A man spent 28 years walking around the world without a car or plane, and Werner Herzog was waiting on the beach when he finally reached the UK

Karl Bushby (@karlcbushby) is back in the United Kingdom after 28 years away. The former paratrooper from Hull filmed himself on a British beach, shortly after swimming the English Channel, and posted the clip to TikTok the next day with the caption “Made it to the UK.”

Bushby left Hull in 1998 to attempt what he calls the Goliath Expedition, an unbroken journey around the world without any motorized transportation. He set off from Punta Arenas, Chile, that November and expected to finish in 12 years. Visa trouble and a five-year ban from Russia slowed him down, and along the way he crossed the frozen Bering Strait on foot and swam the Caspian Sea. His father and filmmaker Werner Herzog were among those who met him on Shakespeare Beach, south of Dover.

In the video, Bushby says it took 20 hours in the water over three days to reach the beach. The trip isn’t over, though. He still has to get to his mother’s house in Hull, about 400 kilometers away. “I walked away from that place 28 years ago,” he says, before thanking “everybody in the world that made this possible.” The clip has picked up hundreds of thousands of views in about a day, and the replies are full of congratulations.

Viewers praise Bushby and ask for a movie

Most commenters congratulated Bushby or called him a legend. Many said his story should be made into a movie or a documentary, and a few asked why his return wasn’t bigger news.

One commenter said they were 9 when he started walking and are about to turn 37. “WHY IS THIS NOT TOP NEWS,” another wrote. A third predicted “There’s gotta be a book deal…”

Some viewers ask how Bushby paid for the trip

Money came up again and again in the replies. The video doesn’t say how Bushby covered nearly three decades on the road, and several viewers wanted to know.

“How did he make money?” one asked. Another assumed “He must have a ton of money,” and a third posted a numbered list of questions that included “How did you pay for it??”

Bushby had planned to stay in the British Army for the first three years of the trek and fund it with his signing bonus, but the Army canceled that arrangement at the last minute. He raised the money himself and lost several sponsors in the 2008 financial crisis. New sponsors came on board in 2010.

The Channel swim came after Eurotunnel rejected his request to walk through the Channel Tunnel, citing safety and operational constraints. Bushby is expected to reach Hull in November. One viewer said they want to be there with a sign when he arrives, and three separate commenters joked that he’d make it home before GTA 6.