I left my 8-year-old son behind 28 years ago to…
Karl Bushby has conquered jungles, deserts, a frozen sea and the Kremlin’s visa workplace, all on foot. But his hardest journey could also be when he walks back through his mother’s entrance door.
The 57-year-old former British paratrooper is roughly 250 miles from ending the Goliath Expedition, a 28-year odyssey that kicked off at the underside of South America in 1998.
When he left, he had an 8-year-old son at home. That boy is now 36, a dad himself — and still ready.
Is Bushby prepared to face his grownup son practically 30 years after beginning his Odyssey?
“Well, that’s gonna be a tough one,” Bushby told The Post when he called from London. “[I am] looking forward to reconnecting with everyone. There’s distance between us, and we need to patch that up, and move on.”
Karl Bushby, a 57-year-old former British paratrooper, is closing in on the end of a 28-year quest to circle the globe on foot without ever utilizing a vehicle to transfer ahead. ach Guglin
He set out from Punta Arenas, Chile, on Nov. 1, 1998, figuring the trek would take about 12 years, and left an 8-year-old son behind in England. Courtesy of Karl Bushby
His son Adam, who lives in Belfast, told the Yorkshire Post that his father’s homecoming “doesn’t seem real.”
But it acquired a lot more real on Oct. 5.
That afternoon, Bushby dragged himself out of the surf at Shakespeare Beach just south of Dover after logging about 20 hours in the water over three days. His father and brothers had been ready on the sand. It was the first time he’d set foot in Britain since the Clinton administration.
He stored the swim under wraps until he was safely ashore, clearing it in advance with French and British officers and both international locations’ coast guards.
Not dangerous for a man who once admitted he swims “like a cat dropped in a bathtub.”
Bushby had initially lobbied to hike through the Channel Tunnel’s service passage, but the operator shot him down, leaving him no alternative but to get moist.
“It feels good to have UK soil under my feet after all these years,” he told The Post in a separate assertion. “It hasn’t been easy, and that’s part of the point.”
His route took him the size of South America, through the Darien Gap and up to Alaska, and in 2006 he crossed the frozen Bering Strait into Siberia. Bushby is seen right here in Argentina in 1999. Courtesy of Karl Bushby
Karly Bushby in an inundated picture with his son, Adam, a number of years before the expedition. Courtesy of Karl Bushby
A guess gone very long
Bushby spent 12 years in the third Battalion of the Parachute Regiment before quitting the military at the end of 1997. He was reeling from a bitter divorce and itching to show himself.
“I had something to prove to my paratrooper mates,” he told Backpacker magazine.
Before making the trek, Bushby cast two ironclad guidelines: He may never use a vehicle to go ahead, and he couldn’t go home until he walked there.
On Nov. 1, 1998, he set out from Punta Arenas, Chile, reportedly with less than $1,000 to his title. He marched the size of South America, hacked through the lawless Darien Gap into Central America and stored going until he hit Alaska.
Russian visa battles and a five-year entry ban later stalled him for years, forcing detours through Mongolia and China and a weeks-long swim across the Caspian Sea. Courtesy of Karl Bushby
On Oct. 5, he waded ashore at Shakespeare Beach close to Dover after roughly 20 hours of swimming over three days, marking his first time on British soil since leaving. India Whiskey Photographic
In 2006, he turned one of the first people to cross the frozen Bering Strait on foot, hopping between drifting ice floes and paddling through open water into Siberia.
The harsh truths of nature wouldn’t stop him — but boring, maddening forms would.
Visa fights stalled Bushby in Russia for years, and Moscow slapped him with a five-year entry ban in 2013. He rerouted through Mongolia and China, swam for weeks across the Caspian Sea to Baku and Azerbaijan, finally reaching Europe last 12 months. By June he was in Belgium, staring down the last big impediment between him and Hull.
No regrets
Asked to title the hardest leg, Bushby didn’t hesitate.
“Lots of different hard parts, but let’s say the Darien Gap and Alaska,” he told The Post.
His favourite terrain was in South America, particularly Colombia, Chile and its bone-dry Atacama Desert. Picking a single spotlight from practically three a long time proved unattainable.
“I couldn’t say just one. There’s just a long list,” he said, ticking off the triumphs of escaping the treacherous swamps of Panama, touchdown safely in Russia, washing up exhausted close to Baku and, now, hitting the seashores of Dover.
Bushby told The Post the expedition stored him match and that he has no regrets, insisting, “It worked, so no, I wouldn’t change a thing.” This picture reveals Bushby posing in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, May 2, 2025. Courtesy of Karl Bushby
The household he left behind tells a more difficult story, with his son Adam, now 36 and a father himself, saying his dad’s return “doesn’t seem real.” Here, Bushby is in Colombia in 2000. Courtesy of Karl Bushby
Bushby is seen in Far North East Russia on Tuesday, April 17, 2007. Courtesy of Karl Bushby
Despite tens of 1000’s of miles, Bushby insists his physique held up high-quality thanks to a slow and regular tempo.
“It’s kept me in shape,” he said. “There are some aches and pains, but anyone who’s gonna be 57 and above, and is physically active, is probably gonna be the same.”
And if he may do it all over again?
“It worked, so no, I wouldn’t change a thing,” he told The Post.
Back in Hull, his mom Angela has seen her son precisely thrice since he left. She’s stored the entire saga in scrapbooks inside the Sutton Park home where he first pitched the plan — the same home he hasn’t entered since 1998.
“Karl has always been headstrong,” she told the BBC.
He’ll arrive with cameras rolling.
Legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog greeted him in Dover and is directing a function documentary called “Walk of Life.” It’s being produced by Westward Productions, co-founded by (*28*) creator Beau Willimon and Jordan Tappis, alongside Skellig Rock and The Roots.
Westward has bankrolled and supported the trek for the past 16 years and archived his footage.
His mom Angela has seen him just thrice since 1998 and might be ready at the same Hull home he left practically three a long time ago. He is seen right here in Russia in 2008. Courtesy of Karl Bushby
Bushby admits the reunion might be exhausting, telling The Post, “There’s distance between us, and I think we need to patch that up, and move on.” Bushby is seen right here in Uzbekistan in 2023. Courtesy of Karl Bushby
Karl Bushby, left, seems in Nevada in 2003. Courtesy of Karl Bushby
What comes next
Bushby is anticipated to attain his mother’s doorstep in late October or early November. After that, he admits, life will get murky.
“Mixed emotions,” he said of nearing the end. “We need to find another mission, another passion and get busy. That’s the solution, I believe.”
He plans to throw himself into the movie and public talking. And after practically three a long time of strangers feeding him, sheltering him and steering him safely to his next vacation spot, he says the most important lesson isn’t about grit.
“People are amazing, despite what we think the world looks like,” Bushby said. “Humanity is worth the effort.”
Now he has to show it to the people who had been ready at home the entire time.
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