The Long Way Down

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Thank you for your questions! We've been sending them out to the team. Ewan and Charley have recorded some of their answers and sent them back to us. Click on the clip above to listen, or read below for what they had to say...

Miles - How are the bikes? They look awesome, are they much improved?

Ewan: The bikes are awesome, and the improvements we've made on them have made them even better than standard (although standard would have done just nicely), they're quite fantastic.

Charley: The bikes are doing really, really well, they're eating the miles up. We've had some improvements on them, and added little bits and pieces, the essential things, but otherwise these things are ready to roll when you buy them out of the shop. So everything's going good, no punctures so far.

Greta - Who persuaded who to go to Africa?

Ewan: I think we both decided that there was 2 big obvious trips left after we'd done the London to New York trip - Long Way Round. We looked at a world map and we thought that there was the Africa trip, and then the South to North America trip. So we both decided to do the Africa trip first.

Charley: I think that when we finished Long Way Round, Ewan and I, after we did the Jonathan Ross show and we went back to our offices, and Ewan and I had already pulled out a map of Africa, so I think we'd kind of already decided before we came back from out trip that we were gonna do Africa.

Janet - What did you say to convince your wives?

Ewan: I think both our wives understood that it meant a lot to us, the Long Way Round trip, and they saw how successful it was, and that it really inspired people to do their own trips and to, er, think outside of the box, if you like, beyond their own country. So I think they realised that it was an important thing, not just for us, but in the bigger scheme of things.

Charley: I think our wives are probably kind of used to it by now, I think both Ewan and I are actors and we've travelled all of our lives, and ever since I've know my wife, certainly, I've been travelling and have been away from her for sort of months at a time, so she's quite used to it. And she's very much in favour of these trips, and, you know, without her support it would never be possible...maybe she just wants me out?!

Alexandra - When you share a tent, who snores?

Ewan: Well we don't share a tent any more is the truth of the matter. Charley and I learned several lessons from Long Way Round, and one of them was that we should have our own tents this time. But when we did share a tent, I tend to snore in the morning, and Charley tends to snore just the second he falls asleep, which is always before me and therefore really annoying!

Charley: Oh well, you know what happens in the tent stays in the tent, really! Well we don't share anymore, I mean, I think we learned our lesson on the last one. I think, you know, when you're travelling together a lot, the only time you really get your own time and space is in your own tent, so we each have our own tents. But, having said that, the tents are very thin, so you can hear everybody. Apparently I snore just as I go to sleep, and I think Ewan snores, you know, just as he wakes up, just in the morning, so I'm a dusk man, and he's a dawn man!