See you soon! Ex-soldier Karl Bushby nears last leg of world’s longest walk

IRON MAN: Karl Bushby on the ‘winter road’ in Siberia

By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor

A former soldier attempting the longest continuous walk in history is bearing down on his final, home continent more than a quarter of a century after beginning his epic trek.

Ex-paratrooper Karl Bushby, 54, began his adventure on November 1, 1998, with a single, awesome aim – to travel from the tip of South America all the way home to Hull without using any form of transport.

Although he initially thought it might take 12 years, he is now approaching his 27th year on the road and a significant milestone. After reaching Turkey last month Karl is now making his way towards the mighty Bosphorus, which marks the continental boundary between Asia and Europe.

But asked if he knows when he might reach it, his Dad Keith said: “No. There’ll be some drama before that. We just lurch from crisis to crisis – that’s the way you go with this game.”

When Karl left Punta Arenas in Chile to begin his journey, Tony Blair was Prime Minister, Cher was No 1, and Arsenal were champions of the Premier League.

Karl was a fresh-faced 28-year-old, who after 12 years in the Parachute Regiment had set himself the unprecedented challenge of walking home to Hull from the southern tip of South America.

More than 26 years later and against all the odds, he is now turning for home, approaching Europe from the northern coast of Turkey after enduring some of the most inhospitable environments on earth.

It is a journey in which he has evaded capture in a war zone, been arrested and jailed, and fallen in love. But he has never broken his one simple rule – to travel every yard under his own steam, whether that means walking, climbing, swimming or crawling.

THE OPEN ROAD: Karl in Patagonia

Sticking to that rule has seen Karl accomplish some astonishing feats that on their own would set him apart as one of the one of the most courageous, resilient and resourceful of explorers.

They include his 2006 crossing of the Bering Strait – which he did with French ultramarathon runner Dimitri Kieffer – to get from the US to Russia. Karl’s Dad Keith, also a former soldier, gave an idea of what they encountered on this death-defying part of the journey. He told The Hull Story: “The Bering Strait in winter is a moving freight train of crushed and broken ice. In a couple of cases it took Karl and Dmitri a whole exhausting day to progress by one mile.

“There are times when it is necessary to swim between the ice floes and then once you're on the ice floes they will move North or South faster than you can make your way across them.

“Plus a lot of the ice is not nice and flat but is crushed and broken making dragging a sledge like crossing a car park full of piles of fridges. One night the ice actually came apart under the tent with the floor of the tent visibly stretching. Needless to say they made a pretty hasty exit.”

HARSH CONDITIONS: Karl in Alaska

He added: “This crossing had not been done before and has set a record. Of course, it meant arrest and detention again.”

If Karl has had to abandon his route for any reason – whether through an expiring visa or a brush with the authorities – he planted a metaphorical flag on the spot he had reached and went back to carry on, as Keith explained: “When he was arrested in Panama they took him forward in a helicopter and put him in jail.

“When they let him out he had to go back to where he was picked up so he could walk the distance again. He hasn’t missed one yard out.”

Often, problems with visas have dictated his route, resulting in an incredible swim across the Caspian Sea last year. Keith said: “Faced with the Caspian Sea on his journey westward Karl was faced with going around the North of the sea through Russian territory, or around to the South, through Iran.

LOVE: With Catty in Colombia

“Although he had journeyed through Siberia, the chances of getting a Russian visa were negligible and he had already been turned down for a visa through Iran. His option was to swim the Caspian Sea, which he then did last August / September. Obviously with a support boat but sticking to the theoretical flag system when it came to entering the water the next day.

“The swim took a month over a distance of 288 km from a point in Kazakhstan to Baku in Azerbaijan. Another record, because surprisingly, it’s not been done before.”

Keith has supported Karl remotely as best he can but has not seen him since meeting him in Canada to resupply him in 2003.

And he never tried to talk him out of it. “We talked about it and I thought maybe he could walk across Australia or something like that,” he said. “I wasn’t worried as such. When I realised he was going to do it, it was OK so let’s get it right.”

DANGER: Crossing the Bering Strait

Much has changed since Karl began with “very basic kit” and just $500 US dollars in 1998.

“The first few years were quite ‘lean’ at times,” said Keith. “His mother and I would send some funds occasionally but it was difficult to get the money over to him. He had no bank account and there was no internet.

“The only option was to send money via Western Union to the next big city that he would reach. However funds (never that much) were likely to run out before he could make it. Consequently, he would eat anything edible he found on the roadside, plus corn as he passed farmers’ fields.

“At one point he walked for three days over the Andes on just one banana. Luckily, people were extremely good to him and would take him in and make sure that he had a decent meal. Even those that had very little themselves would share it with Karl. This humbling experience made a large impression on Karl.”

Although Keith says he has not been unduly worried by his son’s ability to survive, when asked for low points he admits: “There have been a couple of times when I think I haven’t heard from him for a while…”

Another difficult period came when Karl fell in love with a woman called Catty in Colombia, whom he would visit when he went back for visas and who tried unsuccessfully to join him on the journey. But the mission came first.

Keith said: “She tried to go on the walk with him and it went on for some time but in the end he had to walk away from it. They were still in love but he had a choice to make and he made it. He had to walk away.”

Colombia was also the scene of another major scare when Karl had to travel through the jungle while avoiding FARC guerrillas, who may have killed him if he was discovered and who at one point were just feet away. “It was basically an escape and evasion exercise,” said Keith.

He added: “The highest point so far would be getting across the Bering Strait. I never thought they would be able to do it.”

Asked how he will feel when Karl finally makes it home, Keith, 77, said: “I don’t know. For more than twenty years I’ve been used to him being away. He’s still a couple of years from home at least. I’ll be glad he’s done it but it will be strange to not have him out there.”

Karl, a former pupil of Malet Lambert secondary school, is currently walking across Turkey and heading for a bridge over the Bosphorus, which marks the boundary between Asia and Europe. He will need permission to cross as it’s been closed to pedestrians since the 1980s.

And that, for the moment, is all he’s focused on. Keith said: “He doesn’t think about how long it will take or when he’ll get back; he just looks at one leg at a time. He doesn’t think about getting home, just getting to that bridge. It’s literally one step at a time.”

Asked how Karl is as he approaches his home continent, Keith said: “He’s fine. He has good days and bad days. Another day on the road is another day at the office for him. This is his life – he doesn’t know anything else at the moment, I don’t think.”