Karl Bushby completes 28-year journey from Chile to Hull | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:00The British adventurer Karl Bushby is
2. 0:02completing his epic 28-year journey
3. 0:05becoming the first person to walk around
4. 0:08the world. The former soldier left Chile
5. 0:11in 1998.
6. 0:13Then he was aged 29 and he will have
7. 0:16traveled 31,000 miles in total ending in
8. 0:21his home city of Hull. Now he's 57. This
9. 0:25morning he was greeted by crowds in
10. 0:27Hessle before a packed reception outside
11. 0:30the Civic Hall. His final steps will
12. 0:32lead him to the gates of his childhood
13. 0:34home where his family is waiting. Paul
14. 0:37Murphy has been following the homecoming
15. 0:39journey.
16. 0:40>> Morning fitness chat. Good to see you.
17. 0:42>> Setting off on the final day of his
18. 0:45homecoming journey. He's moving at pace
19. 0:48but did find time for a chip butty.
20. 0:51>> I said would you like a patty butty? And
21. 0:53he said I think he was taken aback a
22. 0:55little bit.
23. 0:56>> In a city built on tough seafaring
24. 0:59traditions, there is much admiration for
25. 1:01his sense of adventure. And so Karl
26. 1:04Bushby has been given a civic reception
27. 1:06this morning and praised for his
28. 1:08tenacity and resilience.
29. 1:11The crowds have been building since
30. 1:13yesterday when he crossed the Humber
31. 1:15Bridge into his home county.
32. 1:17>> Yeah, the Humber Bridge has always been
33. 1:19that iconic landmark in my mind that
34. 1:21I've you know, has been one of the big
35. 1:24the big pieces and that's final step.
36. 1:28>> Karl Bushby left his home in Hull in
37. 1:301998
38. 1:32and flew to South America to begin his
39. 1:34walk. Under his own rules, he wasn't
40. 1:37allowed motorized transport for the
41. 1:39challenge or to return to the UK before
42. 1:43the walk was done.
43. 1:45>> You have to take that that leap of
44. 1:46faith. You got to take that jump. You
45. 1:48got to
46. 1:49you know, you've got to get out there.
47. 1:51Um and find yourself one day standing at
48. 1:54the beginning of a 50,000 km road.
49. 1:58>> The BBC caught up with him 24 years ago
50. 2:02after he'd made the dangerous crossing
51. 2:04between South and North America.
52. 2:06>> We found Karl Bushby in the Arizona
53. 2:09desert relieved to have made it through
54. 2:11land controlled by South American drug
55. 2:14gangs.
56. 2:15>> It's when you get out beyond that second
57. 2:17set of hills over there,
58. 2:19that the problems begin. Me and the
59. 2:20equipment can quite legitimately just
60. 2:23mingle in.
61. 2:24>> His walk hasn't been continuous. He's
62. 2:26often needed to fly back to his base in
63. 2:29Mexico after several delays, including
64. 2:32problems with visas, politics, and the
65. 2:34weather.
66. 2:36>> If you actually break down the amount of
67. 2:38time actually spent walking, you're
68. 2:40looking at about 15 years. The rest of
69. 2:42it has been spent dealing with stuff or
70. 2:45waiting. Because of those rules and
71. 2:48because we weren't willing to compromise
72. 2:50on the route, this will be a test cuz
73. 2:53we're really not sure how we're going to
74. 2:54cope with the other side.
75. 2:56>> In 2006, shortly after one of three
76. 2:59visits from his mother, Karl crossed the
77. 3:01Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia
78. 3:05only to be detained by the Russians on
79. 3:07suspicion of spying.
80. 3:11>> You know, we'd crossed the Bering Strait
81. 3:12on foot. We thought that we were we were
82. 3:14going to warm reception than we did.
83. 3:16We were wrong.
84. 3:18>> But despite the challenges over the
85. 3:20years, he says he'll miss being on his
86. 3:2228-year journey.
87. 3:24>> It's kind of sad. It's um you know, I'm
88. 3:26letting go of something. There's a lot
89. 3:28of anxiety. I'm I'm crossing the event
90. 3:31horizon and locking into a black hole
91. 3:33right now because I just don't really
92. 3:36know what's coming next. This has been a
93. 3:38half my life.
94. 3:39Uh and more than that of a dream. Um so,
95. 3:43yeah, it's a little, you know, and then
96. 3:45and I at the same time I'm meeting my
97. 3:46family and I'm reconnecting and there's
98. 3:49you know, that's really good stuff. And
99. 3:51I'm going to meet mother and wrap up in
100. 3:53Hull today and
101. 3:54but it's a yeah, it's it's
102. 3:58it's very hard to explain how that
103. 4:00feels.
104. 4:01>> Karl Bushby
105. 4:03off the beaches of the United Kingdom.
106. 4:06>> Last month, he swam across the channel
107. 4:08to the Kent coast.
108. 4:10The very last leg of this is a walk of a
109. 4:13few miles to his mom's house, the
110. 4:15childhood home he left 28 years ago.
111. 4:19She's told us she'll be waiting at the
112. 4:21gate.
113. 4:23>> The kettle's on. Uh Paul is in Hull for
114. 4:25us this lunchtime. The odyssey almost
115. 4:28complete, an emotional day where you
116. 4:30are.
117. 4:34>> Yes, Neda. I think that journey is just
118. 4:36about complete. He's just arriving home
119. 4:38now, slightly ahead of schedule. And
120. 4:41yes, an emotional day for all the
121. 4:43reasons you might expect because he's
122. 4:45meeting his mom again and his son and
123. 4:48indeed the grandchild he's never met.
124. 4:50But also an emotional day in a kind of
125. 4:53nuanced way because Karl Bushby now has
126. 4:55to reinvent himself after being on the
127. 4:59move for 28 years, 31,000 miles. And as
128. 5:04he said there in the uh interview, it
129. 5:06he's kind of staring into a an uncertain
130. 5:09time of his life. Um so, uh there was a
131. 5:12big welcome party here in the center of
132. 5:14Hull about an hour ago before he set off
133. 5:16for his uh mom's house. He's been
134. 5:18praised by the local MP. Crowds turned
135. 5:21out including veterans to praise uh his
136. 5:24resilience and his dogged determination.
137. 5:27Remember, Karl uh well, is a a former
138. 5:30paratrooper. A a message from Andy
139. 5:32Burnham was read out again praising his
140. 5:35determination to go around the world.
141. 5:37So, Karl is now at home about 4 miles
142. 5:39north of here. Presumably, the kettle is
143. 5:42on having a cup of tea with his mom. And
144. 5:44he now has to settle down and think
145. 5:46about the rest of his days, what he's
146. 5:48going to do with the rest of his life
147. 5:50now that that amazing journey has come
148. 5:53to an end.
149. 5:54>> Questions ahead, but for today,
150. 5:56celebrations. Paul, thank you.