Karl Bushby, the former paratrooper who set out on foot from the tip of South America in 1998, is due home in Hull on Monday 2 November after 28 years on the road.
Bushby, now 57, was 29 when he left Punta Arenas, Chile. He set himself two rules: no transport to move forward, and no return to the UK until the walk was done, the BBC reported.
On Wednesday he was pushing his cart near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, about 30 miles from the finish, according to the Associated Press.
A family he rarely saw
The rules meant Bushby could not go home to see his family. The BBC said he met his son and his parents only on rare occasions, and always abroad.
His son Adam, now 36, will be at the finish. So will a 12-year-old granddaughter he has never met, along with his father and brothers. His mother, Angela, will be waiting at the childhood home he left 28 years ago.
Bushby told the BBC that the walk began after his marriage ended and his wife went back to Northern Ireland with their son. He said distance had left family members not really knowing each other. He was blunt about romance too, saying a love life on the road was unlikely to work out.
The road and the red tape
The AP said Bushby has covered about 31,000 miles across four continents. The BBC puts the full route at 36,000 miles. He has crossed the Darién Gap jungle and the frozen Bering Strait. This autumn he swam the English Channel.
He has not been walking all that time. He told the BBC he has walked for only about 15 of the 28 years. The rest went on visa applications, what he called “dealing with geopolitics”, and Covid-19 travel restrictions. He often retreated to Mexico, where costs are low.
The AP reported that European 90-day visit limits forced him to travel in three-month stretches. It also said that in 2006 he crossed the Bering Strait with American adventurer Dimitry Kieffer, and that the pair were airlifted to safety after a 56-mile crossing.
Bushby told Reuters during an earlier leg in Hungary that social media had added pressure, because “suddenly there’s a lot of eyes”. He said he resisted TikTok until this year. Reuters reported that he described film cameras and no online audience when he started.
The attention in England has surprised him. He told the BBC that being recognised so often along the way was almost overwhelming. On Wednesday a driver pulled into a lay-by to ask whether he was the Karl Bushby, and they took a selfie.
What he has gained
Bushby said the trip left him with a lasting faith in other people. He credited strangers’ kindness for getting him through, and said he could not have done it “without the world”. Before sponsors and a book deal, he said, he was a penniless backpacker living on donations.
He is open about what comes next. He told the BBC that everything he knows about himself is about to go away, and that he expects an identity crisis. In his words: “I will have to figure out who I am again.”
The AP said he is also anxious about living in his mother’s basement. Angela Maxwell, an American long-distance walker who has joined him since Dover, told the BBC she thinks he will miss the road more than he expects. She said he loves the mission more than the walking itself.
Hull City Council has invited the public to Queen Victoria Square from 10am on Monday, Hello Rayo reported. Bushby is expected at about 11am, though times may vary. The Lord Mayor will welcome him, and a private reception at the city hall will follow. He will then head north for the last leg to his family home.
Sources: Associated Press via The Washington Post, Reuters via Yahoo News, Hello Rayo, BBC News
This story was compiled by the MDW Newsdesk with AI-assisted tools, using the reporting credited above.
