KARL BUSHBY NEARS HULL AFTER 28-YEAR JOURNEY

Karl Bushby is approaching Hull after a journey from the southern tip of South America that began on 1 November 1998. The former British paratrooper set out from Punta Arenas, Chile, with a plan to reach his home city without using transport to advance. He also pledged not to return to the UK before completing the route. Bushby recently swam the English Channel and is covering the final miles through northern England with a handcart carrying his supplies. He expects to finish on Monday.

His route has crossed four continents and taken him through 30 countries. Bushby travelled through the Darién Gap, crossed shifting ice on the Bering Strait and swam across the Caspian Sea. Difficult terrain and travel restrictions extended a journey he had originally expected to take 12 years. Along the way, a helicopter rescued him from an ice floe drifting out to sea. He has called the journey the Goliath Expedition.

Bushby’s son Adam, a granddaughter he has never met, his father Keith and his brothers are due to meet him at the finish. His mother, Angela, will wait at his childhood home in Hull. Bushby said the end of the journey would change the routine that has shaped much of his adult life. “My purpose and reason for living is about to end,” he said. “It’s going to be difficult … trying to blend back into a society that you just don’t know anymore.”