Long Way Round
Friends Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman embark on an epic challenge: to bike 20,000-miles across the world in just 115 days as they raise awareness for vital UNICEF projects along the way.
Episode 1 | Preparation
Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman prepare for their epic adventure, including lessons for kidnapping avoidance, fitness training, first aid instruction and vaccinations.
Episode 2 | Shoving Off
Ewan and Charley head to Wales for some much-needed off-road motorcycle training. The team scrambles to make last-minute plans as they get ready to start the journey.
Episode 3 | London to Volgograd
Ewan and Charley make the first extended stop of their journey in Prague before continuing onward to the Ukrainian border where a simple crossing turns into a 12-hour nightmare.
Episode 4 | Kazakhstan
After riding along some of the worst-kept roads in the world and admiring some of the country’s native woolly camels, Ewan and Charley are in for a fright after one of the locals points a gun at them. They survive unscathed but encounter some difficulties later in the week.
Episode 5 | Barnaul to Western Mongolia
After the dilapidated roads the pair experienced in Kazakhstan, Ewan and Charley are disheartened when they find no roads at all en route to Mongolia. Bad luck occurs when a bike breaks down and their support team gets into a dangerous accident.
Episode 6 | Western Mongolia to Yakutsk
The team is forced to buy crew member Claudio a new bike, and in the Mongolian city of Ulan Bator, Ewan and Charley are taken on a tour of the sewers where they meet with runaway children. Then a 24-hour train to Siberia ride turns out to be a bad idea.
Episode 7 | Yakutsk to Magadan (the Road of Bones)
Ewan and Charley run into some difficulty in Siberia. With unwelcoming locals, impassable rivers, collapsed bridges and a lack of food, they find themselves facing a real fight for survival. A convoy of Russian trucks offers some hope.
Episode 8 | Anchorage to Calgary
Damage to the bikes cause a delay in Alaska. Ewan and Charley marvel at the Alaskan wildlife before heading towards Canada.
Episode 9 | Calgary to New York
On the final leg of the journey to New York City, Ewan and Charley are involved in car crashes.
Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor is one of Britain’s most successful movie actors. Known for taking on challenging and inspirational roles Ewan has taken time out from his stellar career to take on these amazing events.
Having gained his first theatrical experience at the Perth Repertory Theatre, Ewan trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
He was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series 1997 Emmy Award for “ER.” Shal was named Best Film at the 1994 Dinard Film Festival and Ewan shared the Best Actor award with co-stars Christopher Ecclestone and Kerry Fox. The Variety Club have awarded Ewan both the Best Actor and Best Newcomer awards.
Ewan has recently appeared in The Men Who Stare at Goats, Amelia with Hilary Swank, Angels and Demons and I Love You Phillip Morris alongside Jim Carrey. His latest film, The Ghost, directed by Roman Polanski was released in April 2010.
Charley Boorman
Actor and Adventurer Charley Boorman has successfully been involved in adventure travel documentaries for the BBC, SKY and National Geographic Channel since 2004.
More recently Charley has gone solo, travelling overland for BBC series “Charley Boorman: Wicklow to Sydney By Any Means” where he traveled by any means of transport appropriate to the country from his hometown of Wicklow in Ireland to Sydney, Australia. This was then followed by a second BBC series in 2009, “Charley Boorman: Sydney to Tokyo By Any Means.”
Born in London in 1966, he grew up in Ireland and has a passion for motorbikes, spending much of his childhood riding motorcross. From 1998 to 2002, he also ran a British motorcycle team with Ewan McGregor, winning the Superstock Series with David Jeffries.
