Kingston upon Hull (United Kingdom) (AFP) - British adventurer Karl Bushby enjoyed an emotional reunion with his mother and family on Monday as he arrived back home after a 28-year, 50,000-kilometre (31,000-mile) trek from South America, crossing four continents on foot.

Cheers erupted as the 57-year-old former paratrooper was greeted in the street outside his mother’s house in the northeastern UK port of Hull.

Bushby, who set off on his odyssey from Chile in 1998, had two golden rules for his journey – to avoid all forms of transport to advance and not return until he completed his challenge.

He was met Monday in the centre of Hull by a crowd of about 1,000 cheering people, and thanked everyone for all the support he had met along the way.

“I didn’t do this alone,” he said, adding it was a “global effort”.

“You wouldn’t believe just how many people have been involved in this, to get us around the kinds of obstacles that we face. We’ve faced down governments, we’ve faced down some of the hardest challenges.”

- ‘Dogged determination’ -

The route back to his home city has seen him walk the length of the Americas, across the frozen Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia and then through parts of Central Asia and Europe, covering jungles, mountains and deserts.

He had already been applauded Sunday as he crossed the iconic Humber Bridge near Hull in thick mist, ahead of his final push into the city centre and then on to his mother’s home.

He won praise from Hull Mayor Maria Coward, who spoke of the city’s pride in his achievement.

“So many people have followed Karl on his epic journey. We have all felt inspired by his spirit, tenacity and dogged determination,” Coward said.

Bushby was greeted by neighbours as he was reunited with his mother Angela at her home, as well as his 36-year-old son Adam and a 12-year-old granddaughter he had never met.

“It’s quite emotional. I’m proud of him and what he’s done. What an achievement,” neighbour Laura Chaplin 47, told AFP.

British leader Andy Burnham’s spokesman said it was “an extraordinary achievement and the prime minister welcomes him back to the UK”.

- ‘UK soil’ -

Bushby began his adventure when he was 29, after his marriage broke down and his wife returned to Northern Ireland with their son.

He was forced to pause the journey several times, including when Moscow refused him a visa. The 2008 financial crisis and then the Covid-19 pandemic caused other hold-ups.

At those times, he stepped away from the journey, living notably at a base in Mexico, then once the situation had been resolved, he would resume from the exact spot where he had left off.

Erin Anderson, 28, a theatre marketing officer among the crowd in Hull, said she thought Bushby was “amazing”.

“I’ve been following him for the last eight years. He’s been walking for as long as I’ve been alive. It’s brilliant.”

Bushby swam across the Channel from France in early October to arrive back in the UK again.

“Feels good to have UK soil under my feet after all these years,” he said later in a statement, adding his journey “hadn’t been easy”.

“All of us can accomplish more than we will ever imagine,” he added.

Legendary German filmmaker Werner Herzog and a film crew are accompanying Bushby on his homecoming, making a feature-length documentary about the journey entitled “Walk of Life”.

The production company behind the film has been supporting Bushby’s progress for the past 16 years, providing financial and logistical assistance.

In an interview with AFP from northern France in September, Bushby voiced some apprehension about returning to a more normal life back in Britain.

“I’ve got to try and get established in the grown-up world again,” he said.