down

and out:
Ewan
McGregor
takes the
long
way
down
After riding from London
to New York, the long way
10. Audi around via Europe, Asia,
TT COUPE AND ROADSTER, 1999 – PRESENT and North America, there
The Audi TT is an example of minimalism at its finest. With its distinctive was really only one thing
lines and groundbreaking design, the TT immediately became an icon in
the automotive world. And since it was introduced, the TT has evolved to left to do. Sharp catches
become even sportier and more athletic than ever, while still staying true up with Ewan McGregor
to its original design. Recently, Audi launched the most aggressive and en route from Scotland to
powerful addition to the TT line-up, the incomparable TTS. Cape Town, in the midst
of his latest adventure.

by Dylan Young
photography by Richard Phibbs

SHARPFORMEN.COM Sharp Dec/Jan 2009 43

 If you’re not quite sure what a troglodyte is, watch the first thirteen min- It’s not the most obvious course for an A-list Hollywood actor.
utes of Star Wars, for the scene when uncle Owen tells Luke to check McGregor is a veteran of over fifty films and not one of those roles
the moisture vaporators instead of hunting womp rats. That submerged hints at this rugged outdoorsman side (not even Obi-Wan). But here
desert dwelling, with its cavernous whitewashed rooms, qualifies him, he is, caked in hardened mud, peppered with road dust and straddling
the two of them, as troglodytes—cave dwellers. a BMW R1200GS adventure bike, made heavy with panniers and gear
This isn’t a completely inappropriate observation. Ewan McGregor is for living rough.
standing in the very room where that scene was shot, looking through
the low-hanging doorway at a courtyard drenched in the oppressive ***
Tunisian sun. Thirty years ago, there would have been a film crew in the
courtyard, manoeuvering around droids and machines cobbled together Barely three weeks into the journey, nerves are already frayed. The
from hair dryers and vacuum cleaner parts. Now, it’s filled with tourists, leg after the Eurotunnel crossing had been rushed and plagued by foul
milling mindlessly through the heat. weather. The length of France and into Italy they had hurried through
“I can’t believe they’ve kept it like this all these years,” McGregor near constant rain, with rarely a moment to take in the places they were
says. “They’ve turned it into a kind of rundown theme park. It’s travelling through or even to rest.
bloody marvellous.” At Mandello del Lario in Italy, they had stolen a few hours for a side
He turns and makes a face at his longtime friend and travelling part- trip to Moto Guzzi, the oldest and largest motorcycle manufacturer in
ner Charley Boorman. Behind him is a poster for Attack of the Clones, Europe. For McGregor, it had been a kind of Mecca, a monument to his
on it, a large depiction of McGregor in his Obi-Wan persona. More great passion for motorcycling.
tourists waddle past, looking at this, that, and the other haphazardly “Moto Guzzi are legends,” McGregor says “There’s something so
curated Star Wars marginalia—barely glancing at the fellow mugging personal about the factory. It’s just twelve guys working on a line, you
for his friend’s camera. No one recognizes him. know. Each engine takes 120 minutes to build, and when they’re fin-
Outside of the attraction, as he suits up to get on his motorcycle, ished, they run it for a half hour just to make sure it works. It’s just so
McGregor makes a guilty admission. “I arrogantly thought I’d be hands on. They only make 10,000 bikes a year.”
mobbed,” he says shrugging. “But nobody cared.” “You walk around and there are all these finished engines on the
floor, just row upon row upon row—so many dreams just lying on the
*** floor. Where will they all end up?”
Startling as it may seem, McGregor is genuinely choked up as he says
Not twenty days earlier, McGregor and Boorman—with camera- this. His star has risen largely on the buoyancy of his smart-alec charm
man Claudio Von Planta in tow—had set out on motorcycles from and shit-eating grin but it’s clear he’s a heartfelt guy.
the most northerly point in the United Kingdom, John O’Groats, He gets more worked up talking about his wife, French produc-
Scotland, with an eye to riding rough all the way to Cape Town, tion designer Eve Mavrakis, and his three daughters, one of whom he
South Africa. and Eve adopted from a Mongolian orphanage following The Long
As mad as that may seem, it’s not the first time they’ve attempted Way Round.
something like this. In 2004, Boorman and McGregor rode overland “I can’t tell you how important they are to me,” he says. “I’m so proud
from London to New York, travelling east through Western and of them. The really hard part of this trip is being away from them. At the
Central Europe, the Ukraine, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Siberia and same time, it’s the thought of them that keeps me going.”
Russia, taking a short flight to Alaska, then continuing on motorcycle “When things are really bad on the road, if you’re riding through
through British Columbia, Alberta and the Northern United States. torrential rain or blistering heat, and the road conditions are treacherous
For the lion’s share of the journey, they travelled alone, meeting up with and your spirits really hit the deck, it helps to think of my children and
a support crew at border crossings. The journey took four months. Eve—to know they’re who I’m travelling towards.”
The idea for that initial adventure came from McGregor, to whom Back on the road, things quickly turn sour again. The rest of Italy—by
it occurred one night while look-
ing at a world map for a place to
go on vacation. You have these days where the road just hammers you
“He just called me up out of
the blue and told me that, if we
to smithereens and you think there’s no way you’re going
wanted to, we could practically to get up the next morning and do it all again. And then
ride around the top of the planet,”
says Boorman. “I thought it was
you get to camp and there’s elephants—elephants! My
crazy. So, of course, I said yeah, god! Is there anything else to say?
let’s do it.”
That trip became The Long
Way Round, a documentary series about their experiences and also a way of Rome and its disturbing cacophony of traffic, all the way to
bestselling book. For Boorman and McGregor—fellow actors who Sorrento along nine picturesque hours of swirling coastal highway—
met on the set of The Serpent’s Kiss and bonded over their love of rid- passes in a blur. Devoured too quickly and hardly enjoyed, the journey is
ing motorcycles—the trip was a dream come true. It was also the most feeling laboured. The travellers are getting increasingly disgruntled and
intense and character-altering experience of their lives. even a bit petulant.
“Riding, you get to feel the vitality of life,” McGregor says. “It’s “Alright, it’s beautiful and all that,” McGregor says, referring to the
passionate and very linked to the moment. There’s no room to shut coastal roads. “But, finally, it’s like, ‘What about a straight bit with no
yourself off for even a minute. You are just there.” fucking cars on it?’”
“In The Long Way Round, I really had to confront what I was made Then, in a radio announcer’s voice, he adds.
of. It was very trying, and we were told by many people that we would “Long Way Down—Ewan McGregor bitches and moans all the way
never succeed. But we did, and I’m extremely proud of that.” to Cape Town.”

