Now that is funny and a well made programme!
Spot the Bonnie.

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Dave

Another Christmas over and the DVD watched. What can I say I know have mixed feelings of it all. Yes it did make me want to get back on the bike and travel but it also pissed me off. The bit with the fire is just silly and Claudio is the true star as he has to lead the way to get filming oppurtunities. There was not so much adventure as LWR and its all got a little too proffesional for my liking maybe the Mondo Boys and Louise can do us proud and do another great trip that appeals to us all. I can see what everyone was getting at now as the book tells the story in a different way. Now i must go and set the sky box to record the Dakar. I love January Happy New Year Everyone.

After checking in on this thread forever and wondering what I was missing, I've finally found Long Way Round. Have TIVO'd it on Direct TV and seen the first episode. Will get channel info if anyone in US is interested (or maybe it's been here for a while and I'm late...)

So now its been Cancelled, what are you recording instead?:confused1:

Martyn

I agree its a bit plasticeeeee with all the back up but it do some good in my case as the wife got some understanding of what i am planning for and to a extent what i will experience, and is actually helping me with the project instead of thinking that i am crazy, and did not understand why i am putting in so much effort in the bike and planning.

As a very late comer to the topic, and a serial thread killer, I should probably not contribute, but I am oh so bad at making the right choices.

I didn't enjoy it, not out of any deap seated jealousy (honest) or moral misgivings, just because it is very badly made.

The camerawork was generally horrible, the voiceovers grating, the focal points badly chosen, and the 'talent' incredibly annoying. Ewan was likable enough to justify his 'celebrity,' but HOW innane and whingey is his spoilt child of a boyfriend!? Immature and simple, and the 'energetic and mischevous rogue' persona he tries so hard to project just ends up as retarded child for me.

The two 'suits' travelling in the support cars were by far the biggest flaw of the experience though. Their attitude turned it from the purported adventure of a lifetime into an over structured expedition. One of their comments at the end was something along the lines of.

'I'm glad it's over, but I'm also a little bit sad,'

This says everything about their motivation, it was just a job for them. If I was E or C, I would never have employed that sort of man for such a trip. Conversely, Claudio seemed to have a great attitude, very easy going and adventure spirited - but got much less screentime than he did in LWR?

It is a format of television that depends heavily on the personalities of those involved, which is why Michael Palin has done so well in this arena. I just can't empathise with any of the characters (which is essentially what they are, as several people have stated - this may as well be a soap opera.) To an extent, Ewan can carry the others with his charisma and superior celeb status, but this is not enough. Who would want to carry Char;ie very far, or either of the overstuffed suits for that matter.

At the end of the day it was successful, so what do I know?

We all know that a lot of that success comes from Tarquins with limited edition LWD Snap On Toolboxes parked beside their Landrover though.

Happy Riding.

Joel

I know someone called Tarquin, and he has neither a Snap-On toolbox nor a Landie...

But yes, I'd agree, the "producers" got a lot more air-time and I didn't really feel the need to see them. Perhaps they could have done a companion programme, like that Comedy & Soap on ITV at the moment with Ben Miller and Jason Donovan, that way you could have watched one or other or both.

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Don't you just know that Ewan and Charlie read this website "Tongue in Cheek" and roar with laughter (all the way to the Bank). I can picture the two of them sitting at a bar, one slapping his knee in glee as he recaps this thread while the other (attempting to swallow his ), blows it out on the bar. They still have other scenario possibilities (The Pole to Pole way around, The 45 degree angle way around, etc.). Ewan, Charlie, let me know what you guys have "up your sleaves" next. I'm packed and ready. Smitty

If you can achieve that trick in this case Joel, you will do us all a favour IMO.

Thanks in anticipation,

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Dave

Walkabout, with 264 Posts and Currently 8770 Views, Caminando has Inadvertently created one of the most Popular threads on the Forum!

I say 3 cheers for Cammy!

Martyn

WE LOVE CAMMY !!



Does he love us, Martyn??

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'He who laughs last, was too slow to get the joke'
Never confuse the map with the journey.

Its not that we set out to prove Ewan and Charley are girls with big knickers....

On the CONTRARY - this is an OPEN invitation to the luvvies (and their cute camera guy... Claudine or something?) to join us on the REAL way down to Cape Town from London.

We're two (soft, London) GIRLS on very, very old XTs, which we are preparing OURSELVES, so it shouldn't be tooo hard for them to keep up!

They won't EVEN need ANY of their very expensive (freebie) gear - which is a SHAME maybe, cos that LUSCIOUS red SNAP-ON toolbox is just sooo BIJOUX!

We're kitting OURSELVES out and just about EVERYTHING has been pre-owned or bought from ebay! (God bless ebay!)

