For Charley Boorman motorbikes have been the ride of his life. And the Barnes based TV explorer is still addicted to the open road. Sophie Farrah catches up with him between trips
Within approximately five minutes of meeting Charley Boorman, I already know that a 1500-word feature about him is going to present quite a challenge. Mongolia? He’s been there. The dangerous Dakar Rally? Done that. Meeting gorillas in Rwanda? Got the T-shirt. Throw in a life-changing motorcycle crash and a brush with testicular cancer and you’ve got yourself a trilogy of Tolkien-sized books, never mind a double-page spread.
Born in August 1966, this TV adventurer and motorcycle enthusiast actually started life as an actor. The son of costume designer Christel Kruse and acclaimed film director John Boorman, Charley soon found himself appearing in his father’s films, including Deliverance, Excalibur and The Emerald Forest.
“If Dad needed child actors he wouldn’t hire anyone – he’d just use his kids and not pay us! It was cheap, forced labour,” he laughs.
“The truth is that I found school very difficult. I am heavily dyslexic and people didn’t really understand, so Dad started throwing me into movies and I loved it. It was the only way to express myself.”
Boorman senior’s career required almost constant travel to far-flung places, and whether it was the South Pacific, South Carolina or Los Angeles, the whole family would go too.
“Growing up like that left me with such a sense of adventure,” enthuses Charley.
In 1974, when Charley was six, the Boormans moved to Ireland for the making of Zardoz, and leading man Sean Connery and his then eight-year-old son Jason came to stay. Charley and Jason tore around the Irish countryside together and then, one fateful day, they discovered a Honda Monkey bike in an old garage.
“I’ll always remember riding past my dad and Sean and thinking: ‘Yeah, look at me! I can ride a motorbike!’ Then Dad pulled me off just before it went straight into a barbed wire fence. I should have known then that danger would be a theme for me.”
As adulthood kicked in, Charley’s acting career was progressing well, but his lust for travel and adventure was beginning to hold sway.
“I basically started choosing movies based on their location,” he confesses. “If a job was shooting in South Africa, I’d take it. Then I’d be sitting on the plane reading the script, and it would be rubbish! So my career quickly went downhill.”
To ease the gradient, Charley started painting and decorating – “every actor’s favourite job” – until, after nearly 10 years with little to no acting work, he landed a small part in a film called The Serpent’s Kiss, starring another motorbike-obsessed, travel-hungry actor called Ewan McGregor.
“We became friends, did bike stuff together and started talking about doing a long trip. We were just going to ride down to Spain, but then I went over to Ewan’s house and he had this world map out on the table…”
The rest is motorcycle history. In 2004 Charley and Ewan embarked upon the adventure of a lifetime, biking overland from London to New York via Western and Central Europe, Ukraine, Western Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia and Canada, documenting their journey in the iconic and award-winning television series and book Long Way Round.
“Mongolia was one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been. Super difficult to get across – a huge country and there are no roads! But the people are wonderful; incredibly generous, gentle and kind.”
In Race to Dakar, aired in 2006, Charley braved the Dakar Rally from Portugal to Senegal, one of the most demanding and dangerous motor races on earth. It was, he maintains, one of the highlights of his life, despite breaking both of his hands in a serious desert crash. Then, in 2007, he teamed up with Ewan again for Long Way Down, in which the duo rode from John O’Groats to Cape Town with a great many memorable encounters along the way.
“Going into Rwanda and seeing the gorillas was amazing. Ewan and I were watching this family when suddenly this huge silverback [adult male] appeared. He pushed Ewan over, walked between us and then stopped and looked at us both. A moment later he covered us in snot and just walked off!”
The next project, By Any Means (2008), saw Charley going soloagain, this time from Ireland to Australia. Using no fewer than 112 modes of transport – including trains, tuk-tuks, boats, bikes and elephants – he made his way across Iran, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia and 20 other countries to reach Sydney. In a sequel the following year he picked up where he’d left off, finishing in Tokyo, while subsequent televised endeavours have included South African Adventure and Extreme Frontiers: a Canadian jaunt from Newfoundland to the Rockies.
“Sometimes you tell people that you’re going to Africa, or India, and they say how terribly dangerous it is there. So I ask if they’ve been and they nearly always say no. Their view is entirely based on fear. It is so important for us all to travel. To understand what’s going on in the world you need to go there.”
In 2016, Charley’s life was put on hold after he was knocked off a motorcycle in Portugal, shattering his left leg and breaking his hand and ankle. It was unclear if he would ever walk properly again, let alone ride a motorbike. Last year’s autobiography, the aptly named Long Way Back, is the tale of his recovery and the rest of his fascinating life, told in his typically humorous and reflective style.
“I was launching a motorcycle for Triumph and ended up launching myself!” he laughs.
“My agent feared I’d go mental lying in bed for five months, so he suggested that I write a book. It’s about the accident, my recovery and how delightful it is to sit on the toilet again for the first time. The little things become so important…”
Charley also endured a skirmish with testicular cancer, back in 2010, and is now an ambassador for the Movember Foundation, working to increase awareness of men’s health. He also supports Help for Heroes and serves as an ambassador for UNICEF UK. Home – when he sees it – is Barnes, where he lives with his wife Ollie and their two daughters, Doone and Kinvara.
“When you’ve been away for months, it’s a really lovely place to come back to,” he grins ambivalently, his enduring wanderlust thinly disguised.
“But I want to go to Central and South America next, as I’ve never been. It’s a whole new continent to do! Ewan and I have been talking about another trip, so we’ll see.”
Last September, following countless operations, Charley led his first expedition since the accident and is understandably delighted to be back on his bike – and back on the road. There are more tours planned for this year, which will see him lead groups of bikers across Australia and then Africa, travelling from Cape Town to Victoria Falls via Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
“Namibia is incredible,” he enthuses, his imagination already taking wing. “Where else do you have to stop in the middle of the road to let 40 elephants pass by? It’s another world.
“But you don’t have to go to Africa or Australia. Anywhere you’ve never been is an adventure. And it doesn’t matter if someone else has done it before – the adventure is all yours.”
Barnes, to adapt a phrase, may be for Christmas, but the open road is for life.
- Charley Boorman: Long Way Back is out now, £20, published byAA Publishing. For more on Charley and his upcoming adventures visit: charleyboorman.com
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