Charley Boorman

Right to the Edge:Sydney to Tokyo By Any Means is Charley Boorman's third solo book and a good one it is too. We see Charley travel from Sydney in Australia and go by any means of transport around the Pacific Rim visitng most of the major islands and countries until he arrives in Tokyo, Japan.

Jeff Gulvin who is the writer who conveys Charleys adventures, fears, hopes and fun and most of all his spirit of generosity - has done a fantastic job.

This is a perfect follow-up to the original book on Charley Boorman and Ewan McGreggor's book the Long Way down.  Why do I say this?Because it is a wonderfully photographic volume of the same trip.

There were so many amazing photos taken and filmed on that trip - many will have been seen on the six week evening showing on television of their trip going the long way down through Africa.

This book by Charley Boorman is brilliant. By Any Means was a great feat, and a fantastic idea.  I have seen the television show and now have read the book.  Both had me enthralled.

Charley has a very personable manor and this comes out so wonderfully in the book and you can feel not only the challenge but also the commeradery that is shared between Russ, Charley and Mungo the camera man.  The banter between the three is very much a part of the trip and when they write their travels up about what has been happening, it comes forth in glowing colours!

I have become a great fan of Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor after meeting Charley at their headquarters recently in London, when Vicky and I met Charley to interview him on their latest trip 'The Long Way Down'.

But I'm going to talk about their book 'The Long Way Round' which is the trip that they did in 2004.  They started off from London and went through France, Belguim, Germany across the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Russia then flying across to Alaska down through Canada and North America arriving at their finish destination New York.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Long Way Down adventures, but I have to say, it is an emotional roller coaster from tears to laughter and all inbetween. The visits they made to the UNICEF places and Riders For Health make for both happy and sad reading because of the desperate situation alot of the people are in. But the incredible generosity of the people everywhere they went both in Europe and Africa make up for all the anxsty bits.

As a fan of some 10 years of the Paris to Dakar race, I very much enjoyed reading Charley Boorman's book Race to Dakar, about his behind the scenes experiences as a result of his hand injuries. The Book very definitely filled in the missing bits of the excellent DVD series of the same name.

There are plenty of thrills and spills and adventures along the way including those of the backup team, who certainly had their own adventures with the car!