Russia to sabotage Brit's walk around the world

[McDusty]

"A British explorer who has spent the last seven-and-a-half years on a quest to walk around the world is to be expelled from Russia.

Ex-paratrooper Karl Bushby, 36, from Hull, was fined by a Russian court for entering the country without paperwork.

Mr Bushby and fellow explorer Dimitri Kieffer arrived near the unauthorised entry point of Uelen on 2 April having crossed the Bering Strait from Alaska."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4909028.stm

A bit harsh considering there was no way for him to enter the country at an authorised entry point on foot from Alaska .... he walked across the shifting plates of ice of the Bering Strait taking 14 days. They had tried to talk to the russian authorites before crossing the strait but to no avail and they had to move since the window to cross the ice was passing. He is 18,000 miles into a 36,000-mile round-the-world walk ... kinda makes FatManWalking's trip across the states seem a wee bit less impressive.

 

[_xxx_]

Wow, that guy is really hardcore! Crazy. Admirable, but crazy.

 

[DudeMiester]

Those crazy Russians! They're crazier then him!

 

[McDusty]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/4975988.stm

To update this he has won his appeal in court and he'll be allowed to continue his journey, though they're still fining him £40 for entering without paperwork. They had to fly to Anadyr for the court hearing ... so i guess they're next move will be to fly back to Lavrentiya so they can continue the journey from where they were arrested.

So if all goes well he won't be in the news for another 4 years until he walks through the Euro Tunnel to England.

 

[Sxotty]

Is it just me or does this seem kind of lame

While he was hauling equipment for the crossing, he and Bushby were in a tent sleeping on a block of ice and awoke to find the ice had broken loose and they had drifted 28 miles out to sea. They had to be rescued by helicopter and Kieffer suffered frostbite on a finger.

But that didn't stop them from completing their walk. They even had to swim with protective suits for part of the trip.

Who cares if no one has done it before, they didn't have helicopters to come bail them out before.

Now he is going to go home and wait till next winter to start across Russia? No wonder it is taking so long he is stopping and doing something else for much of the time. I thought at first he was just going to walk the whole way, but if you stop for months on end who really cares anyway.

Sorry I was just dissapointed as I thought woah this is a cool thing when I read it and now find it isn't really.

 

[mito]

fake?

 

[McDusty]

Well, the the drifting ice / helicopter pickup happened as the were moving up alaska's coast and not while doing the bering strait crossing. It was kinda unexpected and they weren't equiped to deal with it ... while doing the crossing they had drifting / breaking up ice problems but were prepared for, had the protective suits so they could swim etc.

The Brit, Karl Bushby who is doing the the full walk is not returning home, the american who has joined him is. But yeah, the Goliath Expedition website doesn't really explain why'd they both return to alaska. Though it does mention he has to prepare paperwork for his re-entry to russia. If they had deported him he would not be allowed back in the country for a long time (maybe never) ... perhaps the court deal is he leaves of his own accored and will be allowed re-entry later with proper paperwork. The long stops at times are because certain parts of the trip are best made in certain seasons. ie .. If they're trip accross the strait had fallied they probably would have had to wait in Alaska till winter to make another try at it. They explain the reason for this delay as ...

he will return to Uelen at the very start of next winter to begin the walk where he was picked up by the authorities. He has decided to cross that region during the winter, despite the extreme cold, as it has numerous rivers, lakes and wetlands which would make a crossing in summer even more difficult.

Perhaps had they not been arrested they would have been able to press on immediately.