A Diverse World

Last year (seems strange saying that already!) I watched The Long Way Up on Apple TV+ in which Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman travelled from the bottom of South America on electric motorcycles to Los Angels. It was a great series, featuring not only amazing vistas but also giving you an insight into various cultures within the countries they visited; it also highlighted great work of charities and UNICEF too.

Having watched this series I wanted to go back to watch the both previous series, The Long Way Round (2004) and The Long Way Down (2007). In watching these and now having completed all three what it highlighted for me was the sheer enormity of this planet we live upon and how diverse its biology, environments and people who live within.

I was seriously impressed how they coped with all the challenges put in their way, and there certainly were many. In The Long Way Down I really enjoyed experiencing some of the ancient ruins shown earlier in the series, as well as the Okavango Delta which is stunning. The waterfalls in this series were also seriously breathtaking.

Many scenes within the South American portion of The Long Way Up offered some jaw dropping scenery, I particularly enjoyed Machu Picchu. I was surprised in The Long Way Round by Siberia, I had always thought this perhaps to be a somewhat barren landscape given I was told Russians sent people there as punishment due to its extreme cold, imagine my surprise it was really quite stunning, though they weren’t there in winter I guess. They travel the Road of Bones and discover it’s not particularly a walk in the park.

I recommend highly watching all three series if you’ve not seen before, you’ll experience the world, its diversity and beauty, different cultures, their warmth, kindness and generosity. Sadly you may also experience some sad aspects too as we bear witness to past atrocities, events and effects of poverty.

I hope they’ll consider another series, they’re an excellent watch.