TV motorcycling escapades to continue for star

A scene from documentary series Long Way Round starring Ewan McGregor (right) and Charley Boorman.

It's been over a year since Charley Boorman roared into New York on his dusty BMW motorcycle with fellow actor and friend Ewan McGregor following their 32,000km, three-month motorbike odyssey.

Over three gruelling months, the two had travelled through Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia, Alaska, Canada and the United States.

Plans are now afoot for a sequel, but first up, Boorman is in New Zealand, promoting the book and documentary DVD of their Long Way Round journey and talking up plans to participate in this year's Paris-Dakar Rally.

And then there's the follow-up -- Long Way Down.

"(Possibly) Africa, or South America," but as yet nothing is concrete, he said.

While McGregor is starring as rascally gambler Sky Masterson in Guys & Dolls in London's West End, Boorman is staying firmly in the saddle.

"My next project is the Dakar Rally, which starts at the end of the year, and I've been training a year for that and we are doing a TV series for that as well," he says.

His exploits will be broadcast next year in six one-hour TV shows.

"It kind of combines motorbikes which I love, producing projects which I love doing and then being in them."

The 2006 Dakar Rally -- arguably the toughest motorcycle race in the world -- starts in Lisbon on December 31, goes through Guinea and also visit Morocco, Mauritania and Mali before it ends in Dakar, Senegal, on January 15.

For the trip, Boorman will once again be accompanied by a fellow motorbike lover -- this time Australian rider Simon Pavey "who's done the Dakar a number of times" -- and a cameraman.

What is certain about any future odyssey with McGregor is that they'll be flying the flag for Unicef, the United Nation's children's agency. Both have been championing the organisation since they were left speechless by its work during the London to New York jaunt.

"If we were to do something else we'd get Unicef involved. Ewan's an ambassador for Unicef and we both do work for them even now, so it's sort of an ongoing thing.

"Ewan and I tried to spread the good word and are sure if we did a (further) trip, it would definitely make sense -- if we went to South Africa, there's all the (problems with) Aids and child prostitution. It would be fantastic to be able to highlight that," he said.

Since hooking up with McGregor on the set of movie the Serpent's Kiss in 1997 -- where they bonded over biker anecdotes and tales of fatherhood -- they've stayed close friends.

"Over the years we've run motorbike race teams together -- pretty much anything to do with motorbikes we've done it," Boorman said.

Over the three months of their Long Way Round journey, Boorman and McGregor encountered Kalashnikov-toting gangsters, were held up at gunpoint by a man in a car, survived numerous scrapes, often while traversing non-existent roads, found themselves alarmingly close to a hungry grizzly bear, and ate an assortment of animal testicles, as well other mean cuisine.

Examples of their naivety exist in Boorman's account of one of his favourite memories -- their first big river crossing in Mongolia.

The duo had to get to the town on the other side, but the bridge was broken and looked uncrossable. However, a jeep had just driven through the river.

"It was quite deep so we were quite concerned," he said.

Boorman said he stripped down to his underpants and waded through the achingly cold water, trying to find a shallow path."

"As I got to the middle, Ewan said 'oh, look at that bike'!" he said.

"A motorbike was coming out of town. It crept up towards the river, went right up to the bridge and just drove across it."

The rider then drove down along the bank of the river and looked, befuddled, at Boorman, who was still standing in the river.

"He came over to sort of say 'Hello. What are you doing?' I just put my head in my hands, and there was Ewan rolling around the floor in fits of laughter."

For the rest, you'll have to watch their diary -- the just released Long Way Round special edition DVD.

"We had to keep a diary, because when you come back you forget so much, so part of the reason we did the book and the TV series was to have a record for ourselves," said Boorman.

"It'll be lovely to sit back when we are 80 years old and have a right old giggle between the two of us," he adds.

- NZPA