CityLife

Charley, the chain male

WHEN Charley Boorman and best mate Ewan McGregor motorcycled around the world, it kick-started many a born-again biker's ambitions to zoom off on their own little odyssey.

What with the book, the film and the never-ending TV repeats of Long Way Round, many thousands have lived practically every mile of Ewan and Charley's 19,000-mile circumnavigation of the globe aboard their BMW R1150GS Adventure machines. The trip and its popularity "completely changed my life", says actor Charley.

The 40-year-old father of two is the son of movie director John Boorman. He has become something of a professional adventurer and one of motorcycling's best ambassadors.

Having taken on the world, the next challenge was to take on the Dakar Rally, covering more than 9,000km across seven countries from Portugal, through Spain, Morocco, Mali and Guinea to Senegal. "It's a mad race," says Charley, whose new exploits have again become fodder for a book, a soon-to-be-released DVD and a seven-part TV documentary, starting tonight.

Mechanics

"You've got 150 motorcycles, 160 cars and 60 trucks all racing. Then you have 250 support vehicles, tons of mechanics, 20 aircraft, ten helicopters, a hundred pilots, 50 doctors and nurses and 200 journalists, and the whole organisation moves 500km every day."

Charley was one of three riders in his team, riding BMW F650GS Dakar bikes and filming as they raced, using helmet cameras. He admits: "On day five, I had a very slow crash and ended up breaking both my hands. I got back on the bike and finished the day - 450kms - to see if the docs could patch me up."

He already has his next adventure lined up - a reunion next year with Ewan to ride the 6,500 miles from John O'Groats to Cape Town, visiting Unicef projects along the way, as they did on Long Way Round.

Charley is signing copies of his book, Race To Dakar, at Williams BMW motorcycle dealership, Old Trafford, at 7pm on Thursday, October 19. Ticket only (é5, proceeds to charity) - 0161 907 0340 for details.