Hull adventurer Karl Bushby crossed the Humber Bridge on Sunday 1 November, completing all but the last few miles of a 28-year walk from the southern tip of South America.
Thick mist hung over the estuary as the 57-year-old former paratrooper pushed his handcart, known as The Beast, between crowds lining the route. The BBC reported that he described himself as “absolutely overwhelmed”.
He is due to finish on Monday 2 November at his mother’s house in north Hull.
Two rules, one route
Bushby set out from Punta Arenas in Chile in 1998, aged 29, with a few hundred dollars. He gave himself two conditions: he would not set foot in the UK until the journey was done, and he would never use transport to cover ground.
He has said the end of his marriage gave him the chance to go. The BBC puts the distance at 31,000 miles (49,890km), though some earlier coverage has used a figure of 36,000 miles.
The route took in four continents, a frozen sea, deserts, mountains and jungle. On 5 October he swam the English Channel to reach Britain, according to the BBC. FTN News reported, citing his expedition website, that about 400km remained between the coast and home at that point.
Bushby once expected the walk to take around 12 years, FTN News said, citing Associated Press reporting.
The bridge he remembered
Speaking to BBC Radio Humberside on Sunday, Bushby said the bridge was the only part he could recall from his first test walk south, when he was trying out his original rig. He said the mist, which hides the far bank, gave it a mystic quality and that it had always been the landmark in his mind.
He also compared The Beast to Wilson, the volleyball in the film Cast Away, and said the reception was hard to take in.
“I’m just a homeless guy pushing a shopping trolley, and the next thing you know is this.”
The AOL-syndicated report said he crossed with his father Keith, 79, and his brother Adrian, 54. It described dozens of people following him towards Hull.
The BBC said his mother, son and granddaughter will meet him when he arrives.
What happens on Monday
The last stage begins in Hessle. Bushby is then due at Queen Victoria Square in Hull city centre at about 11am, Hull City Council said. The Hull Volunteers will welcome him into the square, and the Lord Mayor, Councillor Maria Coward, will greet him on a stage at the front of City Hall.
A short private reception inside will follow. He will then walk north to the family home, where the journey officially ends.
He has admitted he is unsure what ordinary life will look like afterwards. Bushby has told the Associated Press he is uncertain about returning to it, according to FTN News. AOL reported that he has announced details of a theatre tour.
Sources: AOL, Hull City Council, FTN News, BBC News
This story was compiled by the MDW Newsdesk with AI-assisted tools, using the reporting credited above.
