Una Moto Guzzi Eldorado 850 del 1974 per Ewan McGregor e una Bmw R75/5 del 1972 per Charley Boorman. I due amici celebrano 20 anni di viaggi in moto insieme in Long Way Home visibile con una nuova puntata pubblicata settimanalmente fino al 4 luglio su Apple Tv+. L'occasione è buona per risalire alle origini della passione di McGregor per le moto di Mandello del Lario, per le quali ha tradito un altro prestigioso marchio italiano
00:00Buongiorno, buongiorno a voi, come stai? Bene, voi state bene.
00:29Buongiorno, buongiorno, buongiorno.
00:59I passed my motorcycle test when I was 20 years old after drama school. I wanted a motorbike since I was a kid and my parents said, no, no, no, no, you can't have one.
01:09So after drama school, I had a little 100cc Honda that I learned to ride on and then I passed my motorcycle test and I went to a Ducati showroom in Islington in the Angel here in London to buy a Ducati.
01:25I was making money. I had money. I was going to buy a Ducati and I walked into the Ducati showroom and at the very back was a black 1979 or 8 Motoguzzi Le Mans.
01:38And I, I, all of the Ducatis disappeared and I could only see this Motoguzzi. And I didn't know, I didn't know about the heritage. I didn't know about the history of the company. I didn't know anything.
01:51I just knew that this was my bike and I bought that bike and I, I remember they all came to watch me leave on it. And I was like, no, don't watch me leave. You know, it was my first, it was a big, a thousandcc.
02:02See, I'd never ridden such a big bike. And, um, and I rode away and I've ridden Motoguzzi's ever since. And I know I'm, I'm honored to be able to help the factory with advertising occasionally for new models.
02:16And I've been to the factory many times. Um, I've been a guest of honor at their week at the Motoguzzi weekend that they throw once a year or every two years.
02:26And I, I, you know, it's so much part of my life to the extent that when we were thinking of doing this new trip, long way home, we knew we wanted to go on old bikes.
02:37And all I could think about was my old rusty at 1974 Eldorado police bike, you know, from California. And, uh, yeah, that's so in the many, and, and, you know, if I hadn't fallen for that bike back then, and that maybe I wouldn't have ridden bikes.
02:52Maybe I wouldn't have done these trips with my mate, Charlie, you know?
02:55Charlie, uh, and you love as well, uh, Italian factory because, uh, in the, the first, uh, episode of the, of the, of the, of the season, you turn on a Ducati, a GTS of the seventies.
03:10But, uh, well, this, um, I, I, I apologize to Italy, uh, for that. And, and I promise to eat more, more, more, more pasta and think about the cello.
03:20But, um, I, I, uh, but in, in the mid seventies, um, a lot of the Ducatis were, were quite racy and quite sporty bikes.
03:28And it was, and we would, we were looking, you know, I, I didn't have a bike around the mid seventies like Ewan did.
03:34So, so we were looking, I was looking for something which, which was, which was, um, which is a bit more appropriate.
03:40But, but I, I, I, I, for a day, I was a Ducati factory rider a few weeks ago.
03:46I went to the Ducati factory and, and I, I made a, I made a, uh, a documentary for Ducati riding the, the Multistradus.
03:54and, and they kept calling me a factory rider.
03:56And so I, I was very, so I, I think there is an Italian living in me.
04:00Yeah.
04:00Wow.
04:01And Ewan, would you like to.
04:04And actually my favorite motorcycle that I've got at the moment, I actually love it, is the Ducati Desert X, um, which is just one of the nicest looking bikes I think I've ever seen.
04:14Ewan, uh, for the next season, for the next season, would you like to, to start from Italy?
04:20We have a, we have an amazing story that Charlie and I always remember in Italy.
04:27We, we went down through Italy to go on our long way down trip through Africa.
04:32So we came down and we went through the whole north to south Italy, across to Sicily, and then into Tunisia.
04:39And we were in a second or third, I don't know, we were in the middle of the country and we stayed in this campsite.
04:45And we, we had a lovely camping experience.
04:48We met some people in a van who asked us into their van.
04:51They gave us like, they had cooked dinner and they shared their dinner.
04:54It was perfect sort of traveling experience.
04:57And in the morning, we packed up our bikes and we, we, Charlie and I left the campsite.
05:03And as usual, we had to wait for our cameraman, Claudio, you know, who's always like behind somewhere.
05:09So we were like, oh, we pull over and we were sitting at the side of the road.
05:12And opposite us was a row of like beautiful, like working class Italian houses.
05:19And we saw this little man coming out.
05:21He came out the front door and he was wearing a brain coat and a suit.
05:25He looked super sharp.
05:26Little, I know, maybe he had a little hat on.
05:29I should remember.
05:30A helmet, a hat or something.
05:31And he came out and he, he got on his Vespa, his old Vespa.
05:34And he, he pulled the Vespa off the stand and he got on his Vespa.
05:38And as soon as he started the bike, his wife came out with his lunch, you know, and she
05:44came out to him and he took his lunch and he hang it, he hung it on the little hook under
05:48in the front of the Vespa.
05:50and he gave her a kiss and off he went.
05:52And it was like, we, it was, it was a story that had been told every day of their marriage,
05:58you know, and it was a beautiful thing to see.
06:00We always remember that.
06:01So, so funny.
06:02And, and I think we were already traveling and, and, you know, sometimes you see people,
06:07the snap of people's lives and, and you feel jealous of that life.
06:11And you, you want that life, you know, that, that was certainly one of those days.
06:15Yeah.
06:15Yeah.
06:16And your wife is jealous for your life with a motorcycle.
06:20Maybe he, maybe he's looked at us and felt the same.
