Long Way Down

Starred review from June 30, 2008
In this follow-up to their around-the-world motorcycle travelogue Long Way Round, actors/bike enthusiasts McGregor and Boorman chronicle an 84-day road trip from Scotland to South Africa. Taking turns with the narrative, both are funny, smart and skilled at evoking the thrill of the open (dusty, sandy, gravelly, pot-holed) road. With a trusty team of logisticians, plus local "fixers" in each country, the duo survive spills, wildlife, nutty drivers, border delays, searing heat and misdirection, while squeezing in some time for sightseeing. A compassionate thread limns the macho derring-do, which includes efforts to raise awareness for UNICEF and other children's charities. Bearing witness to the health and poverty crises in Africa, they put human faces and stories to the statistics, and find hope in a visit with Riders for Health, who bring medical help to hard-to-reach sites via motorcycles: "the most effective answer to the problems of reaching people in remote areas; I could see it working all over the world." Though long and exhausting, McGregor reports of the journey that he "didn't want it to end"; readers-especially fans of their first volume-will likely agree. 20 b&w illus., 48 pages of color photos.