Karl Bushby set out from southern Chile in 1998 with a demanding plan: make his way home to England without using transport to advance along the route.
On November 2, 2026, he reached his mother Angela's home in Hull. The expedition had taken 28 years, crossing continents and outlasting obstacles he could not have planned when he started.
Featured photograph: Archival location photograph: Hull City Hall, where Bushby was welcomed in November 2026. The homecoming is not shown.
Photo: Notafly, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph reproduced without editorial alteration.
From Punta Arenas to Hull
Bushby's official expedition account records his departure from Punta Arenas, Chile, on November 1, 1998.
The Goliath Expedition became a journey through the Americas, across the Bering Strait and onward through Asia and Europe. It included difficult water crossings as well as long overland sections.
His return was a public occasion in his home city. Local reporting ahead of the arrival described plans for a welcome in Queen Victoria Square on November 2.
Photo: HaSt, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph reproduced without editorial alteration.
Twenty-eight years does not mean constant walking
The elapsed time included long interruptions. Visas, financial problems and the pandemic delayed progress. Bushby also swam sections of the route, including the Caspian Sea and the English Channel.
The Associated Press report of his homecoming described an expedition of roughly 31,000 miles across four continents and 30 countries.
Calling it a 28-year walk is a convenient shorthand, but it can hide what the undertaking involved. It was a long-running expedition with pauses and changing methods of moving under his own power. It was not a daily walking streak.
Help along the way, and a home at the end
At his homecoming, Bushby credited the many people who helped make the journey possible. That part of the story matters alongside the distance. An undertaking associated with one person's name depended on assistance across borders.
Photo: Anthony Appleyard (talk), via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain. Photograph reproduced without editorial alteration.
His official account of the final stages places the Humber Bridge near the end of the journey and Hull at its finish. The location photographs here show places connected with the route, rather than Bushby's homecoming itself.
After decades of returning to an unfinished route, the destination was finally a familiar door. Bushby had reached Hull, and the expedition that began in Chile was complete.