Overview

From 14 April 2004 to 29 July 2004, McGregor, Boorman, motorcycle riding cameraman Claudio von Planta and their support crew travelled from London to New York, via Western and Central Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia and Canada, for a cumulative distance of 18,887 miles (30,396 km). The only sections of the trip not undertaken by motorcycle were 580 miles (930 km) by train in Siberia, a short impassable section towards the end of their Russian journey, which was undertaken by truck, and a 2,505-mile (4,031 km) flight from Magadan in eastern Russia to Anchorage, Alaska. Upon encountering numerous swollen rivers and a serious lack of functioning bridges while travelling along the Road of Bones to Magadan, the riders got their motorbikes through some fairly deep rivers. However, the summer run-off from the Siberian winter was in full flow and after a valiant effort, the bikes eventually had to be loaded into the trucks of passing drivers and ferried across some of the worst rivers.

The journey visited twelve countries, starting in the UK, then passing through France, Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, USA and Canada, ending in New York. In early episodes of the series the narration claims that they will visit 13 countries, which is consistent with a map in the book version which shows they briefly entered Kyrgystan while travelling between the Kazakh cities of Shymkent and Almaty. However, the entry into Kyrgystan is not explicitly mentioned in the text of the book or TV series and the "13 countries" reference could possibly be a mistake, perhaps because they entered Russia more than once or counted Alaska or Siberia as a separate country.

The team mainly stayed in hotels while travelling in Europe, North America and populated parts of Russia but frequently had no option but to camp after reaching Kazakhstan and Mongolia. They took time to visit a variety of sights and landmarks while travelling, including the Church of Bones in the Czech Republic, the Mask of Sorrow monument in Magadan, Russia and Mount Rushmore in the USA. They ultimately arrived in New York on schedule and rode into the city accompanied by a phalanx of bikers, including McGregor's father Jim and the Orange County Choppers crew.

Long Way Down is a television series, book and DVD documenting a motorcycle journey undertaken by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, on which they rode south from John o' Groats in Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa via Europe and Africa in 2007. It is a follow-up to the Long Way Round trip of 2004, when the pair rode east from London to New York via Eurasia and North America.

The journey started on May 12, 2007 and finished on 4 August 2007.[1] They were accompanied by the key members of the team from Long Way Round, including cameraman and director of photography Claudio Von Planta, producers Russ Malkin and David Alexanian, and cameraman Jimmy Simak. They were also joined by a medic and a security officer, as well as various "fixers" - local guides and interpreters - throughout the journey. They rode the BMW R1200GS Adventure, the successor to the R1150GS Adventure bikes they rode in Long Way Round.