(Not our very tiny, lacy black underwear ofcourse...they're STRAIGHT from Anne Summers! A girl HAS to be prepared in case you have an accident and the paramedics have to take your clothes off! Ewan knows ALL about the importance of looking good - that PIMPLE he sported during LWR was soooo EMBARASSING!!)

And ALSO - they DONT have to worry with all those trucks and Chelsea Tractors that are forever following them everywhere - cos we're managing to pack absolutely EVERYTHING WE NEED, including LIPSTICK and MOISTURISER (Body Butter- its gorgeous!), on our bikes!!

Nooo kidding!! We were JUST as surprised about that! Fancy that... we SERIOUSLY thought that we might have to hire a few extra crates like the two boyzzz did - but we managed JUST FINE!


Which is LUCKY - because that gives us loads of space for THEIR fluffy bums, to fit on our PILLION SEATS.

(For when their fancy new machinces break down (or they CRASH into each other) and the RAC can't scramble a private jet with a mechanic to fix it for them. Sigh! Celebrity Platinum Diamond membership can be soooo unreliable sometimes).

As a SPECIAL bonus - because we're ALREADY paying for the whole trip by ourselves (working 9-5 in an office), we will buy them food etc. on the way.
God knows, they obviously need as much help as they can get, what with never having to pay for anything themselves. Poor things, its the LEAST we can do and it will only take a few extra weekends of working overtime.

We'd EVEN allow Charley to pop a few of his daft wheelies - he's sooo silly! We learnt how to do that when we were 16 - so its a bit old by now - but its COMPLETELY understandable that he's got to get rid SOME of that frustration that comes with being in someone's SHADOW all the time. And what with him not finishing the Dakar... Bless him!

We'd HAVE to prepare them a little bit for the trip though. None of that HARD-CORE, MOVIE STUNT MAN anti-terrorism NINJA TURTLE warfare stuff that they got last time! (HONESTLY! We've both LIVED in Africa and NEVER even got in a fistfight! They are soooooo OVER REACTING!)

Nope - They would have to learn, to face Africa's harsh and breathtaking beauty, with only THEMSELVES to rely on!!!!!

And the ABJECT horror of actually INTERACTING on a NON-CELEBRITY level with LOCAL, ORDINARY, AFRICAN people??!

That will scare the LIVING BEJEEZUS out of them...


Oh - heck! ONLY KIDDING boyyyyzzz!

Don't get scared!

WE will be there to help you out if you get stuck!

We're just ORDINARY girls, with NOT a lot of money - but we're PRETTY SURE you will have LOTS of fun with us!

HOWBOUDIT?


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Disclaimer: The above was written in response to everyone else's heated response to the LWR/LWD franchise - which in itself is VASTLY more entertaining than the actual book/dvd. (Not had time or inclination to watch/read all of it).

Its meant to be a p**ss take and does NOT constitute my opinion on the project: Different strokes, for different oakes, as the South Africans say.

In fact - I'm far more interested in watching JOHNY DEPP ... have you seen SWEENY TODD?!

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LMAO see now that's how it should be done, which is pretty much whatI've said from day one.

Now here come the armchair mob with oh Ewan and Charlie are the bikers friends.

They inspired me (not an armchair biker). Can't you just enjoy it for what it is? A piece of entertainment? The Harry Potter of the biking world? Not strictly the hardcore pure version of it's art, but inspiring and gets more people into this silly thing we call adventure biking.

Or of course, we could all just be snobs and point at others saying 'poo! they just don't do it properly!'

Grr I wasn't going to reply.

m

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I'm wondering....

Dont you think that seeing celebs doing the adventure thing - actually makes it LESS accessible to joe public?

We're all bikers, so we can see it what for what it is... but a LAYMAN would see the whole thing and may think:

1. You need LLLOOOOAAADS of money to do adventure travel

2. You need a HUGE entourage to SUPPORT you and KEEP YOU SAFE

3. You need to be FIT to do it, and have had SAS training etc. etc. etc. not the mention the expensive equipment etc. etc. etc.


And they did'nt really go out of their way to make it look EASY or POSSIBLE for ordinary folk to achieve??


ALL in all - celebrities doing something, usually has the effect of making it COMPLETELY INACCESSIBLE to mortal men... because joe public knows that they have a multimillion organisation behind them...

ESPECIALLY since it now creates the impression that you wont make it unless you are on a VERY EXPENSIVE new BMW etc. etc.

I had that feeling when I saw that British girl with her big B&Q boat (can't remember her name.. now a Dame or something) circumnavigate the globe....First woman to do it solo or something...

My very FIRST thought was: okay for SOME -- middle class upbringing, sponsored to the hilt... obviously sailing is only for the UBER RICH....


ARGH!!! I've just BORED myself to sleep..... :s leep1:

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