Karl Bushby

Karl Bushby (born March 30, 1969) is an English walking adventurer, and author, currently attempting to be the first person in history to completely walk an unbroken path around the world. Bushby's trek is known as the Goliath Expedition. He started it in the southern tip of Chile in 1998 and is expected to return to England by September or October 2026.

Early and personal life Bushby was born on March 30, 1969, in Hull, Yorkshire, England. The family lives in the Sutton Park area of Hull. He was bullied at school for severe dyslexia, diagnosed at age thirteen years old, later describing the experience as "hell", and finding solace in the outdoors through bird-watching near his home. Bushby attended a local comprehensive school and joined the British Army at the age of sixteen years. Bushby served with the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment for eleven years. He originally intended to continue serving as a soldier for the first three years of his expedition, using his signing bonus to fund his expedition, and he initially received the Army's approval to do so. The Army canceled this offer at the last minute, forcing Bushby to raise money for the journey himself.

While serving as a soldier in Operation Banner in Northern Ireland in the early 1990s, Bushby met and married a woman from Belfast named Angela.

Bushby met his next partner, Catalina Estrada, while traveling in Medellín, Colombia, in 2000. By 2011, Bushby and Estrada had broken up; Bushby later said that "you can't have a relationship on the road." Due to numerous delays, the expedition is now expected to last approximately 27 years.

South and Central America On 1 November 1998, Bushby set off from Punta Arenas, Chile. His route through South America took him through Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. Entering Central America required Bushby to cross the inhospitable Darién Gap. Many locals expected him to be killed or abducted by the paramilitary Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which viewed all foreigners as potential parts of the U.S.-backed Plan Colombia initiative. Bushby successfully evaded FARC guerillas and entered Panama in February 2001, although he spent 18 days in a jail in Metetí for entering the country without a visa. Upon reaching Las Vegas in July, Bushby was told that his 90-day visa had expired and could not be renewed while he was in the United States. He thus flew back to Bogotá to apply for a six-month visa, returning to Las Vegas to resume the walk when it was approved in August.

On New Year's Day 2003, a day away from crossing into Canada, Bushby had his trailer stolen while visiting a bar in Toole County, Montana. He spent the next month replacing the items that were lost, only for the stolen trailer to be found in a quarry just before he was ready to depart the United States.

Russia By 2006, he had completed over , walking across the length of South, Central, and North America. Bushby intended to set out from Fairbanks, Alaska, and cross the frozen Bering Strait during the winter of 2005 but made it only as far as Unalakleet before spring began and his U.S. visa expired once again. , Bushby and French adventurer Dimitri Kieffer successfully crossed the Bering Strait on foot, having to take a roundabout 14-day route across a frozen section to cross the wide strait from Alaska to Siberia. They were detained by Russian border troop officers while they were crossing the Russian border near the Chukotkan village of Uelen, for not entering Russia at a correct port of entry. They were threatened with being banned from Russia, which would stop the journey. It was announced on 5 May 2006 that the Russian appeal court had upheld Bushby's application and his walk would continue. This was reported to be the result of consultation between John Prescott, then-Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and MP for Bushby's home town of Hull, and Roman Abramovich, the then-governor of Chukotka.

From late 2008 to 2010, Bushby spent his time in Mexico for cost reasons and was unable to travel to Russia. This was both because of difficulty getting a visa and permits, and because of financial trouble; Bushby lost several of his sponsors due to the 2008 financial crisis. After Bushby secured new sponsors in 2010, the Russian government issued him another visa, and he resumed walking across Russia in the spring of 2011. On 25 April 2011, after walking approximately , Bushby reached the town of Srednekolymsk, completing his leg for 2011. Bushby walked over in the US from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. His destination was the Russian Embassy. On 23 October 2014, Bushby's visa ban was overturned, and he was granted a letter of invitation from the Russian government.

Central Asia Bushby crossed the Russia–Mongolia border in 2017, and on 8 August 2017 he was in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Bushby crossed into Uzbekistan early in June 2019, reaching the border between Turkmenistan and Iran a few months later, where the voyage was on pause due to visa issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. Each day, Bushby and company swam in two 3-hour sessions: one in the morning, one in the afternoon and resting and sleeping on support boats each night. The swim covering was achieved in 31 days with 132 swimming hours. From Azerbaijan, Bushby then went to Turkey to cross the Bosphorus Strait into Europe.

In June 2025, Bushby was in Armenia waiting for a visa to enter Turkey to complete his challenge. At that time, he hoped to continue his trek in August 2025 and estimated he would return home to Hull by 2026.

Europe In September 2025, Bushby finished crossing Turkey and entered Bulgaria, entering the Schengen Area. In October 2025, he had entered Romania and was from the United Kingdom. On 15 November 2025, he arrived in Budapest, Hungary and planned to head to Vienna, Austria. In December 2025, he was reported to be in Slovakia. Due to Schengen visa restrictions (caused by Brexit) limiting his stay to 90 days within a 180-day period, he was required to leave the Schengen Area. By January 2026, he was temporarily in Mexico while waiting for his visa allowance. Two months later, he returned to Hungary before continuing his journey toward the United Kingdom.

In early June 2026, he had reached Belgium, and in mid-June returned to Mexico due to visa expiry before applying for access to the Channel Tunnel; however, Eurotunnel rejected the request, citing safety and operational constraints.

Giant Steps Bushby wrote a book about his walk titled Giant Steps, first published in 2005. The latest edition (2007) includes events up to 31 March 2006, and his Bering Strait crossing. The book and the Bering Strait crossing also inspired a board game called Ice Flow.