Karl Bushby’s destination was his mother’s front door. Getting there took 28 years.
On November 2, the British adventurer returned to his family home in Hull after a roughly 31,000-mile journey that began in southern Chile in 1998. His mother, Angela, was waiting. Photographs of their reunion show the enormous expedition ending with an embrace.
Earlier that morning, cheering crowds welcomed the 57-year-old into Hull’s Queen Victoria Square. He still had his possessions in a trolley. After so many remote stretches, the final miles brought him through streets full of people who knew he was coming.
Two rules, and a very long route
Bushby’s official account describes two rules for the Goliath Expedition: no transport to advance along the route, and no returning home until he arrived on foot. He left Punta Arenas on November 1, 1998, heading north through the Americas toward the crossing between Alaska and Russia.
The route eventually carried him across four continents. It included the Darién Gap, the frozen Bering Strait and swims across the Caspian Sea and the English Channel. He reached the English coast at Shakespeare Beach near Dover on October 5, 2026, leaving approximately 400 kilometers to Hull.
The 28-year span included long periods when he could not move forward. Reuters reported that Bushby had spent about 15 of those years walking, with other time consumed by visas, logistics and funding. Border restrictions, the financial crisis and the pandemic complicated a journey already shaped by difficult terrain.
The last day on the road
At the homecoming, Bushby described a succession of endings: his last night in a tent and his last day traveling alone. “After 28 years you couldn’t ask for more than this,” he told the crowd, according to ITV.
The expedition’s scale is difficult to picture. Its finishing point is easier: after decades of trying to reach home, Bushby finally stood there with his family.
Sources: Reuters reporting via ABC, November 3, 2026; ITV’s homecoming report; Karl Bushby’s official expedition account.
Karl Bushby with family at his homecoming in Hull on November 2, 2026. Photo: Hullian111, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Original photograph uploaded unchanged; any adapted image versions are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
