Whatâs meant by the line, âireland, russia oh man!â
A British man has spent the last 27 years trying to walk from Chile to his home in HullâŠâŠ
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I didnât know you could walk across the Bering Sea, but if he said he did it, so be it.
Iâm sure thereâll be a book.
Keep us informed.
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Diarmuid Byrnes and Conor Lehane have amassed the same scoring total in championship hurling (3-137 vs 5-131). Byrnes have played 9 fewer games but Iâd say more minutes given as heâs almost always a starter
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Actually, is Byrnes the highest scoring defender in championship history? Afaik heâs never lined out in the forwards and I canât find another defender higher than him on the list
Most likely but there should be separate lists for pre and post 2018 records like scoring and appearances or at least an acknowledgment anyway.
Same for when the first back door came in.
The first line will make this hard to get through but nonetheless, ignore and move on if you canâŠ
On November 1, 1998, in Punta Arenas at the southern tip of Chile, a 28-year-old British ex-paratrooper named Karl Bushby made a decision that would consume the next three decades of his life.
He would walk home to Hull, England.
Not fly. Not drive. Not sail. Walk. Every step. No shortcuts. No exceptions.
The distance: approximately 58,000 kilometers across four continents, 25 countries, six deserts, and seven mountain ranges.
His budget: ÂŁ500.
His plan: finish in about 12 years.
His reality: heâs still walking.
Twenty-seven years later, Karl Bushby is somewhere in Europe, roughly 1,600 kilometers from Hull, approaching the end of what has become one of the longest human-powered journeys in modern history.
The expedition has a name: Goliath. An appropriate title for something massive, seemingly impossible, and requiring the defeat of overwhelming obstacles through sheer persistence.
Bushby set himself two simple rules that became iron laws:
Rule One: No motorized transport can advance the route forward. If he needs to fly somewhere for visa reasons, he must return to the exact spot where he left and continue from there.
Rule Two: He cannot go home until he can walk there.
These rules, which seemed straightforward in 1998, would turn a 12-year plan into a life-defining odyssey that tested every dimension of human enduranceâphysical, mental, bureaucratic, and financial.
The early years followed a recognizable pattern. Bushby walked north through South AmericaâPatagonia, Argentina, Chile. Twenty miles a day when possible. Sleeping rough, relying on strangersâ kindness, navigating by paper maps in an era before smartphones and GPS.
Then came the first legendary obstacle: the Darién Gap.
This stretch of roadless jungle between Panama and Colombia has a reputation as one of Earthâs most dangerous regionsâdense rainforest, no infrastructure, controlled by drug traffickers and armed groups, genuinely impassable for most travelers.
Bushby spent nearly four years crossing it.
Not because the distance was enormous, but because the terrain was treacherous, the danger constant, and progress measured in brutal daily struggles through mud, rivers, and vegetation that fought every step.
He emerged on the other side. Alive. Still walking.
Through Central America he continued, then Mexico, then the United States. By 2005, seven years into the journey, he reached Alaskaâthe northwestern edge of the Americas.
Ahead lay an obstacle that seemed insurmountable: the Bering Strait.
Roughly 90 kilometers of ocean separates Alaska from Russia. For most of human history, crossing it on foot was impossible. But during winter, the strait freezesânot solidly, but into shifting masses of sea ice that crack, drift, and reform constantly.
In March 2006, Bushby and French adventurer Dimitri Kieffer attempted something no one had done as part of a continuous around-the-world walk: crossing the Bering Strait on foot.
For 14 days, they navigated 240 kilometers of broken, moving ice. They jumped between ice floes. They carried rifles for protection against polar bears. They wore immersion suits in case they fell through. The ice shifted beneath them, creating leads of open water they had to bypass or risk.
It was one of the most dangerous crossings in modern exploration history.
They made it. They reached the Russian village of Uelen in Siberia.
Where Russian border guards immediately arrested them.
They hadnât entered Russia at an official port of entry. Technically, theyâd violated immigration law. The authorities threatened to ban them permanently from Russiaâwhich would end Bushbyâs journey entirely, as his route required thousands of kilometers through Russian territory.
Diplomatic intervention saved him. John Prescott, British Deputy Prime Minister (and MP for Hull, Bushbyâs hometown), and Roman Abramovich, then Governor of Chukotka, intervened. After legal appeals, Russia allowed Bushby to continue.
But the visa problems were just beginning.