44 Sharp Dec/Jan 2009 SHARPFORMEN.COM SHARPFORMEN.COM Sharp Dec/Jan 2009 45


Long Way Down co-star and best
bud Chalie Boorman (left) and Ewan
McGregor with one of their BMW
adventure bikes.
After a hearty meal, fed to them by a hospitable elderly Italian couple,
the mood lightens. Boorman and McGregor—and producers David
Alexanian and Russ Malkin, who’ve been following along with the sup-
port crew—try to sort out the issues contributing to their malaise.
Before long, they arrive at an unfortunate conclusion—the fault
is their own. They hadn’t spent enough time studying the routes and
timings. They should have scheduled an extra week for this leg. Now,
because of a ferry connection from Egypt to the Sudan—that only hap-
pens once a week—they will have to rush through Sicily, Tunisia, Libya
and Egypt—covering up to 800 kilometres a day—or risk compromis-
ing their visas and arrangements for the rest of the trip.
“We screwed up a bit,” McGregor admits. “This isn’t just about get-
ting to Cape Town. The journey is a bigger, deeper picture, of moving
through countries, getting to know their people and feeling a sense of
where you are—in the present tense. ”
***
The morning of their visit to the ramshackle Star Wars museum
outside of Tunis, McGregor and Boorman are in good spirits, goofing
around and doing silly impressions. They still have a long haul ahead
but there’s a sense that they’ll be able to relax soon. They’ve picked a
few spots to visit along the way, however briefly. And once they get to
Sudan, there’ll still be a lot more of Africa to see before Cape Town.
They’ll have travelled 24,000 kilometres in 84 days. Along the way,
they’ll weather 46-degree heat, sandstorms, and roads made of scree and
dust and mud. Their bikes will wear and break. They’ll take falls and be
bruised and saddle-weary. But they’ll witness things unprecedented in
46 Sharp Dec/Jan 2009 SHARPFORMEN.COM
PHOTO: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
their lives. They’ll dine with bushmen and drink milk with Rwandan
president Paul Kagame. They’ll visit Katavi National Park and walk the
Roman ruins of Leptis Magna in Libya. They’ll see silverbacks in the
mountains of Uganda and trace the Skeleton Coast. And they’ll ride
this off-road emotional obstacle course to finish nourished and better
for the peaks and troughs.
“You have these days where the road just hammers you to smith-
ereens,” McGregor will later say. “And you think there’s no way you’re
going to get up the next morning and do it all again. And then you get
to camp and there’s elephants—elephants! My god! Is there anything
else to say? You’re eating dinner and twenty feet away there’s a family
of wild elephants.”
But for now, they’re joking about the amount of road they will have
to tear through—Tunis to Aswan, Egypt—in five days.
“I just want to burn on today,” McGregor deadpans. “I want to avoid
seeing any of Tunisia. I want to avoid getting to know its people, or any
of its landmarks. I just want to get on into Libya and then—I want to
do the same thing in Libya. I want to burn through Libya. I don’t want
to meet anyone or anything. Then I want to burn down to Cape Town,
without seeing anything or meeting anyone on the way.”
“And when we get to Cape Town, we’ll have a huge party and every-
one will think we’re great….” As he says this, his face morphs into
that familiar cheeky smile and he laughs, “Having said that, we should
really get on.”
Go to Sharpformen.com for more about Ewan McGregor and his journey, the
Long Way Down. The series airs Tuesday nights at 10 pm ET/PT on the
National Geographic Channel.
SHARPFORMEN.COM Sharp Dec/Jan 2009 47