Long Way Round is a motorcycle trip by Ewan Mcgregor and Charley Boorman, from London, through Asia and North America, to New York. I had heard about it a while ago, but it was languishing in my netflix queue, until their next trip, Long Way Down, from Europe to Capetown, came out. Except Long Way Round isn't available anymore from netflix, so I bought the boxed set. There's a website for the trips, too.Only 1.5 episodes in, and it's riveting. I'm only able to tear myself away cause there are strawberries at the farmer's market. Well, I shotgunned the series last night. Got about 6 hours of sleep. I don't want to provide any spoilers, so I'll keep this brief. One great line by Ewan, "whatever happened to 3rd/4th/5th gear?" Baja is very much like that, you can be in 4 low for a week, easily, in the central part. And, Clare, yes, Ewan gets naked.
Also, they ran in to trouble with rivers in flood stage, which reminded me of the Costa Rica trip with James. It was a surf trip without surf, so we drove to the end of the Osa Penninsula, a really big rainforest national park. Checking out monkeys and what not. Going in was awesome, but it rained 15" at night, going out less so. Alot of road clearing, some road building. We had a gung-ho moment at first where we went charging across a flood plain, taking a few risks, thinking we made it out, until we came across a 6' deep river, called Agua Buena. Even if your spanish is terrible you can probably figure that one out. So we waited. And found a hatching turtle nest. Well, in Siberia they had an awfully similar experience, except the water there is 2 degrees C and they were on motorcycles.... You have to watch this dvd set!
When we went to SA we flew into Jo'burg, got a few extra camping items (stove, pots, plates, bowls, etc) and headed over to Kruger National Park. The huge Mercedes Unimogs were remarkably common, people would buy them in Europe and go on a trip down Africa, Cairo to Capetown. Well, that's not really safe anymore cause of the Sudan, so now the thing is Morocco to Capetown, but regardless, driving through Africa is a neat thing to think about. Alaska to Tierra del Fuego might happen too, who knows. Roadtrips....
Anyway, Ewan and Charley rode motorcycles through Europe and Africa. It is as interesting as Long Way Round, but quite different, because many people have done the trip before them, in fact they meet people on the road doing the same trip, but without support vehicles, so they aren't trailblazing, but it's still good tv. In Europe, the city of Siena in Italy was beautiful, and now I am even more jealous of Clare's trip there with her family. Gorgeous cathedral. Ewan and Charley happened to be there during an Alfa Romeo club gathering, so it was even more impressive seeing all of the classic cars in the beautiful old city. They ferried from Sicily to Tunisia, and drove through Libya to Egypt. Highlights have been the roman ruins in N. Africa and visiting the set of the house of Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle -- where no one recognized Ewan. Pretty funny. Alas, they lost the VE-25 tent from the first show, love that tent. They have MSR tents w/ mucho mosquito netting, probably a wise choice, though suboptimal in the Libyan sand storm. Oh. Ewan gets naked in this one, too.
Sudan was surprisingly mellow. Ethiopia was way greener than I expected after the whole famine in the 80s and whatnot. Kenya was a really big surprise to me. Because it has been famous for so long I assumed the animal watching experience would be uber yuppified, but where they were was still quite wild; Kenya looked like real Africa to me. Rwanda, Gorillas in the Mist-style, was sweet. Also, Ewan thought wild celery, a plant the gorillas really like to eat, smelled like rhubarb. Aah rhubarb, how much do I love thee? Vic Falls, sweet. Maun/the Okavango Delta in Botswana, sweet. Skeleton Coast, sweet. Southern Africa was gorgeous when we were there and it still looks to be lovely.
Also, they ran in to trouble with rivers in flood stage, which reminded me of the Costa Rica trip with James. It was a surf trip without surf, so we drove to the end of the Osa Penninsula, a really big rainforest national park. Checking out monkeys and what not. Going in was awesome, but it rained 15" at night, going out less so. Alot of road clearing, some road building. We had a gung-ho moment at first where we went charging across a flood plain, taking a few risks, thinking we made it out, until we came across a 6' deep river, called Agua Buena. Even if your spanish is terrible you can probably figure that one out. So we waited. And found a hatching turtle nest. Well, in Siberia they had an awfully similar experience, except the water there is 2 degrees C and they were on motorcycles.... You have to watch this dvd set!
When we went to SA we flew into Jo'burg, got a few extra camping items (stove, pots, plates, bowls, etc) and headed over to Kruger National Park. The huge Mercedes Unimogs were remarkably common, people would buy them in Europe and go on a trip down Africa, Cairo to Capetown. Well, that's not really safe anymore cause of the Sudan, so now the thing is Morocco to Capetown, but regardless, driving through Africa is a neat thing to think about. Alaska to Tierra del Fuego might happen too, who knows. Roadtrips....
Anyway, Ewan and Charley rode motorcycles through Europe and Africa. It is as interesting as Long Way Round, but quite different, because many people have done the trip before them, in fact they meet people on the road doing the same trip, but without support vehicles, so they aren't trailblazing, but it's still good tv. In Europe, the city of Siena in Italy was beautiful, and now I am even more jealous of Clare's trip there with her family. Gorgeous cathedral. Ewan and Charley happened to be there during an Alfa Romeo club gathering, so it was even more impressive seeing all of the classic cars in the beautiful old city. They ferried from Sicily to Tunisia, and drove through Libya to Egypt. Highlights have been the roman ruins in N. Africa and visiting the set of the house of Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle -- where no one recognized Ewan. Pretty funny. Alas, they lost the VE-25 tent from the first show, love that tent. They have MSR tents w/ mucho mosquito netting, probably a wise choice, though suboptimal in the Libyan sand storm. Oh. Ewan gets naked in this one, too.Sudan was surprisingly mellow. Ethiopia was way greener than I expected after the whole famine in the 80s and whatnot. Kenya was a really big surprise to me. Because it has been famous for so long I assumed the animal watching experience would be uber yuppified, but where they were was still quite wild; Kenya looked like real Africa to me. Rwanda, Gorillas in the Mist-style, was sweet. Also, Ewan thought wild celery, a plant the gorillas really like to eat, smelled like rhubarb. Aah rhubarb, how much do I love thee? Vic Falls, sweet. Maun/the Okavango Delta in Botswana, sweet. Skeleton Coast, sweet. Southern Africa was gorgeous when we were there and it still looks to be lovely.
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