HULL, England — On Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, Karl Bushby arrived in Queen Victoria Square, the center of the city he had left nearly three decades earlier. Well-wishers gathered in Queen Victoria Square as Bushby wheeled his cart through the crowd. The Guardian and CBS News reported the civic welcome and his return on foot. The square marked the public end of an expedition, but not quite its final point: Bushby still had a short walk north to reach his mother’s house.
In an Oct. 26 notice, Hull City Council invited residents to the public welcome at Queen Victoria Square, with a civic reception and final leg to the family home planned afterward. That was an advance plan, not proof that the plans happened. The Guardian later reported that Bushby was welcomed in the square before continuing to the final three-mile walk to his mother’s home. The two scenes brought a long public journey into the same city as a family reunion.
Bushby began his walk from Punta Arenas, at the southern tip of Chile, on Nov. 1, 1998. His rules, as reported by The Guardian and CBS News, were simple and demanding: do not use motorized transport to advance and do not go home until the walk was complete.
He expected the journey to last about 12 years, The Guardian reported. Instead, it unfolded over 28 years, across four continents and over a frozen sea. The Bering Strait and the Darién Gap were among the major challenges described in The Guardian’s coverage. The changing timetable did not erase the destination. The Guardian reported that he crossed the Humber Bridge back into Hull on Sunday, one day before the welcome, bringing the journey to the city he had named as its destination.
At the square, Bushby steered his loaded cart through the crowd. The Guardian reported that well-wishers reached out to shake his hand; CBS News described claps and cheers as he entered Hull. CBS reported that the cart had accompanied him for about 25 years. “I didn’t do this alone,” he told those gathered.
Bushby did not describe the journey as a solo achievement. At the civic welcome, The Guardian reported, he thanked people who had helped him across countries and through setbacks. “It took a world to get me here,” he said. Those remarks widened the story beyond distance and persistence. The expedition had depended on ordinary help along the way, while the welcome in Hull turned the finish into something a city could witness together.
After the square, the final leg continued for about three miles to his childhood home. His mother, Angela, waited at the gate, The Guardian reported. They embraced outside the house he had not returned to since 1998. The Guardian also reported that Bushby reunited with his son and met his 12-year-old granddaughter for the first time. The homecoming therefore held two scenes: the crowd in Queen Victoria Square and a family meeting at the door after 28 years away.
A long walk can be counted in miles and borders, but Bushby’s finish was also measured by the promise he kept. He set out in 1998 intending to return on foot and reached Hull on foot in 2026. In between, people helped him continue; at the end, well-wishers and family were waiting. The city’s welcome gave the last stretch a shared audience, while his arrival at the family gate closed the route on the terms he had chosen. In a weekend conversation with CBS News, as he neared home, he said he no longer knew the brands in local shops and had twice looked the wrong way before crossing a road.
For Hull, a regular Monday became a welcome home after 28 years. Bushby’s expedition ended at a front door, but the crowd at Queen Victoria Square made the finish visible to the people who had followed it from afar. The miles were his to walk; the final welcome belonged to everyone gathered there.
Reader responses