The 57-year-old crossed jungles and frozen seas before an emotional homecoming in Hull, northern England.

A British adventurer has completed a 28-year walking journey around the world, arriving at his childhood home after travelling some 50,000km (31,070 miles) across jungles, frozen seas and international borders.

Karl Bushby, 57, was embraced by his mother, Angela, outside her terraced house in Hull, northern England, on Monday, beneath a banner reading “Welcome Home Son”.

Hundreds of cheering supporters had welcomed him in the city centre before he made the final stretch home.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” he joked to the crowd. “Is that it, is it done?”

Bushby began what became known as his Goliath Expedition in Punta Arenas, southern Chile, in November 1998, carrying a tent, a few hundred dollars and a cheap plastic camera.

His goal was to reach his home city by an unbroken route, without using motorised transport to advance his journey.

The route took him north through the Americas, across the ice of the Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia, and onwards through Mongolia and China. He later swam across the Caspian Sea before continuing towards Europe.

Along the way, he negotiated the dense jungle of the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, was detained after entering Russia, and faced repeated visa and funding problems.

The global financial crisis in 2008 cost him major sponsors, adding to delays that stretched what he had expected to be a 12-year journey into 28 years.

Last month, he finally swam across the English Channel, clearing the last major obstacle before beginning the final walk home.

“They say it takes a village, but literally it took a world to get me here,” he said as he arrived in Hull. “The kindness of strangers, so many, from individuals to nation-states, to get me back here today. I didn’t do this alone. There was a big team. The biggest team. Earth.”

A feature-length documentary about his journey is in production, while Bushby plans to begin a speaking tour around England in the coming weeks.