CULTURE · HUMAN STORY
He Left Chile on Foot in 1998. Is He Finally Home?
Karl Bushby set out to walk home in 1998 and swore he would not ride. Almost three decades later, he is close.
Transcript of the video edition
He left home in nineteen ninety-eight and swore he would walk the whole way back. Twenty-eight years later, Karl Bushby is almost there.
Bushby is a former British paratrooper. He set off from the southern tip of Chile in November nineteen ninety-eight. His rules were simple. No cars, no planes, and no going home until the walk was done.
He thought it would take about twelve years. Then came visa trouble, lost sponsors, the pandemic and wars. In all, he walked about thirty thousand miles through twenty-nine countries.
In early October he swam across the English Channel and touched British soil at Dover. Now he is walking about two hundred and fifty miles north, to his mother’s house in Hull.
He is reported to be fifty-seven. We could not confirm if he has reached the door yet. Almost three decades, one front door. Would you walk that far to get home?
Sources
- NPR headlines, Oct 23, 2026: ‘He left Chile on foot to England 28 years ago. He’s almost finally home’
- AFP via Gulf News, Oct 2026: Karl Bushby back on UK soil after 28-year walk
- Scripps TV stations (AP-style wire), Oct 9, 2026: former paratrooper nears end of 28-year, 31,000-mile trek
- Whether he has reached Hull yet was not confirmed at time of writing.
This video edition was scripted with automated tools from the sources listed, narrated by a synthetic voice and published by Daniel Varrone. Corrections: editor@monochromechronicles.com