Adventurer Karl Bushby Nears End of 28-Year Global Trek

Updated 11:59 31 Oct 2026 GMTPublished 07:49 7 Oct 2026 GMT+1

He's only got a weekend of walking left now

Karl Bushby is only a couple of days away from making it back home now after travelling around the world for 28 years.

He just got back to the UK earlier this month after swimming the English Channel and since then has been trudging towards his home in Hull, which he expects to reach by Monday (2 November).

At which point he'll have earned the chance to put his feet up for a little while.

Along the way the 56-year-old man has had to face down hazards including the Coronavirus pandemic, a polar bear attack that almost killed him, being attacked by a mob in Peru and an incident where he had to be rescued by a helicopter, but on the balance of things he's enjoyed it more than he hasn't.

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He's been pushing a card laden down with camping gear along his way, but now the prospect of home is so near he told The Independent his 'purpose and reason for living is about to end' and his next challenge would be getting accustomed to 'a society that you just don’t know anymore'.

Bushby has dealt with severe weather conditions throughout his journey home (Instagram)

He'd hoped to complete the last aquatic leg of his journey home through the English Channel on foot, an agreement couldn't be reached, so he ended up swimming for over 20 hours across three days in order to land back on the British beaches.

Bushby said: "[It] feels good to have UK soil under my feet after all these years. It hasn't been easy, and that's part of the point; proving I'm more capable than I give myself credit for."

He added: "All of us can accomplish more than we will ever imagine."

HM Coastguard said it 'liaised with French authorities and maritime sector partners to ensure safety protocols were met', after Bushby's initial request to walk down the Channel Tunnel was vetoed.

Bushby previously swam across the Caspian Sea (Resul Rehimov/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Bushby started his journey at the tip of South America on 1 November 1998, so assuming he arrives on time on Monday it'll be 28 years and a day that he's been travelling.

He started out when he wasn't yet 30, and how he's in his 50s having travelled around the world.

His journey has taken him across 28 different countries and seen him travel over 30,000 miles but when he spoke from Belgium earlier this year, it seems as if his legs and his body had finally had enough, as he's no doubt desperate to get home and put his feet up with a cup of tea and a biscuit.

He's certainly timed his return home well, as he will get to watch Premier League teams get mauled by the tigers in his home town of Hull.

Featured Image Credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Topics: UK News