Four continents crossed, the Bering Strait crossed on foot and the Caspian Sea by swimming: a journey full of obstacles and misadventures, concluded with the moving return home to England
Karl Bushby’s titanic undertaking ended at his mother’s house in England. The adventurer traveled the world for 28 years, covering 50,000 kilometres, strictly on foot. For the journey, which began in November 1998 in Chile, the fifty-seven-year-old Bushby had imposed two strict rules on himself: not to return to the United Kingdom before completing the journey and not to use any means of transport for travel.
The beginning of the adventure and the journey…
Bushby has always been determined: he served for 12 years in the 3rd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, despite his slight build. And it was there that he traced for the first time on the world map the itinerary he wanted to follow. The soldiers discouraged this, claiming that it would be impossible to do so. The end of his marriage also pushed him to leave, after his wife returned to Northern Ireland with their son. His journey, which would cross four continents, thus officially began on November 1, 1998, when Bushby was 29 years old. From Punta Arenas, Chile, he headed north, crossing Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. His military experience proved crucial in avoiding armed gangs and surviving the jungle of the Darién Gap to enter Panama. Before arriving in the United States and Canada he also passed through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. Once he arrived in the North, in March 2006, he crossed the Bering Strait, which separates Alaska from Russia, on foot. Bushby arrived first in Siberia, then in Mongolia and China. It later entered Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. The adventurer also swam across the Caspian Sea to reach Azerbaijan. From Azerbaijani territory it then arrived in Türkiye, before entering Europe. In Belgium he was joined by BBC reporter Kevin Shoesmith, to whom he told: «Coming from a military background, you can’t always see the best in people; for me it was a real revelation. From day one, I was welcomed with open arms by the rest of the world.” The last important step in his journey was, last October 5, swimming across the English Channel to finally reach his homeland.
…And the misadventures
There has been no shortage of obstacles in these 28 years. In addition to successfully crossing the Darién Gap jungle, located on the border between Colombia and Panama and controlled by drug cartels, he also drank a drink in South America that caused him to hallucinate. As the BBC explains, Bushby allegedly told his mother that “the trees had started walking towards him”. In Panama he was also arrested for entering without a visa. Crossing the Bering Strait on foot was also arduous: he spent 14 days walking on sheets of ice in temperatures reaching -30°C. But not only that. After crossing the Strait, once he arrived in Russia, he was stopped at the border, in the village of Uelen, in Chukotka, and detained. Here the journey risked stopping with the issuing of a deportation order. The adventure was able to continue thanks to the intervention of the then British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Roman Abramovich, governor of Chukotka at the time and owner of Chelsea FC. The choice to swim across the Caspian Sea was almost forced precisely to avoid returning to Russia or crossing Iran. And the Channel crossing is also the result of another setback: in June this year Eurotunnel officials rejected his request to use a service tunnel to enter the UK. It should not be forgotten that another obstacle was the period of the Covid pandemic: in this case Bushby stopped in Mexico where life is less expensive.
Who paid for the trip?
In 1998, Bushby had no sponsors: he only had $500 in his pocket. The itinerary was then financed with funds deriving from his publications or conferences. As the adventure continued, as reported by the BBC, he obtained the support of some companies and a company that produces documentaries and is based in the United States. Every now and then he went to the US territory, home of his sponsors, but every time he returned exactly to the place he had left to continue on foot.
The homecoming and the celebrations
Yesterday the finish line: his mother Angela’s house in Hull, a city located on the east coast of England. Before reaching his mother’s nursery, the fifty-seven-year-old stopped in the town hall. He wasn’t alone. A musical band played for him, the crowd celebrated him, but above all with him there was his faithful traveling companion: a modified golf cart with everything needed to survive inside, from camping equipment to clothes, from personal hygiene products to water and food supplies. Meanwhile, the garden of his mother’s house had been decorated to welcome him: balloons, British flags and a banner reading “Welcome home son from your 28 years of adventures”. The touching embrace with his mother, who ironically said to him: “Where have you been?”, was immortalized by photographers. In addition to Angela, Bushby saw his father, his 36-year-old son Adam, and his 12-year-old granddaughter whom he had never met. He will have been amazed by the worldwide interest aroused by his story. When he arrived in the UK he said: “I’m just a bloke walking around.”
A documentary about his life
Of course, even though he’s back home, Bushby won’t be bored. First, he will have to unwrap his mother’s gifts. “I continued to buy him a Christmas present every year,” Angela told the BBC last year. Furthermore, the documentary maker Werner Herzog was also present in the English city yesterday, who will make a documentary about him. The 57-year-old also announced that he will write a book about his adventure. First, however, he will have to face the most difficult task: reintegrating into a society that has changed compared to the one he left 28 years ago.
