Adventurer Karl Bushby arrives in Hull after 28-year walk from South America
Mr Bushby set off from the southern end of Chile in 1998, when he was 28.
Adventurer Karl Bushby has been mobbed by well-wishers as he arrived in his home town of Hull on the last day of his 28-year walk from South America.
Mr Bushby, now 57, told crowds in the city centre: “There has never been a welcome home quite like this.”
The former paratrooper set off from the southern end of Chile in 1998, when he was 28, vowing to walk all the way home without using any form of motorised transport.
On Monday, he made the penultimate stop of his epic journey in the centre of Hull, where he was greeted by hundreds of well-wishers outside the City Hall.
He was mobbed and cheered as he walked into Queen Victoria Square wheeling his cart, before telling the crowd: “There has never been a welcome home quite like this, I’m sure.
“This is absolute madness. After 28 years, you couldn’t ask for more than this.
“This is the last, last few steps.”
Mr Bushby was greeted by the Lord Mayor and Hull East MP Karl Turner, who read out a message of congratulations from Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
He went inside for a civic reception before he embarks on the final leg of his 31,000-mile (50,000km) journey – the three miles to his mother’s house, in the north of the city, which he last visited in 1998.
Monday’s leg crowns years of dangerous escapades, including crossing the notorious Darien Gap in Central America and traversing the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia on the frozen sea.
Mr Bushby arrived back in England earlier this month, announcing that he had swum the Channel.
He told the crowd: “Twenty-eight years… I could not have imagined this.
“One last enormous thank you, guys. Just an enormous thank you.”
He said: “I guess I’ll be seeing you around. I’ll be knocking about for a while, I guess.”
Mr Bushby said: “I didn’t do this alone. It was a big team. The biggest team – Earth.
“That’s what it took to get me back.”
Lord Mayor of Hull Maria Coward told Mr Bushby: “For 28 years – 10,229 days – Hull has been waiting for your return.”
She said: “Hull is proud of you. I’m proud of you. Everyone’s proud of you.”
Mr Turner read Mr Burnham’s message of congratulations on what he described as an “extraordinary journey”.
It said: “To walk around the world from Chile and back again is an achievement of truly remarkable proportions.
“It speaks of courage, resilience, perseverance and unbreakable spirit.”
The Prime Minister’s statement also thanked Mr Bushby for his service to the country as a soldier.
He said: “Your journey has taken nearly three decades, crossed continents and tested you in ways that most of us can barely imagine.
“But today, as you return to the city from which you left 28 years ago, you bring something far greater than any world record or remarkable personal achievement.
“You bring a story of what can be accomplished through extraordinary determination and self-belief.”