The interruption showed how a long-distance journey can be affected by economic events taking place thousands of miles away.
A recession may seem unrelated to someone walking through a foreign country, but a reduction in sponsorship can determine whether that person can afford food, accommodation, equipment, and the costs associated with moving between countries.
Without those resources, the expedition can become financially impossible regardless of the traveler's determination.
Bushby eventually found a way to return to the route. But the lost time could not be recovered simply by increasing his daily walking distance.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beginning in 2020, governments around the world introduced travel restrictions, border controls, quarantine requirements, and other measures intended to limit the spread of the virus. International movement became uncertain even for ordinary travelers with conventional itineraries.
For Bushby, the consequences were particularly severe.
His expedition depended on the ability to move from one country to the next overland, often through regions where border policies and transport arrangements were changing rapidly. When international travel was disrupted, continuing the journey became much more complicated.
He spent another prolonged period in Mexico, waiting for conditions that would allow him to resume his progress. The Guardian reported that the pandemic kept him there for approximately three years.
The pandemic was not a challenge he could overcome through fitness or ingenuity alone.
A person can train for a mountain crossing, improve their equipment for cold weather, or develop a plan for a difficult river. It is far harder to prepare for a global emergency that changes the rules of international travel almost everywhere at once.
For Bushby, the interruption added years to a journey that had already exceeded its original estimate.
It also reinforced the importance of flexibility. An expedition may begin with a carefully planned route, but the traveler must remain capable of adapting when events make that route impossible.
The broader lesson is relevant far beyond extreme adventure. Long-term goals often depend on circumstances that cannot be controlled, whether those goals involve a business, an education, a personal project, or a journey across the world.
A delay may require changing the timetable without abandoning the objective.
Bushby's continued commitment meant that the Goliath Expedition survived setbacks that could easily have become its final chapter.
But the pandemic and the restrictions that followed also changed the options available for the next stage.
The route through Asia toward Europe was no longer as simple as it had appeared when he first drew his line across the map.
Swimming the Caspian Sea When the Route Forward Disappeared
By the time Bushby resumed making progress, the challenge of reaching Europe had taken an unexpected turn.
His original plan depended on a continuous overland route from Asia into Europe. But geopolitical tensions and travel restrictions made some of the routes he had considered impractical or unavailable.
Russia and Iran were among the countries that presented complications for his planned passage. As a result, he faced a difficult question: how could he continue westward without violating the rules that had governed the expedition from its beginning?
The Caspian Sea offered a possible solution.
The Caspian is the world's largest inland body of water by surface area. It lies between Europe and Asia, bordered by countries including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia.
For most travelers, crossing it would be a matter of booking a ferry or arranging passage on a vessel. For Bushby, that option presented the same fundamental problem as taking a flight or a train: it would move him forward without requiring him to cover the distance under his own power.
The sea therefore became an extraordinary test of the expedition's rules.
In 2024, Bushby joined a team to swim across the Caspian from Kazakhstan toward Azerbaijan. The crossing was not a solo swimming effort in the ordinary sense. It involved support boats, careful logistical arrangements, and the participation of experienced swimmers, including Azerbaijani athletes. American long-distance walker Angela Maxwell also accompanied the team.
Even with that support, the undertaking was formidable.
Open-water swimming differs dramatically from swimming in a pool. There are no walls to hold, no fixed bottom beneath the swimmer, and no guarantee that conditions will remain stable throughout the day.
Long-distance swimmers must contend with changing temperatures, waves, currents, fatigue, and the psychological strain of spending extended periods in open water.
They also need to manage hydration, nutrition, rest, and the risks associated with prolonged exposure.
The Caspian crossing required the team to coordinate swimming periods with the support vessels and to manage the practical challenges of remaining at sea for an extended period. It was a major logistical operation, not simply a matter of entering the water and swimming toward the opposite shore.
Reports of the expedition describe a crossing that took around a month, with the team spending more than 30 days on the water before reaching Azerbaijan. The exact distances reported vary across accounts, but the undertaking involved hundreds of kilometers of open water.
The significance of the crossing was clear: Bushby had found a way to continue the expedition when a conventional land route was no longer viable.
The sea, which normally divides territories and complicates travel, had become a bridge between two stages of his journey.
It was also a reminder of how dramatically the expedition had evolved. What began as a walking challenge now involved some of the most unusual forms of human-powered travel imaginable.
Bushby was not attempting to set out on a separate swimming expedition for its own sake. He was trying to preserve the continuity of a journey that had begun in Chile nearly 26 years earlier.
Every major decision had to be evaluated against that original commitment.
Once he reached Azerbaijan, the route westward became possible again. He could continue through the Caucasus and Turkey, heading toward the Bosporus and the European continent.
The finish line was still far away, but for the first time in years, the path ahead appeared to be opening.
From Asia Into Europe: The Long Road Toward Home
After completing the Caspian Sea crossing, Bushby still had thousands of kilometers to cover before reaching Britain.
He left Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024 and continued through Georgia and Turkey. The route took him toward Istanbul, a city whose geography has made it a historic meeting point between Europe and Asia.
For Bushby, Istanbul represented more than a famous destination. It was another important step toward reconnecting the separate stages of his extraordinary journey.
In April 2025, he reached Istanbul after months of walking across the region. He subsequently obtained permission to cross the Bosporus on foot using the 15 July Martyrs Bridge, an important milestone that allowed him to continue onto the European side of the city.
After decades of travel, Bushby had finally reached Europe.
Yet the final stretch was not going to be a simple procession toward Britain.
He still had to navigate international borders, identify a workable route across the continent, and arrange a way to cross the English Channel without breaking the rules of his expedition.
Each stage required more than physical effort. He needed the right permissions, reliable information, and the cooperation of people who could help him navigate unfamiliar administrative systems.
By this point, the journey had become a complicated mixture of adventure, logistics, and negotiation.
Bushby had already learned that a destination could be geographically close while remaining practically inaccessible. A border could delay him for months. A seemingly minor regulation could force him to reconsider an entire section of his route.
He also knew that the last few hundred kilometers could prove just as important to the expedition's success as the thousands he had already completed.
His goal was not simply to reach British territory. It was to return to Hull under the same principles that had guided him since 1998.
The rules had survived the jungles of Central America, the frozen Bering Strait, the administrative obstacles of Russia, the global financial crisis, and the pandemic.
Now they faced one final major test.
Why the English Channel Became His Last Great Obstacle
For most people, traveling between continental Europe and Britain is relatively straightforward. Ferries, airplanes, and the Channel Tunnel carry millions of passengers between the two sides.
For Bushby, none of these conventional options provided an acceptable solution if they advanced his journey by mechanical transport.
The Channel Tunnel might initially have appeared to offer a practical alternative to swimming. But permission to use its service tunnel was refused, with safety and operational considerations cited in reporting on the decision. The refusal left Bushby facing the prospect of crossing the English Channel by water.
This was no small inconvenience.
The Channel is one of the busiest maritime waterways in the world. Ships move through established shipping lanes, while tides, currents, weather, and visibility complicate any crossing.
A successful swim therefore requires much more than the ability to remain in the water for several hours. It demands detailed planning, appropriate safety arrangements, support from qualified personnel, and close attention to the conditions.