Russian tourist visas allowed only 90 days in the country per 180-day period. Bushby needed to walk thousands of kilometers through Siberian tundraâterritory thatâs only passable on foot during late winter and early spring when rivers and swamps are frozen.
He could walk a few months per year, then had to leave Russia entirely until his visa reset.
Progress slowed to a crawl.
In 2008, after walking only three weeks, he had to stop. His visa approval came too late in the season. When snow melted, the tundra became impassable swamps.
Then the 2008 financial crisis hit. Bushby lost sponsors. He couldnât afford to travel to Russia for the brief windows when walking was possible. He retreated to Mexicoâthe cheapest place he could waitâand spent nearly two years there, unable to continue his expedition.
In 2010, he secured new funding and returned to Russia. He resumed walking through Siberiaâs frozen wilderness.
In 2012, Russia denied his visa.
In 2013, Russia banned him from the country entirely for five years, citing a border violation.
Bushbyâs response was extraordinary: he walked 4,800 kilometers across the United Statesâfrom Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.âto the Russian Embassy, to personally protest the decision.
In 2014, the ban was overturned.
He returned to Russia and continued the slow march west through Mongolia, crossing the Gobi Desert (where he met fellow around-the-world walker Angela Maxwell).
By 2018, heâd reached Kazakhstan, then Uzbekistan, then Turkmenistan.
And hit another wall: he couldnât get a visa for Iran, the next country on his route.
Then COVID-19 shut down the world.
Bushby returned to Mexico again, waiting as the pandemic raged and geopolitics shifted. Russiaâs invasion of Ukraine made returning through Russian territory impossible. Iran remained closed to British passport holders.
He was trapped on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea with no viable land route forward.
So Bushby decided to swim it.
Not as a publicity stunt. As the only remaining option to keep his route continuous.
The Caspian Sea is the worldâs largest inland body of water. The crossing from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan: 288 kilometers of open water.
Bushby is not a natural swimmer. Heâd later admit: âIâm definitely not a swimmer, nor do I like swimming.â
But he spent a year training in Mexico, recruited Angela Maxwell to join him, secured support from the Azerbaijani government (including two national team swimmers and coastguard vessels), and planned the crossing meticulously.
In August 2024, they began.
For 31 days, they swam in shiftsâthree hours in the morning, three hours in the afternoon, sleeping on support boats at night. They battled rough seas, high winds, and mental exhaustion.
On September 17, 2024, they reached Azerbaijan.
It was the first recorded swim across the Caspian Sea in this manner.
From Azerbaijan, Bushby walked through Georgia and into Turkey, covering 2,204 kilometers over five months.
On May 2, 2025, he crossed the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbulâofficially stepping from Asia into Europe for the first time since leaving Britain in 1998.
Twenty-six years. Four continents. Tens of thousands of kilometers. And finally, back in Europe.
But visa problems struck again. Turkish regulations forced him to leave the country the same day he crossed the bridge.
Because of course they did. The bureaucratic obstacles have been as relentless as the physical ones.
As of late 2025, Bushby is progressing through southeastern EuropeâBulgaria, Romania, Hungaryâwith approximately 1,600 kilometers remaining until Hull.
If logistics cooperate, he estimates arrival in September 2026.
But nothing about this journey suggests it will end simply.
One final obstacle looms: the English Channel.
To maintain his unbroken footsteps, Bushby needs to cross from continental Europe to Britain without using a boat (which would be motorized transport). Swimming is possible but dangerous and heâd prefer to avoid it.
His hoped-for solution: walking through the Channel Tunnelâs service tunnelâthe maintenance corridor that runs parallel to the train tunnels. Itâs not legally open to pedestrians, but Bushby hopes that, with only 21 miles separating him from home after 27 years, authorities might grant special permission.
If not, heâll have to figure something else out. He always does.
The numbers behind Bushbyâs journey are staggering:
27 years duration
~47,000 kilometers walked
~13 years spent actively moving
~14 years consumed by visa delays, financial problems, pandemics, and bureaucratic obstacles
25 countries traversed
4 continents crossed
2 major frozen/water crossings (Bering Strait, Caspian Sea)
Countless acts of kindness from strangers
That last point matters most to Bushby. In interviews, he consistently emphasizes that his experience of the world has been defined not by landscapes but by peopleâthe residents of remote villages who offered meals, shelter, and help to a strange foreign man walking through.
âI canât even begin to express what itâs been like,â he said recently. âThe world Iâve seen and the people Iâve met.â
What drives someone to do this?
