Karl Bushby is my hero, says Belfast son of man who took 28 years to walk around the earth

He vowed to walk all the way home to Hull without using any form of motorised transport.

Last Monday, he arrived back in his home city, where he was greeted by hundreds of well-wishers outside the City Hall.

It was an extraordinary overland journey of 31,000 miles from the southern tip of South America, north through the Americas, across Russia and Asia, and west through Europe to Britain.

His son Adam, 36, who lives in Belfast, told the News Letter his father's achievement was "baffling".

He was only eight when his father left the UK for his epic journey – but the pair kept in close contact throughout.

"When he actually finished the walk, I couldn't get my head around it because, you know, it's been 28 years," Adam told the News Letter.

"He's been on the road all those years and despite everything he's been through he's come out the other end successful. It just blows the mind. He has proved a lot of people wrong and he's done it."

Adam, a full time dad to his daughter Harley, 12, was there with her to welcome Karl home.

As a child Adam travelled extensively around the world with his father and mother when his father still served in the army.

When he was five, his parents separated and his mother moved back to her native Northern Ireland.

However, Karl kept in close contact with his son and briefed him on his plan to walk around the world, a journey he began when Adam was only eight.

Adam told the News Letter that he and his father have always been close despite his father's extraordinary odyssey.

"My dad always made sure that I was okay," he said. "He put contingencies in place before he left to make sure I was okay.

"I was eight years old, and he would always write me letters and make sure that I was okay, just checking up on me."

As the years went by, technology advanced, and they began communicating through emails and video calls.

"So, we were always in contact."

Karl is certainly a hero figure to his son.

"Oh, absolutely," he said. "People just need to see what he's done. A lot of people said he couldn't do it; he just proved them all wrong. If you put your head to it, you can do it."

Over the years, Adam travelled out to meet Karl several times in Alaska and Mexico. In 2014, he joined his father for ten days to get a taste of life on the road in Georgia, in the US, when he was 24.

"It was very eye-opening, what you have to do – crazy," he said.

He had to learn 'stealth camping' in unauthorised spots in woods, as well as the full A-Z of contingency plans in case things went wrong.

"When we were doing the walk in America, there were a lot of people who would come up to us and ask what we were doing. They would give you food and make sure that you were okay. So it was lovely in that regard.

"But it was hard work, because it was 20 miles a day in the Georgia heat and the rucksack weighed 15-20kg. It was just a lot of hard work, but it paid off."

Both Adam and his 12-year-old daughter Harley were there in Hull to meet Karl when he returned home.

Dramatic parts of the journey included being arrested in Russia on suspicion of being spies and swimming across the Caspian Sea – regarded as the world's largest inland body of water, bordering five countries between Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

According to Adam, his father was the first person ever to achieve this, using a support boat for safety and overnight stops.

To finish in style he also swam back to the UK across the English channel.

Next up, Karl will be undertaking a talking tour about his life and launching a new documentary.

There are no plans for any further adventures at this time, but Adam would certainly be up for joining him.

"Oh, absolutely, yeah. I think it would be great," he said.