Cannabis or being a vegetarian?

Just a wild stab in the dark you understand...:biggrin:

John

OK:smile3:

This whole thing of turning them into bad guys has just got my goat.
I should think there are far more dangerous things in Africa than one guy pulling wheelies.

Do you remember when Barry Sheene was champion? Same thing used to happen. All the anti-Sheene, (and anti-Stephanie), used to really piss me off. Jealousy??

As far as tar and brushes goes, its always been like that and no amount of PC will change it so I never subscribed to it. Now if "they" made ALL drivers take a motorcycle test before being allowed in a car/truck/bus, that might change things... but I digress....

John

Good point John. Thanks for the "wakeup call". I've been an office slave for to long I'm afraid. It's time for a bike trip to get back to reality. :-)

What is it with all this Charley and Ewan bashing? At the risk of repeating myself (I posted on the OTHER Charley and Ewan thread) has everybody missed the point?

I watched the last 3 episodes back to back last night because I thought I'd been watching some other series. So much criticism from so many - why did you take the time & effort to watch the series (and in some cases take the time to download it) in the first place? Are you not rational enough to realise this is a show, featuring showmen, produced by a production company for the masses? Do you believe everything the papers and politicians tell you as well? Where is this programme advertised as a show exclusively for adventure motorcyclists and who are we to define what makes an adventure motorcyclist?

I find it interesting that the general theme that runs through this thread is about Charley's antics. Almost 200 posts and only half a dozen vague references to the charity work they did.

Not one mention of:

• the terminally ill children and their families at the Hospice in Scotland;
• the mass murder of 5,000 people in one day at the church in Rwanda - killed by machete's, hammers, guns and burnt alive - all the skulls (one with a spear still embedded and others smashed in) and bloodied clothes of those victims still there - a stark contrast to the Church of Bones;
• the children kidnapped from their families at an early age, some as young as 3, and forced to fight against and beat to death their fellow villagers if they didn't conform - children killing children;
• the boys who are circumcised without anaesthetic and being forbidden to display any sort of emotion or pain for fear of bringing shame upon their family;
• the mass murder at the school of all those tiny innocent children and the horrific wounds from bullets and machetes of the surviving children;
• the orphans who have lost their parents to HIV and Aids;
• the medics they had with them who tended the woman who had given birth the day before, or the guy with severe diarrhoea who had collapsed.

Was Charley's fart-lighting and wheelie-pulling that much more memorable!!!!!!!!!!!! There's more whinging on this thread than the entire series of LWR, RTD or LWD.

Personally I was disappointed with the first episode and yes, at the end of the series, Charley was the apparent cause of Claudio's accident. We all make mistakes. I'm not sure about Eve joining them. My riding partner is my husband so I can understand Ewan and Eve wanting to be together, but at the same time, Charley must have been gutted. It added a different dimension to the episode.

The series for me wasn't just about how they got from A to B or how they did it, it was also about the work they do with the charities and seeing the countries they visited along the way. They are famous, they are showman and they are utilising their status to bring awareness to the rest of the world the plight of some of these nations. Who knew Rwanda had a tourist industry - I didn't.

You may not like Charley and Ewan, for whatever reason, and sadly perhaps much of that is based upon how they come across thanks to the media and not because they are known on a personal level. Have some humanity and please, before your next criticism of them, or your insults at the people who don't agree with your views, can you put your hand on your heart and say that you have raised over £500k (and still rising) for charity for 3 months work? I would think that UNICEF, as well as the Children’s Hospice Association of Scotland and Riders For Health are pretty appreciative of what they've done both in terms of money raised and the heightened awareness to their causes. Who cares how they did it - they did it.

And if the Long Way Down is in the shops on DVD I'll buy it !

well said Dakota

Seconded
 

Seconded!

Jan - I saw the DVD in a local supermarket here in the UK last weekend so it should be with you in NL soon (I'm tight fisted so I'm waiting to see if the price drops in the new year from the price I saw, which was equivalent to 150 miles worth of fuel.

It could work Cami
 

Not sure that would be a stopper. If you look at how food porn programmes have developed over the years:

First there was Fanny Craddock.

Then any aspiring chef wanted a series (the career progress ran from open restaurant, next publish cook book then get TV series).

Now anyone who ever made beans on toast for their flat mates gets a cookery programme (Nigella? Hairy bikers?? The surfer types?!?).

If LWD was popular enough (I'm too lazy to waste my lunch hour looking for audience stats) they might be ready for stage 2, where the likes of HUBB posters could be equal to aspiring chefs?

I'm available for a series if anyone from a TV production company is reading. All I ask is that they arrange a nice shiny new bike, all the necessary kit, someone to organise paperwork, and a salary equal to what I earn now (not a great deal as it goes). Baldie Biker does Bulgaria anyone?

Charity is a highly questionable activity which many people disagree with. It should not be assumed that charity is a "good thing". There are powerful arguments which show that it does NOT help people. One unpleasant aspect is the practice of seeking money so that someone can go off on a jaunt of their choosing. Charity is a lottery, playing with people's lives. But there are many more unwelcome characteristics too numerous to go into.

I agree...charity of the organized type has its fans and its detractors.

Riding through some of these underdeveloped countries and spending our own $$s there by supporting the local restaurant, food store, tire shop, etc. is just as noteworthy of 'charity' as giving to to an organization that has the tax status of charity...

What I did appreciate Charley and Ewan doing is using their recognition to highlight:

1. The ups and downs of 'adventure motorcycling'
2. The friendliness/generousity of the locals to complete strangers.
3. The existence of tourism possibilities in some of these countries
4. The possibility that its worth making the effort to scratch the itch of travel/wanderlust...!!!! You'll only regret it if you don't try!

Yes, they may do things differently than we do...HELL we all do things differently than others...BUT the common thread that brings us together here is that we enjoy what they did in LWD....
Its a stunning trip and I'd like to do part of that next time around!!!

long way down
 

Thanks for the post .
It 's good to see constructive comments , bashing is funny for few minutes but after a while it start to look like we cannot appreciate people if they do something different that what we think is right.Its a great trip and you can do it solo on a Royal Enfield or with a team in Range Rover for me it is the same , some have more money and choose different style of adventure but at the end they do the trip enjoy the people and have fun.I could tell story about solo rider traveling arround the world abusing hospitalilty and even stealing other fellow traveller but this is another thread.

Good job for the previous post

I hope people agree with me when I say that this thread and others like it, are all about discussion. It matters little if we agree, it matters a lot that we discuss.

I hope I'm not alone in thinking that the debate is important, not the conclusion.

It's a bit like Ted Simon's "The interruptions are the journey"; here it's the dialogue which intrigues me, not an end result.

I have enjoyed the differing points of view.

Semantics
 

Hey Caminando - although only semantics, I do wonder whether when you mention charity you actually mean a financial donation? To me there is a big difference especially given your conclusion.

Cheers

A big difference between what and what?

Hey Eddie - your trip = nice trip!!!!!!!