-year-old British adventurer, completed a walk around the world on Monday. He arrived in Hull, in northeastern England, having crossed four continents on foot, according to DW. A crowd of about 500 people cheered him at the end.
The journey covered roughly 50,000 kilometers, or 31,000 miles, and started in the far south of South America in 1998. Speaking to the crowd, Bushby gave credit to those who supported him. "I didn't do this alone," he said, adding that the "biggest team" behind him was "Earth."
The last leg took him to north Hull, where his family was waiting. They included his mother, Angela, his 36-year-old son, Adam, and a 12-year-old granddaughter he had never met. Headlines from the BBC and The Guardian, cited in the source material, described a tearful reunion with his mother and a hero's welcome.
How the walk began, and the rules he set
Bushby is a former paratrooper. He set off from Chile at age 29, after his marriage broke up and his wife went back to Northern Ireland with their son.
He followed two rules, according to DW. The first was to avoid every form of motorized transport. The second was not to come home until he had finished what he set out to do.
Obstacles along the way
The trip was far from a steady march. In 2006, Bushby crossed the frozen Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia with French explorer Dimitri Kieffer. DW reported that he nearly lost his life in the attempt.
Russia later refused him a visa. That refusal was one of several interruptions that turned a journey originally expected to last 12 years into one that took more than twice as long. He also spent time in jail in Panama after entering the country without a visa.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused further delays, and he spent a period living at a base in Mexico. According to DW, each time he restarted the trek at the exact spot where he had stopped.
Near the end, after returning to Britain, he swam the English Channel from northern France to Dover over four days. That swim was consistent with his rule against motorized transport.
What comes next
German filmmaker Werner Herzog is making a feature-length documentary about the expedition, titled "Walk of Life," DW reported.
Bushby has said he is uneasy about ordinary life after so long on the road. In an interview with the AFP news agency from northern France in September, he said: "I've got to try and get established in the grown-up world again."
