Where's Ewan - Chapter 2!
 

Yes, you knew it! The whole Ewan roadshow is on the move again with rumours of a new John O'Groats-Cape Town trip.

Did anybody else see his interview last night, because I didn't and would like to find out exactly when he is going to try and avoid looking for him behind every bush!

More importantly, does anybody else feel that big budgeted trips such as his so-called round the world trip cheapens the once in a lifetime experiences of normal people like us? I am planning a London to Cape Town trip, and part of the reason why I chose this trip was that I could at least say Ewan didn't have the balls to do Africa whenever people ask me if he was my inspiration.(Which, by the way, he wasn't!!)

But now, I feel slightly demoralised by the thought of everybody else comparing my dream trip, with a budget of 4000 pounds, with a couple of guys on free bikes, support crews and a few million pounds in their budget!

Anybody have a suggestion for a challenging, Ewan-free route?

I've nothing against Ewan and reckon he has as much right to follow his biking dreams as everyone else but I know what you mean. I've had several people assuming LWR was what inspired me (forgetting I've been talking about this for 13 years!) and it is annoying. Particularly as the very idea of having a celebrity influence my behaviour is an anathema to me! I reckon the best thing is to try not let it bother you! Maybe we should get a job lot of t-shirts printed up: "Inspired by (fill in blank), not Ewan and Charlie!"
Matt

If I could make a small fortune from travelling I'd leap at the chance, so can't blame the guy really.

Think of him as a more adventurous Michael Palin.

I just hope it doesn't encourage everyone and his dog to get on their bikes/into their cars. One of the attractions of travelling is getting away from the British holidaymaker!
Andy
TLC H60
Landrover 101 ambie
1968 morris minor!
www.plymouth-dakar.com

I agree with the ca-ca opinion of these two weenies with their free stuff and big chase vehicles. This is a fat old man trip. Like me. For the whole world to view this crappy movie as anything other that what it is, it is a MOVIE!! To much reality TV exposure. Anyone can do what they did, with what they had to do it with.

Imagine a stinky feet giggle scene in your summer camp memories. Not presented for the world to see as part of an adventure.

What morons, and what morons we are for watching.

Don't forget....it is only a MOVIE!!.

Curtis

>But now, I feel slightly demoralised by the thought of everybody else comparing my dream trip...

It's shame you feel like that, but I suspect you're going to have to get used to it. The LW Machine has now appropriated this kind of travel - but when done independently by individuals, it is still an exceptional achievement, even if it is something only we here recognise.

>Anybody have a suggestion for a challenging, Ewan-free route?

I've been thinking about that (well, the juicy Sahara section at least).
I believe they will take easy routes coz to the average viewer one part of Africa is pretty much like any other and all they need to do is get the shots, not put the production in any risk (aka "adventure"). Fair enough, it's only telly like someone said.

So it may well be Atlantic (bo-ring; it's all sealed now, but via obvious Timbuktu) or Egypt for the equally re-rigeur pyramid backgrounds. Via coastal Libya (ooh-err, edgy!) Egypt-Sudan-Ethiopia-Kenya will be percieved as adequately colourful for the time, effort and distance and of course not without its difficulties. But as we all know, once you get to Kenya the real adventure is over, unless you purposely seek out the back routes.

I doubt very much it will be:
Libya then trans-Tenere (not possible/allowed without support) to Agadez (Niger).
.. or trans-Algeria to Agadez (perceived as dangereous).
And then round Lake Chad (heavy going in both senses) and down the west side of Central Af via DRC, Angola, Namibia etc (as outlined in AMH, pp186-7).

Longitudionally, it also happens to be a very straight route if you hang a plumb line down from UK to CT, so there is much less chance of falling off on a bend.

Things get better or worse in Africa but right now this route adds up to a just about do-able and truly adventurous trans-Af adventure across the the iconic Sahara and Congo basin (esp, if you chuck in some river barge and monkey meat action out of Ouesso).
Those two regions will be seared into your memory when it's all over because they will have been genuinely hard travelling encompassing everything you will have loved and hated about the place.
Jeez, I'm nearly talking myself into it, but firstly: Trans-Tenere 2007 - come and get it - probably!

Chris S

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Author of Adventure Motorcycling Handbook 5 and Sahara Overland II

http://www.sahara-overland.com and http://www.adventure-motorcycling.com

Hey, nothing wrong with being inspired by a huge budget trip. Who would fault anyone for trying to emulate some of the Paris-Dakar rally? I'll bet that the average competitor spends as much on that trip as the boys spent going around the world. (Of course we'll find out when Charlie's P-D adventure debuts!) Even though they spent big bucks (not their own) they did actually ride the motorcycles around the world and that's the point isn't?

