Karl’s Goliath Expidition is almost at an end as he returns to where it all started
It’s a moment he originally thought would take 12 years, but now – 28 years later – Karl Bushby has walked across the Humber Bridge as he prepares to return home. His Goliath Expedition will see him return to Hull city centre on Monday, November 2, with people encouraged to welcome him home.
Karl’s epic journey has seen him walking home from the tip of South America, unassisted by any form of mechanical transport. In that time the former paratrooper has crossed some of the world’s most hostile landscapes.
He has navigated the perilous Darién Gap and he has taken on the frozen expanse that is the Bering Strait. Now, he is set to return to where it all began – his mothers house in Newtondale – tomorrow.
He is already seeking his next mission. Speaking to the Hull Daily Mail, he said: “There is going to have to be some readjustment so that I don’t get depressed or go crazy. I will get busy quick and find a passion.
“There are people who walk all over the world and they can lose their identity. I had a purpose for going and a plan. That (coming home) is going to have an effect. But I’m going to find a mission. My schedule is filled for the next two months. And I have a book to write by May!
“What I would like to find is a role in scientific literature and scientific engagement. It would be good to go to schools.” Karl was a pupil at Sutton Park juniors and Malet Lambert. “It would be good to go there again,” he said.
When he left his Hull home he said he was unsure if he would be the same man when returned. Karl says he hopes he is “older and wiser” after his epic adventure.
He said scrambling around the fields, farmland and woods behind Sutton Park Hull had fuelled his desire to travel and explore. “We are all human. It is in our DNA. That sense of adventure is in everyone.”
Photos below taken by Donna Clifford for Hull Live.