Posted: 16 May 2007 at 10:44

The BBC is to screen Ewan McGregor's latest motorcycle odyssey, Long Way Down.

Actor McGregor and friend Charley Boorman will travel 15,000 miles from John O'Groats to the southernmost tip of South Africa.

Their trip will be turned into a six-part documentary series for BBC2.

Long Way Down is the follow-up to Long Way Round, which saw them circumnavigate the globe and was screened on Sky One.

McGregor, 36, said: "Long Way Round changed us all - it bonded us together and made our dreams come true - and it's not often something like that happens. So to be given another opportunity to do something like this is amazing."

The series raised over £100,000 for Unicef and Long Way Down will also raise money for charity.

It will last three months and take in 20 countries.

Most of the journey will be spent in Africa and McGregor hopes to highlight the continent's mounting problems of Aids, hunger and malaria.

McGregor and Boorman set off this weekend and the series will be broadcast in the autumn.

Their progress can be followed via blogs http://www.bbc.co.uk/longwaydown/ and video clips of their travels will be posted on YouTube.

McGregor ends 15,000-mile charity challenge
By Adam Forrest
Intrepid duo conclude 18-country adventure

IT WAS a trek featuring some of the most inhospitable terrain on earth, but two men on motorbikes have finally reached their journey's end.

After spending three months travelling through Europe and Africa, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman concluded their 15,000-mile adventure from Scotland to South Africa, celebrating in Cape Town yesterday against the spectacular backdrop of Table mountain.

Since they began in May in John O'Groats, the intrepid duo have ridden through 18 countries, including Libya, Ethiopia, Sudan and Rwanda. Along the way they encountered blinding sandstorms, searing temperatures, dodgy border crossings and armies of ants.

Read full article ...http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1596642.0.mcgregor_ends_15_000mile_charity_challenge.php

The news came in over the weekend: Ewan and Charley have finished their motorcycle trek through Africa. It took them just 85 days to travel over 15,000 miles through 14 countries, from Scotland down to Cape Town, South Africa. And that's including almost a week's time spent at border crossings alone.

"We feel fantastic, and absolutely brilliant," Charley told BBC Breakfast news. "It's been a long, long ride, which has been the fun part, but getting here and arriving in Cape Town is just fantastic. And the thought of sitting on a motorbike in Scotland, and then arriving here is wonderful."