I enjoyed watching LWR and still don't mind popping it into the machine when I'm on the tread mill. Doing a trip to Cape Town is good by me as long as the video is available before we start our trip in 2007. :-)

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Ekke Kok
Redwood Meadows, AB
'89 R100GS
'03 R1150GS Adventure

I'm suprised at such vitriolic intollerance in a forum such as this.
Inverted snobbery or sour grapes?

each to their own I say

Andy
landcruiser H60
Landrover 101 ambie
1968 morris minor traveller!

www.plymouth-dakar.com


[This message has been edited by moggy 1968 (edited 22 December 2005).]

Hi, the bottom line here is the trip and its experiences, adventure, ups and downs, highs and lows will be yours, not Ewan's or Charlies. You will have planned it, lived it, breathed it and ultimately carried it out. Get on with it; and if someone asks did blah inspire you, give an honest answer and move on. Life isn't long enough to fret over this stuff.

Have a nice one.

to "Darkenbad" comments especially, and also "moggy 1968":

Yes! You get it.

have a great Christmas or whatever all of you! Get out and just go...

Grant and Susan

OK there might be an occasional slight annoyance factor when people think you're trying to emulate Ewan and Charlie, but on the whole I think the Long Way Round was nothing but good for both the biking and the traveller communities.

No longer is the biker a faceless menance on a machine that people fear, now he's actually a rather nice guy with a wife and kids at home and a commitment to raise money for charity. I get a lot of ordinary people approach me now and want to talk about the bike, and what trips I've done, which is cool.

Oh, and yeah, I'm jealous as hell.

Tim

I concur. There's been a little too much Tall Poppy Syndrome getting about.
I read the criticisms long before i read the book and (although it won't win a Pulitzer) i thought it was a tougher trip than the naysayers made it out to be. Sure, they should have left the back-up vehicle behind, (i think they'd agree in retrospect) but Mongolia and Siberia are not easy places to travel through by most accounts.
Save your vehemence for the likes of Bush, Blair and Howard who are much more evil and much more deserving of it.
Sean

Hey guys, people have (many of you here) done trips like these long before Ewan could even ride a bike. Darkanbad you hit the nail on the head with your views. I also prefer 'our' way of doing it, but at least he did it! the reason to do RTW trips etc. is not to tell other people why you did it, but rather to feel the sand in the the Sahara blow into your face, or to breath the cold air in Mongolia when you try to figure out in which direction to ride etc. And if you want people to 'understand' your trip and reasons for it, the only people who will trully understand it is people who have done simular things or aspire to do them, people like the ones in this forum.

I will not lose a second's frustration in this regard, plan your trip and do it! I guarentee you it will be no less than what it would have been had Ewan not ever gotten on a bike.

Regards

Gus

WOW, Chris, If I was not such an old, fat old man, I'd go with you. The young bucks who actually do take the time to do these kinds of journeys----well, good for you guys.

The coolest thing to me is seeing the posts from some of these fortunate young men saying "I'm in Cusco and need some tires, anybody know where?" and followed by "just call Carlos at 555-0000 and tell him to give you my old ones."

Just do it.

Curtis

NAMSA, If Ewan and Charlie had called you on the phone and said "Hey NAMSA, do you want to do an around the world trip with us?" It would have been "Long Way Round..The Ewan, Charlie and NAMSA story". Get a life.

Hey Smitty...tone it down a bit mate. Namsa has his opinion and he has the fullest right to post it here on the boards without fear of insult.

Even though I too agree with Namsa, there have been a good spread of counter opinions on the topic which is always a good thing when mulling over a touchy subject. My opinion is based on primal competitiveness I guess..."We all have to do it the hard way whereas he just snaps his fingers and hey preseto he gets full sponsorship...and then rubs our faces in it by selling a book and movie" At least he is doing it for UNICEF charity but hopefully he will make a bit more of an effort this time in Africa instead of just pooping into one school along the way.

