1 Comment

Paul Salopek's walk is just the most incredible thing. I really love how originally it was going to be seven years - but at some point he looked at his progress and said "it'll take as long as it takes", which is looking more like 10-15 years at this point. Madly committed to the project, with no rush at all. And his writing is incredible (as befits a Pulitzer winner, obvs.)

Have you heard of Karl Bushby? In 1998 he set out from Hull (from a cafe I used to go to, no idea if I ever crossed paths with him) and flew to the tip of South America with a few hundred quid in his pocket and a home-made cart for hauling his stuff, and an intention to walk all the way up the Americas, across the Bering Strait and across Asia back into Europe and up the Channel Tunnel and eventually back to Hull. He's now done a 43,000km chunk of it, including a really hairy winter crossing of the Bering Strait on foot, but then got tangled in bureaucracy: Russian border official arrested him for entering Russia without papers (and I believe because of the gun he was carrying to ward off polar bears) - and since then his journey's been a series of frustrating stops & starts. His journey has reached Turkmenistan, and he's been waiting out Covid in Mexico.

He's been walking it on & off for 23 years now. Determined really doesn't get close.

https://explorersweb.com/2021/05/05/where-in-the-world-is-karl-bushby/

Expand full comment