Global trekker to deliver 'world's slowest postcard'

A Briton is about to honour a 27-year promise by hand-delivering a postcard he has carried with him during thousands of miles of adventure.

In November 1998, Karl Bushby set off from Chile in South America for his home city of Hull - a 36,000-mile (58,000km) journey without using any form of transport.

Months later, Bushby was given $100 US (£75) by Michael Bier - an Austrian ex-pat living in Chile - in return for delivering the card to a friend in Vienna.

Former paratrooper Bushby, who is days away from crossing into Austria from Hungary, said: "This postcard has been on a few adventurers. It's a bit ratty but it'll get to Michael's old neighbour, as promised."

Bier moved to Arica, a port city in northern Chile, from his native Austria in 1993.

The architect recalled the moment he reached out to Bushby.

He said: "I had earlier driven past this man who was walking along the side of a road. He was pushing a trolley containing all of his possessions.

"I then read in a newspaper that this man was Karl Bushby and he was walking from Chile back to the UK.

"I figured that Karl would visit the town's general post office in order to collect his letters, so I left a little note to Karl asking him if he would deliver a postcard to my old neighbour, Dieter, when he reached Vienna.

"I enclosed $100 - a contribution towards his costs. I wondered if Karl would get it. And he did."

Bier's postcard, written in German, translates to: "Dear Kerdi [a nickname]. This card was given to Karl Bushby on 7.6.1999, who is walking on foot from Punta Arenas via Bering Strait to London (sic).

"I hope it arrives with you and you invite Karl for a few days. Greetings, Michael."

Bushby's journey, originally planned to take 14 years, is expected to end in October, with geo-politics and trouble obtaining visas blamed for the delay.

Bier has closely followed Bushby's journey, which has included crossing the Darién Gap - a lawless, dense expanse of jungle straddling Panama and Colombia - and navigating the treacherous, frozen Bering Strait, which separates the US and Russia.

Bushby's mother, Angela Bushby, later wrote to Bier thanking him for the donation towards the cost of his global adventure.

And last Christmas, Bushby - who rests up in Mexico between three-month stints on the road - rang Bier to tell him the postcode was close to being delivered.

"We laughed," said Bier. "It was a funny event. That postcard has travelled a long way and been on a lot of adventures with Karl. It will be the world's slowest postcard to be delivered. It's amazing."

After so long travelling, Bushby admitted he is now "tired, for sure" and is looking forward to returning home, but admitted: "It'll be the end of my life as I know it."

Bushby, now 56, said he intends to release a second book charting his journey and sees himself working in "science education" when he returns.

Bier said: "It is clear from speaking with Karl that it more than a walk. It is his life."

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