Bushbyâs answer is consistent: âItâs a challenge-based endeavor.â
Not for charity (though heâs inspired countless people). Not for fame (he spent many years in near-total obscurity). Not for a philosophical mission or spiritual quest.
Simply because itâs hard. Because no one had done it. Because the challenge existed and he wanted to see if he could meet it.
This purity of purposeâstripped of ulterior motives or grand narrativesâmakes the journey somehow more remarkable. Itâs endurance for its own sake. Persistence because persistence matters.
The expedition has consumed his entire adult life. He was 28 when he started. Heâll be 57 when he finishes. Nearly three decades spent either walking or waiting to walk.
Heâs lived through the entire smartphone era on the road. When he started, people used paper maps and payphones. Now he posts updates on Instagram and coordinates logistics via satellite communications.
The world changed. He kept walking.
Friends, careers, relationships, normal lifeâall deferred or abandoned for this single-minded pursuit of an unbroken path around the world.
In interviews, Bushby admits to âmixed feelingsâ about finally finishing. Heâs adopted a âlife on the roadâ that will end when he reaches Hull. After 27 years of forward motion, what comes next?
But first, he has to get there.
Roughly 1,600 kilometers remain. At his typical pace of 20 miles per day when actively walking, thatâs perhaps 50 walking daysâa few months of actual movement.
But nothing about this journey suggests it will be simple. There will be visa complications. Funding issues. Unexpected obstacles. The English Channel problem.
Bushby has learned that the longest journeys donât defeat the body firstâthey test the soulâs patience.
Physical endurance can be trained. You can build strength, increase stamina, develop resilience to cold and heat and pain.
But bureaucratic delays? Financial crises? Waiting years for visas? Watching the world change while youâre stuck in place, unable to move forward?
That requires different endurance. Mental. Emotional. The ability to wait without giving up. To maintain purpose when progress stops.
Most expeditions fail not because people canât handle the physical challenges, but because they run out of patience with everything else.
Bushby has endured 27 years of âeverything else.â
When he finally walks into Hullâif he walks into Hull in 2026âit will represent one of the most extraordinary achievements in modern exploration.
Not because he covered the most ground (others have walked farther).
Not because he faced the most danger (though the Darién Gap and Bering Strait were genuinely life-threatening).
But because he refused to quit. For 27 years. Through every conceivable obstacle. Despite losing sponsors, facing bans, waiting through pandemics, swimming seas he never wanted to swim, and maintaining his two simple rules even when breaking them would have been so easy to justify.
No motorized transport. Donât go home until you can walk there.
Twenty-seven years of discipline.
Most people canât maintain a diet for 27 days. Bushby has maintained an around-the-world walk for 27 years.
Thatâs the real story. Not the physical featâthough thatâs impressive. The mental endurance. The refusal to accept that obstacles are permanent. The patience to wait years for visas, then resume walking from the exact spot where you stopped.
Somewhere in Europe right now, a 56-year-old British man is walking west. One step at a time. Same as heâs been doing since 1998.
Behind him: an unbroken trail of footprints stretching back 47,000 kilometers to Chile.
Ahead: roughly 1,600 kilometers until home.
No planes. No cars. No shortcuts.
Just feet against the edge of the world.
And the quiet, relentless patience to keep going when every rational voice says to stop.
Thatâs Karl Bushbyâs Goliath Expedition.
Not the longest walk in history, perhaps.
But possibly the longest test of human patience ever documented.
And heâs almost done.
Almost home.
After 27 years of refusing to quit, heâs 1,600 kilometers from proving that sometimes the slowest way is the only way that matters.
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Better thing to do with your life than looking at a fucking screen
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14 years of red tape.
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Rookie numbers. Iâm a civil servant
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âDonald Trumpâ appears in the lyrics of Hills of Donegal by Goats Donât Shave.
This lad isnât up to much when you look into it.
Forrest Gump would have managed that spin in a couple of months.
And weâve seen Forrest do it. This lad could be hid out in Colombia for 20 years.
One of the best things Iâve read here. Incredible man!
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The Olympia Theatre is now called the 3Olympia Theatre. Luckily thereâs no other venue in Dublin sponsored by 3
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Paul Pogba was banned for taking drugs in 2024 for four years. Heâs served 18 months and is back playing now for Monaco.
Heâs into camel racing.
A film too. Tom Hanks the obvious choice to play Karl. Just a merging of his Forrest Gump and Cast Away roles.
Heâs not finished yetâŠ
