From: tsm@fastmail.ca   
      
   “It's going to be a hard stop; the end of a life. There is also uncertainty   
   about what happens next." - Karl Bushby   
      
   "On November 1, 1998, a twenty nine year old British former paratrooper   
   named Karl Bushby stood at the southern tip of Chile with five hundred   
   dollars in his pocket and an idea that sounded unreasonable to everyone who   
   heard it.   
      
   He was going to walk home to Hull, England.   
      
   Not fly. Not drive. Not sail. Walk. Every step. No shortcuts. No   
   exceptions.   
      
   The distance was roughly fifty eight thousand kilometers across four   
   continents. His estimate was eight to twelve years. The reality would   
   stretch far beyond that. More than two decades later, he is still walking.   
   And he is finally close to home.   
      
   From the beginning, Bushby set two rules that could not be broken. The   
   first was simple. No motorized transport could ever advance the route. If   
   he had to fly because of visas or borders, he would return to the exact   
   point where he stopped and continue on foot. The second rule was even   
   simpler. He could not go home until he could walk there.   
      
   Those rules turned a long walk into a life.   
      
   He crossed South America step by step. Then came the Darién Gap, the   
   lawless jungle between Colombia and Panama. It is a place without roads,   
   ruled by terrain, traffickers, and armed groups. Bushby spent two months   
   hacking his way through it, fighting mud, insects, rivers, and fear. He   
   came out alive. Still walking.   
      
   Central America followed. Then Mexico. Then the entire United States. By   
   2005, he reached Alaska. Ahead of him was a challenge few people would even   
   consider.   
      
   The Bering Strait.   
      
   In March 2006, Bushby and French adventurer Dimitri Kieffer stepped onto   
   the Arctic ice. For fourteen days, they moved across two hundred forty   
   kilometers of shifting floes. They jumped gaps of open water. They carried   
   rifles for polar bears. They wore immersion suits in case the ice gave way   
   beneath them.   
      
   They reached Russia.   
      
   And were immediately arrested.   
      
   Only high level diplomatic intervention saved them. But the real problem   
   remained. Russian visas allowed ninety days in the country every six   
   months. Crossing Siberia on foot would take years and could only be done in   
   late winter when the land froze solid. Bushby walked when he could. Then he   
   had to leave. Again and again.   
      
   In 2008, the financial crisis wiped out his sponsors. He retreated to   
   Mexico, stuck for two years with no way forward. In 2013, Russia banned him   
   entirely for five years.   
      
   He responded by walking.   
      
   From Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., nearly five thousand kilometers, to   
   stand outside the Russian Embassy and protest in person. The ban was   
   eventually lifted.   
      
   He pressed on through Mongolia. Across the Gobi Desert. Into Kazakhstan,   
   Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.   
      
   Then Iran denied him a visa.   
      
   Then the world shut down.   
      
   COVID closed borders everywhere. Bushby found himself stranded on the   
   eastern shore of the Caspian Sea with no land route forward. Turning back   
   would violate his rules. Waiting could mean years.   
      
   So he made another decision that sounded impossible.   
      
   He would swim.   
      
   The Caspian Sea is nearly three hundred kilometers across. Bushby does not   
   consider himself a swimmer. He does not even like swimming. But he trained   
   for a year. He recruited fellow long distance walker Angela Maxwell. The   
   Azerbaijani government provided support, including elite swimmers and coast   
   guard vessels.   
      
   In August 2024, they entered the water.   
      
   For thirty one days, they swam in shifts. Three hours in the morning. Three   
   in the afternoon. They slept on support boats at night. The seas were   
   rough. The winds were relentless. The mental strain was constant.   
      
   On September 17, 2024, they reached Azerbaijan.   
      
   From there, Bushby returned to walking. He crossed Georgia and Turkey,   
   covering more than two thousand kilometers in five months. On May 2, 2025,   
   he crossed the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, stepping from Asia into Europe   
   for the first time since 1998.   
      
   Twenty seven years had passed.   
      
   As of late 2025, Bushby is walking through Hungary. About fifteen hundred   
   kilometers remain between him and Hull.   
      
   One obstacle still stands in his way. The English Channel. To keep his   
   journey unbroken, he must cross without motorized transport. Swimming is   
   possible but dangerous. His hope is to walk through the Channel Tunnel’s   
   service corridor, a maintenance route not normally open to pedestrians.   
   After nearly three decades and tens of thousands of kilometers, he hopes   
   permission might be granted.   
      
   The numbers alone are overwhelming. Twenty seven years. More than forty   
   seven thousand kilometers walked. Twenty five countries. Four continents.   
   Thirteen years spent moving forward on foot. Fourteen lost to visas, bans,   
   financial collapse, pandemics, and bureaucracy.   
      
   Why do it.   
      
   Bushby’s answer is plain. It was a challenge. No charity. No fame. It   
   existed because it was hard and because no one had done it.   
      
   But the real discovery came along the way.   
      
   Nearly everyone he met helped him. Gave him food. Offered shelter. Pointed   
   the way forward. “The world,” he says, “is a much kinder place than it   
   often seems.”   
      
   Somewhere in Europe right now, a fifty six year old man is still walking   
   west. Just as he has been since 1998.   
      
   Behind him lies an unbroken trail of footsteps stretching back to Chile.   
   Ahead of him are the final kilometers to home.   
      
   No planes. No cars. No shortcuts.   
      
   If he reaches Hull in 2026, Karl Bushby will have spent almost thirty years   
   proving something quietly profound.   
      
   Sometimes the slowest way forward is the only way that truly counts.   
      
   He is almost there.   
      
   Almost home.   
      
   After twenty seven years of refusing to stop."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)