Man who's been walking non-stop for 27 years was banned from entering Russia
It's a labor of love that's taken 27 years, but finally, Karl Bushby is on the home stretch back to Hull. Starting off in Chile way back in 1998, Bushby set out to be the first person to ever walk around the entire globe.
Earlier this year, the BBC spoke with Bushby, who had just 2,000 miles (3,219km) left until he was back in his hometown, although he's still not due there until September 2026.
The former paratrooper is still undertaking his mission known as the Goliath Expedition, hoping to be the first person to walk a completely unbroken path around the world.
It's not been easy, and as well as battling polar bears and facing drug cartels, he also had problems in Russia. Speaking to the Mirror in June 2025, Bushby's father admitted: "We’ve lurched from crisis to crisis. But I feel extremely proud that he’s done it.
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"I wouldn’t have the bottle to do some of it myself. It’s a unique expedition, I don’t think there’s ever been one where the person has never gone home in between stages."
Ironically, it turns out Bushby apparently isn't even really a fan of walking.
Away from his life and death experiences, Bushby also escaped the glare of Vladimir Putin when he was banned from Russia in 2013.
Things started falling apart when Bushby and French adventurer Dimitri Kieffer had to take a detour from Alaska to Siberia in March 2006. The pair was detained by Russian border troop officers as they attempted to cross the border near the Chukotkan village of Uelen.
As they hadn't entered the country at the right port of entry, they were threatened with being banned from Russia. Still, it's said that successful intervention from the British Deputy Prime Minister helped their cause. John Prescott reportedly consulted with Roman Abramovich, the then-Governor of Chukotka, and saw Bushby continue on his way.
This wasn't his only run-in with Russia, as the financial crash of 2008 saw Bushby lose several sponsors. Russian authorities agreed to another visa, but 90-day time constraints and the harsh conditions of the tundra hampered his progress in 2011.
Even though Russian officials subsequently denied him a visa in 2012, an undeterred Bushby decided to take a very different route when he was banned from re-entering Russia for five years in 2013.
Instead, he walked more than 3,000 miles (4,800km) from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., and turned up at the Russian embassy. With his visa ban overturned, he was even given an invitation from the Russian government.
You might think things got a little smoother from there on out, but for Bushby, the COVID-19 pandemic and visa issues caused further problems in Turkmenistan and Iran.
Bushby decided to swim across the Caspian Sea from Kazakhstan in August 2024, hoping to avoid going through either Iran or Russia due to the dangers of having a British passport.
Thankfully, Bushby is closer than ever to completing his mammoth mission, and the last update came from him crossing Turkey into Bulgaria at the start of September. Hopefully, his visa issues are a thing of the past.