It was journey’s end for round-the-world walker Karl Bushby and he didn’t seem to quite believe it was over.

“Is that it? Is it done?” the bearded adventurer quipped as he stepped onto a stage in front of hundreds of well-wishers, including many former military personnel, at the end of his 28-year adventure.

The former British Army paratrooper set out from Punta Arenas, Chile, on November 1, 1998, on what became known as the Goliath Expedition, with two rules: no transport to advance his journey, and not to return home until his mission was completed.

He was full of gratitude for all those who’d helped make his extraordinary journey happen, adding that it had taken “two world records (including for the longest unbroken foot journey covering roughly 36,000 miles across 29 countries) just to get back here".

British adventurer Karl Bushby arrives at City Hall, Hull, at the end of his 31,000-mile (49,890 km), 28-year trek from South America to Hull.

placeholder image — British adventurer Karl Bushby arrives at City Hall, Hull, at the end of his 31,000-mile (49,890 km), 28-year trek from South America to Hull.

"They say it takes a village to bring up a child – it took a world to get me here,” he said.

“The kindness of strangers, from individuals, nation states, to get me back. I didn’t do it alone.”

His brief, modest speech was peppered with the word “last” as he mourned the end of his decades on the road, most of it alone, meeting challenges and adversities, as well as beauty, few can imagine.

He has overcome formidable geographical and political obstacles, including crossing the frozen Bering Strait between North America and Russia. He nearly drowned and died of thirst, was threatened at gunpoint, and held in custody in Russia. He could have ended up as a meal for a massive polar bear.

Karl Bushby speaking at a civic welcome in Queen Victoria Square as he arrives back home in Hull following his 28 year walk from Chile. Bushby, now 57, set off from the southern end of Chile in 1998, when he was 28, vowing to walk all the way home without using any form of motorised transport. Picture date: Monday November 2, 2026.

“This is the last day, the last moment, it has been a week of lasts,” he said. “The last day in the tent, the last day on the road alone. The last steps almost to my mother’s house very shortly.”

Hull East MP Karl Turner read out a message from Prime Minister Andy Burnham praising his courage, resilience and bravery, and mentioning that when he took office the late John Prescott told him: "If he ever needs you, drop everything and help him out”.

It was only a few minutes before Bushby disappeared into City Hall to see his family – he hasn’t seen his mother Angela for 12 years, and he’s only met his son Adam, 36, who lives in Belfast, half a dozen times.

He then resumed his walk to Sutton Park to his mother’s house for a very long-awaited cup of tea and a biscuit. The question on everyone’s lips is what will Karl do next? At the home-coming event he briefly introduced the legendary documentary maker Werner Herzog, who is making a film about him; he also has a book to write.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post as he crossed the Humber Bridge on Sunday he said he felt “awkward”, and doesn’t enjoy the media exposure “but it has become part of the job”. In real-life Bushby looks different to his pictures – super fit and tanned, going at such a pace people were almost having to run to keep up with him.

He said he would miss “everything” about his travels “being self-directed, not knowing where I will be sleeping the night – all that wanderlust stuff, the next unknown town, people you have never before, constantly moving.”