THE LONG ROAD HOME

KARL BUSHBY RETURNING TO HULL AFTER 28-YEAR ROUND-THE-WORLD WALK

- By DEBORAH HALL

A FORMER paratrooper from Hull set out to become the first person to walk an unbroken path around the world. He thought it would take him 12 years, when he embarked on the challenge from his home in Newtondale, Sutton Park, in October 1998.

Almost 28 years later, Karl Bushby is on his way back. Having faced a jungle swarming with crocodiles and anacondas; a freezing crossing of the Bering Strait and 57 days in a Russian prison, during his 36,000-mile trek, there is probably not much that could faze the determined veteran.

He has reportedly been robbed, detained, deported, bitten, starved and nearly drowned on the journey that began because of a bet in a bar. He set out with a self-styled trolley to pull and push, which he named the Beast, and an idea that he would "walk home" from the southernmost tip of South America to Hull.

But as Karl has pointed out in one of his YouTube videos recording his travels, his Goliath Expedition actually began when he first ventured out of Newtondale and headed off towards the south coast of England.

He took to the video-sharing platform to answer the people who have questioned why, after his amazing world travels on foot, he would want to head back to Hull he expects to make it back to the city by September.