Karl Bushby Completes 28-Year Walk Around the World and Walks Home to Hull

Karl Bushby has walked home. The 57-year-old completed his 28-year walk around the world on Monday, November 2, 2026, arriving at his mother's home in Hull, England, the home he grew up in and the home he left in 1998.

Bushby embraced his mother as he returned to his northern England home to complete the odyssey. He arrived outside the house, which was decked with a banner saying Welcome Home Son. Hundreds of cheering supporters greeted him in the square of his home city of Hull on Monday morning, before he headed to the family home where his mother, his 36-year-old son and his 12-year-old granddaughter were waiting.

"After 28 years, you just couldn't ask for more than this," Bushby told the crowd in Hull.

A journey that started in 1998

He set out from Punta Arenas, Chile, on November 1, 1998, and walked 31,000 miles across four continents and 30 countries to get home. He followed two rules: no motorised transport to advance the journey, and no return home until he arrived on foot.

Those rules shaped the hardest crossings. He navigated shifting ice over the Bering Strait and swam across the Caspian Sea and the English Channel rather than take a boat or plane. He reached British soil on October 5, 2026, after swimming the English Channel, and crossed the Humber Bridge into Hull on Sunday, November 1, before the final walk on Monday. He told BBC Radio Humberside he was absolutely overwhelmed by the Humber Bridge welcome.

Bushby served in the British Army's Parachute Regiment in his twenties. After the breakdown of his marriage he set off, inspired by his father, who had wondered if it was possible to walk from London to New York.

The delays that stretched a decade into 28 years

He originally expected the journey to take about 10 to 12 years. Delays included a brief imprisonment in Panama, being held at gunpoint in Mexico, detention by Russian authorities, the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID pandemic.

Bushby told the BBC he spent only about 15 of the 28 years walking, returning to Mexico periodically to sort out visas, logistics and sponsorship.

The human cost sits in the family numbers. His son Adam was eight years old when Bushby set out in 1998 and is now 36. Bushby met his 12-year-old granddaughter for the first time on Monday, and had seen his mother only three times in 28 years.

A feature-length documentary about the journey is in production and he plans a speaking tour around England in the coming weeks.