Karl Bushby is days away from finishing one of the longest journeys ever attempted on foot, after a 28-year walk from the southern tip of Chile to his home city of Hull. The 57-year-old former paratrooper set out from Punta Arenas on 1 November 1998 and reached English soil at Shakespeare Beach near Dover on 5 October 2026, after swimming across the English Channel.
Bushby, whose Goliath Expedition has carried him through South America, North America, Asia and Europe, is now walking the final stretch to his mother’s home in east Hull. A public welcome is planned in Queen Victoria Square in Hull city centre from 10am on Monday 2 November, where the Lord Mayor of Hull, Maria Coward, is due to greet him.
The scale of the trek is hard to grasp in ordinary terms. The Associated Press, reporting on 31 October 2026 as the walk nears its end, put the distance at 31,000 miles — about 50,000 kilometres — spread across more than 10,220 days, with an estimated 75 million steps along the way.
Karl Bushby — Quick Reference Summary
| Detail | What is known |
|---|---|
| Expedition | Goliath Expedition — an unbroken route walked from Chile to Hull. |
| Started | 1 November 1998, Punta Arenas, Chile, aged 29. |
| Reached England | 5 October 2026, Shakespeare Beach near Dover, after a Channel swim. |
| Distance | About 50,000 km (31,000 miles), per the Associated Press. |
| Time on the road | 28 years — more than 10,220 days. |
| Countries and continents | 30 foreign countries, across four continents, per the Associated Press. |
| Final destination | His mother’s home in east Hull, England. |
| Public welcome | Queen Victoria Square, Hull, from 10am on Monday 2 November 2026. |
Two rules that shaped 28 years on the road
Bushby set himself two rules at the start, and he has held to them ever since: he would use no transport to advance his route, and he would not return home except on foot. That discipline turned a journey first estimated at about five years into a 28-year undertaking, shaped by closed borders, lost sponsorship, the pandemic and long waits for visas.
The route itself reads like a catalogue of hard places. He walked the length of the Americas, crossed the roadless Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama, and in 2006 crossed the Bering Strait’s shifting sea ice from Alaska to Russia. No country took longer than Russia, where the Associated Press reports he spent 10 years, was once detained, and faced deportation after entering illegally across the strait.
When geopolitical conflicts closed off passage through Russia and Iran, Bushby swam the Caspian Sea instead. The 31-day crossing used a technique he calls “floatimming”, a mix of floating and swimming in a flotation vest and wetsuit. It is one of several swims that punctuate a journey mostly made on land, through jungle, rainforest, desert and frozen tundra.
Why the final miles from Dover to Hull matter so much
The last leg, roughly 400 kilometres from Dover to Hull, is short against the whole trek, yet it carries the weight of the entire project. Bushby left Hull in 1998 and has not set foot in Britain since, so every mile of this stretch closes a gap that has been open for more than half his life.
His arrival in Dover was deliberately kept quiet. His team did not publicise the Channel swim in advance for safety reasons, and he was met on Shakespeare Beach by a small group of family and friends, including his father, alongside filmmaker Werner Herzog, whose crew is making a documentary about the journey called “Walk of Life”.
The homecoming now turns public. According to The Hull Story, Bushby will be welcomed in Queen Victoria Square on Monday 2 November, led by civic dignitaries including the Lord Mayor, before making his way to his mother’s house in east Hull. A free exhibition of prints, personal belongings and diary entries from the journey opens at the Monocle Gallery in Hull on Tuesday 3 November and runs until early 2027.
Elsewhere in Yorkshire, recent news has included the report that the Yorkshire Water boss resigned after the firm was given the lowest one-star rating.
What a 28-year walk does to a life — and what comes next
Bushby was 29 when he left and is 57 now, so the expedition has occupied more of his adult life than anything else. The Associated Press notes that he fell in love twice on the road, with a woman from Colombia and another from Japan, and that neither relationship survived the demands of the journey.
He has also spoken about the strangeness of returning to ordinary life after so long away, telling reporters after reaching Dover that it felt good to have UK soil under his feet again after all those years. The question of what follows a finished walk — a book, a film, or simply a quiet life in Hull — is one he has barely had time to answer while the last miles remain.
For Hull, the finish is a civic moment as much as a personal one. A city that has followed its explorer from afar for nearly three decades gets to welcome him home in person, and the exhibition that follows will let residents see the journey through his own photographs and diary entries.
Frequently asked questions
Q: When did Karl Bushby start walking around the world?
A: He set out from Punta Arenas in Chile on 1 November 1998, as a 29-year-old former paratrooper, with the aim of walking an unbroken route home to Hull.
Q: How far has Karl Bushby walked?
A: The Associated Press puts the total at 31,000 miles, about 50,000 kilometres, across 30 foreign countries and four continents, over more than 10,220 days.
Q: How did Karl Bushby get back into Britain?
A: After being refused permission to walk through the Channel Tunnel, he swam the English Channel and came ashore at Shakespeare Beach near Dover on 5 October 2026.
Q: When does Karl Bushby reach Hull?
A: A public welcome is planned in Queen Victoria Square, Hull, from 10am on Monday 2 November 2026, after which he heads to his mother’s home in east Hull to complete the expedition.
Q: Is Karl Bushby the first person to walk around the world?
A: His stated aim is to complete the first unbroken walk of this kind, without using transport to advance the route. Whether the record books treat the completed route that way will be judged once the final miles are done.
