This article originally dates from May 2009. According to Karl’s website, as of 12th April 2012, Karl’s visa application into Russia has still been denied for unknown reasons.
“It should have been one of the greatest moments in my life. By walking across the frozen Bering Strait that separates America from Russia, I’d got past what I thought would be the hardest leg of my round-the-world journey. I’d been stalked by polar bears desperate for food, dragged a trailer full of equipment across the ice and spent nights in a flimsy tent as the Arctic winds whipped temperatures to -60C.
I wasn’t expecting a champagne reception to welcome me to Russia – but if I’m being honest, the last thing I thought would happen is that I would be arrested by the Russian border police. They told me I had the wrong type of passport and made me spend the next three weeks under house arrest.
Captured by armed rebels
I’m not sure why I decided it would be a good idea to walk from the tip of South America all the way back to Britain via the Bering Sea. It was done almost on the spur of the moment. I’d been in the Paratroopers for 15 years and I fancied doing something unusual. I didn’t do any training; just got together some gear, headed for Argentina and started walking home. Some might say that’s foolhardy, but to me it was the start of five years of great adventure.
For the most part, the South American leg of my journey went well. The only trouble I encountered was in the Darién Gap region – where Colombia meets Panama. I was nearly captured by armed rebels and had to spend a couple of nights hiding in the bushes after wandering on to one of their main supply trails. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared, but it’s something I’ll remember to my dying day.
Trailer theft in the USA
Money and equipment-wise, things picked up when I reached the USA. Word spread about my trek and I got a couple of sponsors. It made life a lot easier. Sometimes in South America I’d be surviving on a cup of rice a day; now I could afford a few nights on the beers, but it was also the only country where I’d been robbed. I was in a bar up near the Canadian border and I left my equipment trailer outside. I’d rolled out at closing time and it had gone. The police found it a few weeks later burnt out, and to say I was pissed off would be the understatement of the century.
I always knew reaching the Bering Strait – and crossing it – would be the hardest part of my journey and I wasn’t wrong. There was the constant danger of falling through the ice, and polar bears followed us for hours ready to attack, but we’d planned well. I had a pump action shotgun to defend myself. Worst of all was the cold: it gets into your bones, and you can’t ever seem to get warm. But I made it across and though I’m not the type to feel pleased with myself I did feel like
“It should have been one of the greatest moments in my life. By walking across the frozen Bering Strait that separates America from Russia, I’d got past what I thought would be the hardest leg of my round-the-world journey. I’d been stalked by polar bears desperate for food, dragged a trailer full of equipment across the ice and spent nights in a flimsy tent as the Arctic winds whipped temperatures to -60C.
I wasn’t expecting a champagne reception to welcome me to Russia – but if I’m being honest, the last thing I thought would happen is that I would be arrested by the Russian border police. They told me I had the wrong type of passport and made me spend the next three weeks under house arrest.
Captured by armed rebels
I’m not sure why I decided it would be a good idea to walk from the tip of South America all the way back to Britain via the Bering Sea. It was done almost on the spur of the moment. I’d been in the Paratroopers for 15 years and I fancied doing something unusual. I didn’t do any training; just got together some gear, headed for Argentina and started walking home. Some might say that’s foolhardy, but to me it was the start of five years of great adventure.
For the most part, the South American leg of my journey went well. The only trouble I encountered was in the Darién Gap region – where Colombia meets Panama. I was nearly captured by armed rebels and had to spend a couple of nights hiding in the bushes after wandering on to one of their main supply trails. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared, but it’s something I’ll remember to my dying day.
Trailer theft in the USA
Money and equipment-wise, things picked up when I reached the USA. Word spread about my trek and I got a couple of sponsors. It made life a lot easier. Sometimes in South America I’d be surviving on a cup of rice a day; now I could afford a few nights on the beers, but it was also the only country where I’d been robbed. I was in a bar up near the Canadian border and I left my equipment trailer outside. I’d rolled out at closing time and it had gone. The police found it a few weeks later burnt out, and to say I was pissed off would be the understatement of the century.
I always knew reaching the Bering Strait – and crossing it – would be the hardest part of my journey and I wasn’t wrong. There was the constant danger of falling through the ice, and polar bears followed us for hours ready to attack, but we’d planned well. I had a pump action shotgun to defend myself. Worst of all was the cold: it gets into your bones, and you can’t ever seem to get warm. But I made it across and though I’m not the type to feel pleased with myself I did feel like I’d achieved something special. Then our real troubles began.
Slung into a Russian jail
It turned out we didn’t have the right visa for the sensitive area of Russia we’d crossed into. Being so close to the USA, it’s bristling with secret military bases and missile silos and the border guards took all the equipment and threw us in jail. I was under arrest for three weeks and at times it looked like I wouldn’t be able to continue my journey and I would be deported. It was the lowest point so far, to have walked all this way and then fail because of Russian bureaucracy.
But eventually the judge presiding over our case believed I wasn’t a spy, and said I would be allowed to continue through Russia. It was one of the happiest days in my life – even though it meant I wouldn’t get back to England for another five years.
People always ask me what’s the first thing I’ll do when I get back to Britain. Usually it involves going down the pub and having a few pints – but I think I’d be better off going to see a psychiatrist. I actually came back to Britain last summer, facing a series of issues that had to be resolved before I could continue my journey in Russia. I needed more funing, without which very little happens, for a start. Then a visa extension / waiver, without which I faced expensive and extensive delays. Finally there was the timing issue. I needed solid rivers; I needed winter routes.
We are now into 2009 and and with nothing on hand, the loss of this past winter puts us in a very unpleasant situation. With every passing day, the pressure increases. Yet resolve is in endless supply. All I need to know now is how to sell resolve.
Keep up with Karl’s progress at the Goliath Expedition website: http://www.odysseyxxi.com/
