Karl Bushby, a former British paratrooper, finished a 28-year walk around the world on Monday, Nov. 2, when he arrived at his mother's house in Hull, England. Angela Bushby, 75, was waiting at the gate of his childhood home, as she had promised. The AP and BBC reported that she asked him where he had been, and the two shared a tearful embrace.
Bushby, now 57, set out from Punta Arenas, Chile, the southernmost city on the South American continent, in 1998 at age 29, after leaving the army. He had intended the walk to take 12 years. He crossed the Humber Bridge back into Hull on Sunday, which was the same date he set off in 1998, and the Guardian reported that he kept to two rules throughout: not to return home until he had completed the journey and not to use transport to advance.
The distance is reported differently by different outlets. The AP's summary says 31,000 miles, while the Guardian reported 36,000 miles across 29 countries and four continents. The route took him across the frozen Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia and through the Darien Gap in Central America. He has described being threatened at gunpoint, facing down a polar bear, being convicted of spying and held in custody in Russia, and being sentenced to deportation. The Guardian said he is the first person to have walked continuously across the world.
Hull gave him a civic welcome in Queen Victoria Square, with a Sky News helicopter overhead and a crowd of well-wishers. He pushed his heavily loaded trolley, called Beast 2 because the first one broke down, carrying medicine, sleeping bags, head torches and two very worn tires. "It took a world to get me here," he told the crowd. "I didn't do this alone. There was a big team, the biggest team: Earth." German filmmaker Werner Herzog, who is making a documentary on the journey, appeared on stage and also at Angela Bushby's garden.
At his mother's house, which was decorated with Union flag bunting, he was reunited with his son, who is now 36, and met his 12-year-old granddaughter for the first time. "You've changed a bit," he told his mother. "I'm older," she answered. "We both are," he said. "Well done for hanging in there."
Sources: AP, BBC News, The Guardian