Englishman Karl Bushby returns home after 28 years of walking 30,000 miles around the world

Hull, England – For 28 years and one day, Karl Bushby traveled the long way home on an epic odyssey of human endurance across the north of England.

His adventure was made even more difficult – physically and mentally – by the two rules he had imposed on himself: he could not advance his journey using any machine and he could not return home during this time, even if family members or friends died.

It wasn’t a direct route either. His trip was repeatedly delayed for months, even years, because of illness, visa restrictions in Russia, Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and the need to swim in huge bodies of water. His life was also threatened by armed gangs in the lawless Darien Gap neighborhood in Central America, in a prison in Panama and by a polar bear in Siberia.

From the age of 29, he sported golden locks in his first photos. Now 57 years old, his beard is salt and pepper, and the elements and time alter his face.

On Monday, he took his final approximately $75 million steps to the applause and cheers of a hometown hero as he entered Hull, a solemn and proud working-class port city.

“I didn’t do this alone. There was a big team, the biggest team: Earth. That’s what it took to get me back,” Bushby told supporters gathered in Hull, a working-class port city about 150 miles north of London.

“You have no idea how many people were involved in this, to enable us to overcome the types of obstacles that we faced. We took on governments. We took on some of the toughest challenges. We had to create two world records just to get back here. And I couldn’t have done it alone. So it was a global, global effort.”

Bushby began what became known as the “Goliath Expedition” in Chile on November 1, 1998. He made his way north through Central America, the United States and Canada, then crossed the Bering Sea to Russia in the world’s first recorded attempt. He then crossed Central Asia and swam across the Caspian Sea for 31 days, in an attempt to avoid war in Ukraine.

In recent years he has crossed Europe and last month he swam across the English Channel from France, setting foot on his homeland where British immigration officials had set up to check his passport.

“It’s almost like arriving in a foreign country,” Bushby told CBS News this weekend as he neared home. “I’ve been working with dollars for 28 years. I don’t know the brands in the stores. So I wonder what I’m going to buy. Many times I’ve been caught crossing the road because I was looking the other way, because these people are driving on the wrong side of the road.”

His final stretch Monday, literally, was a brisk walk of about 3 miles from downtown Hull to a quiet, sprawling neighborhood north of two-story red-brick houses.

Children lined up around the corner from his mother’s house and applauded as an honor guard led the way.

Bushby pushed the cart that had been with him for about 25 years up the final steps.

He then kissed his mother who was waiting for him in the street outside her house. The cheers died down and the two shared a moment on the ride home.

Bushby said he feels like a man wondering what home really means after spending a generation across the world.

“I’m home, but it’s not the home I’ve been used to for so long. And it’s a strange feeling. And I almost feel guilty,” he said. “As if there are other parts of the world now that are more like me. And now I’m going to be confronted with this strange static thing.”

Now, after more than 10,000 days away, Bushby faces a different task: processing it all.

Faced with the question of whether the world had improved or deteriorated, he acknowledged the difficulties but did not give up his optimism.

“The world is in a little more complicated time; there are more wars, you know,” he told CBS News. “But it’s okay. At the end of the day, we’ve been through worse. So we all need to breathe a little, get through the tough times; we’ll be okay. My bet is on us, no matter what. My bet is on humanity.”

His final advice to anyone wondering if they too could achieve something extraordinary: dream bigger.

“Yes, you can, because I’m nothing special. Maybe we need the art of dreaming big again. People seem to mentally dream outside of a very confined space to the world they live in,” he said.

“You have to have that little bit of confidence in yourself. You have to realize that you are more capable than you think. People underestimate themselves all the time. So that’s the first step, I think. Dream big. Realize that you’re probably more capable than you think. If you take nothing else from this…take this!”