'A long way home but I can't get enough of Scotland'

BBC News

23-05-2025

From Star Wars to Trainspotting – Ewan McGregor is no stranger to iconic movies.But his antics on the small screen have also stood the test of time.It's 20 years since the Perthshire actor first got on his bike with his best pal Charley Boorman.Since the memorable trip to New York (via several continents) in Long Way Round the pair have covered dozens of countries in the Long Way Up and the Long Way Down.Now, on Apple TV+, the two men are taking the Long Way Home. And this time it's personal.
"We're going from my house to Charley's house in England," McGregor told BBC Scotland News.This would appear to be a simple journey, but it also takes in 15 European countries. And, according to Boorman, McGregor gets a misty look in most of them, then declares: "This looks like a bit of Scotland."The reason the series works is the lifelong friendship between the pair, playing out on screen.Boorman can't believe he gets to keep having adventures with his friend."Seeing him in front of me or in the mirror, it's a real delight knowing that we are going off doing something we have a real passion and love for. "Doing that with your best mate is a nice feeling."
McGregor adds: "This trip was amazing. I watched the first two episodes and I was thinking I'd like to go and do it again. It was a wonderful experience. "In all the other trips we have had huge distances of riding for days and days, where the landscape never changed. "But this, we had different countries coming at us every couple of days, we met people and saw specifically regional sports."In Holland we watched a pole vault-y thing over the canals, then we saw snowmobiles over water. "It was nice and the whole idea of going to our house in Scotland to Charley's house in England was a funny idea - but it made sense."One of the highlights was McGregor's send-off from his home in Perthshire.McGregor, his father and uncle are all former members of Morrison's Academy Pipe Band which came to play the bikers off."It meant a lot to me, meant a lot to my dad to get the band out," said McGregor.
In the programme, he said: "Massive band, isn't it? It was, like, nine of us in the band I was in."I used to be a side drummer in this band."My dad, before me, and my uncle. I come from a long line of drummers."Wait until they crack off, it gets the hairs on the back of your neck."McGregor is emotional about returning home. "It's home and it will always have that unique feeling for me."And now that he has a new house there, he wants to do more in Scotland."I will never feel like I have seen enough of Scotland. I love being there so much."There's whole swathes of it I've never been to. "I have done some islands but not by any means all of them - Orkney and Shetland, I've never been to. "There are loads of places I still want to explore."