I am also weary of what impact his publicised exploits through Afrcia will have in any future motorcycle trips through the region. Will it result in more attention being drawn to bikers from bandits and the like when they realise the potential value of this small two wheeled vehicle that buzzes past which they didn't bother about in the past. (I hear motorcycle hijackings in South Africa are in the increase...bikes are stripped and parts are sold off. Hijacking is easier than breaking into secure garage)

I don't feel making a motorcycle trip must involve hardship and suffering to gather redemtion for ones fantasy. Is a motorcycle trip a form of pennace or just an enjoyable vacation. It seems to me its a cliquey thing amongst some bikers as to who had it the toughest. The reality is, outside the motorcycle community, 99.99999% of the people on planet earth never even heard of Long Way Round and dare say will ever watch it. Economics, politcal upheaval, and foolishness by travellers will increase attacks by bandits. I could care less about Long Way Round and have yet to watch. I just hope my next trip is the usual. I'll have a good time, meet interesting people, and enjoy the culture of the country I'm in. I think some people should climb down off their crosses. Best of luck to you on you trip and have a safe and enjoyable New Year.

Thanx Bossies. Didn't feel that Smitty's remark really warranted a reply, but thanx anyway.

Smitty, yes, you are probably right. If they phoned me, I probably would've jumped at the opportunity, I mean, who wouldn't?!

Thing is, they didn't, and that is why I am still saving up to go on my trip! And in here lies my point:

I don't have a problem with them doing any kind of a trip. The problem I have is how they commercially exploit their fame to draw attention to their trip in order to get sponsorships, free bikes etc. And my real problem is then that I get classified, same as millions of other celebrity worshippers, as somebody who is following a fad simply because a famous guy is doing it!

Well now. I must admit that at first I did not think it would be much of an adventure to travel with a couple of backup trucks and a sat phone with speed dial direct to BMW...but
after a couple of (heated) discusion on the subject I calmed down and thought about it.
Crossing any border with that circus must have been a mess, then riding 800lb bikes through that terrain would have had me second guessing my sanity...
Of course this was all BEFORE I even saw a tv episode of the journey.
Now I have seen a few bits of the programs, and the entire final one.
I liked the show,and am looking forward to seeing it all. Near the end the guys are wondering what the hell they are going to do when the ride is over(like alot of us)
They are hooked now, with Charlie riding in the Dakar and Ewan probably madly planning the next trip. Good on them.
When I meet them on the road I will buy the first round of beer, then Ewan can break out that BMW expense card ...
Cheers

firstly, I'm coming round to the idea of really dreaming about doing the Dakar. So I'm not having a go here....but,

'Boorman is doing the rally "for the common man" and has no ambitions to become a racing legend'

This has to be the funniest/lame-est sentence I've read in a long time. This was MCN (in the UK) writing about C Boorman's latest project (the Dakar on a BM 650).

maybe it's just funny after a few bottles of wine...

In the PD - it appears that Mr. Boorman has dropped out after stage 5. He doesn't show in the results of stage 6. On the Official PD website, there's no page of withdrawals, DNF's or DNS's so hard to say what happened, but you don't have poor Charlie to kick around anymore.

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quastdog
Seattle, Washington USA
F650GSDakar
R1150GS

Charles has a broken finger and cant go on any more.

Actor riding round the world
Actor having a go at Professional racing

what next...Prime Minister???

Why not Prime Minister, we yanks elected Ronald Reagan as President of the US and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California. Interesting things happen when you have actors acting as politicians.

where are you ? chapter o.

in front of my computer, reading longwayround, the bmw r 1200 gs adventure paris dakar in the garage.

I have a confession to make: while I don't have a back-up truck, I do have almost every bit of kit ever made. I have GPS and PDA, chain-oiler, heated clothes, cigar lighter, a small steel cylinder I chill cans in (!)...I carry spares of everything, the best tools, a handful of sim-cards for the phone, heaps of cash in various currencies...I usually eat in restaurants or in stalls by the roadside, rarely cook (even though I have an expensive gas cooker)...I sleep outside when it's on sand or there are no hotels about otherwise it's a hot bath and tv for me...if I have too big a problem on the road the bike would go on a truck and I'd fly home. Guess I'm just a small-scale Ewan. I've done plenty of the roughing it, but hell I like doing it the comfortable way too. Especially with a wife and son waiting for me to return from some crazy ride.

I'm not sure there's a black and white on this issue. You could say anyone who can admit to having any of the above gear is cheating - but then anyone with an engine in their bike could also be accused of the same thing!

I like it any way I can get it.

cheers
Brett

>>>In the PD - it appears that Mr. Boorman has dropped out after stage 5.

Was that Big Thursday? looked a heck of a day - the first (only?) real desert stage... Hate to be smug but out on 5 days was bang on a mini bet I made.
Terrible news about Andy Caldecott. It's no joke that race but I guess CB and Co got the TV show.

Ch