Have you heard of Karl Bushby? Karl has spent the last 27 years attempting something no one has ever completed before.
The Goliath Expedition is Bushby's attempt to walk around the world "with unbroken footsteps", from Punta Arenas, Chile, to his home in Hull, England. Every kilometre would be covered on foot, no matter how difficult the conditions became.
Now, Karl (56) hasn’t walked every day non-stop. He’s stopped and started multiple times due to Visa issues but he has always tried to start the next part of the walk where he stopped the last part. No easy feat over all that distance.
Since taking his first steps in South America in 1998, Karl has crossed an astonishing range of environments. He has pushed through thick jungle where every day brought new challenges, trekked across hot and unforgiving desert, and battled his way over frozen seas that stretched out towards the horizon.
In March 2006, Bushby and French adventurer Dimitri Kieffer crossed the Bering Strait on foot, having to take a roundabout 14-day route across a frozen 240km section to cross the 93km wide strait from Alaska to Siberia. They were detained by Russian border troop officers while they were crossing the Russian border near the Chukotkan village of Uelen, for not entering Russia at a correct port of entry. They were threatened with being banned from Russia, which would stop the journey. It was announced on 5 May 2006 that the Russian appeal court had upheld Bushby's application and his walk would continue.
Despite the physical demands and moments of real danger, Karl often speaks about the positive side of spending so many years on the road. He has received generous help from strangers in countless countries, from simple meals and warm beds to advice, companionship and encouragement. These encounters have convinced him that kindness exists in every corner of the world.
Now, after travelling nearly 48,000km, Karl is finally approaching the end of his monumental journey. Only around 3,000km stand between him and his home city of Hull. If all continues to go well, he expects to reach England next year. When he does, he will complete one of the longest and most remarkable walks in human history, a powerful testament to resilience, curiosity and the determination to finish what he started.
In an interview Bushby was asked, “In your 12 years of walking, what has been the one thing that has surprised you most about the world we live in today?”
“I think the first thing that stood out was the warm hearted reception I received everywhere I went,” he said. “I remember very well the early days where I would stumble across small farms run by indigenous peoples in Patagonia, and without hesitation I would be invited in, fed and warmed. That’s been the story from Chile to Russia and not something I expected. The kindness of people I think has been an intriguing insight.”
In the latest news, Bushby was trying to negotiating walking through the Channel Tunnel. If he is unsuccessful he plans on swimming the English Channel. Last year, he completed a 300km swim across the Caspian Sea – the first person to do it, so the Channel shouldn't posed too many problems.
Busby admitted to the BBC in another interview that that nearing the end of his 58,000km adventure was a "positively scary" thought.
"It's going to be hard," he said. "I've spoken with a number of long-distance walkers, some walking five years or more, and they have told me it's very difficult returning to normal society. "The key will be throwing myself into another mission, to have another goal."
Yeah, maybe take a break first…