I had Charley come to Beaulieu to give one of his Long Way Round talks - he does a roadshow adding to the footage and answering questions in his unique way. Every visitor who paid for their tickets thought it was money very well spent and I hadn't laughed so much in ages. Ewen was coming as well, but was unexpectedly delayed filming the last Star Wars film at the time.
If the series is being shown in the States I'd expect Charley to tour to support it - if you get the chance, go!
Since then, Charley has done another series about the Dakar Rally which was even better, by virtue that he was a competitor, but fell off and broke his wrist early on so they had to switch the emphasis to the other riders, and his increasing concern for their welfare as the race goes on and the true enormity and danger of the race takes a hold he gets more and more emotional every time they emerge safely from the desert to the bivouac. a PROPER biker, CB... as indeed, is Ewen.
The funniest part of the whole LWR series is the utter, complete and total stupidity of KTM refusing to supply the duo with bikes. The series was already a confirmed production, filming was underway and then KTM took the decision not to supply the bikes as some loopy russian `interrogated` the pair at the LWR offices and decided unilaterally they weren't going to finish... when it didn't matter in the slightest whether they did or not - it was the
journey, not the arrival that was important.
BMW took up the mantle at short notice and have sold tens of thousands GS Adventurers off the back of the series - KTM must have lost MILLIONS in potential sales
It's one of the few motorcycle-based programmes that transcends the motorcyclist audience - even my mother was hooked on the series, and she's in her 70's and hates motorcycles!
The other highlight was how people in the middle of nowhere like the Mongolian steppes still recognised MacGregor, even with the beard and the massive festering zit on his brow! Star Wars comes to Outer Mongolia, the faces were a picture!
And in case you watch the Teutuls the American Chopper boys hosted EM and CB when they got to New York, and in return EM took them riding round London to a little-known motorycle museum which then featured in American Chopper. What next? Captain Kirk aids Obi Wan?
BTW the duo are planning another adventure - Long Way Down - riding from John O'Groats in Scotland to Capetown in Africa - details on the LWR website. Sounds like a great television series already!