Long Way Home (2025) s01e08 Episode Script

1
[theme song playing]
[Ewan] Across 20 years,
and three incredible adventures,
we've traveled to some of
the farthest flung corners of the world.
This is us on the road, Charley.
This is us on the way, man.
Yet we've never properly explored
the countries on our own doorstep.
- Okay, here we go. Into Europe.
- [Charley] Let's do it.
So, we're spending
the summer riding a spectacular loop
through 17 of our closest neighbors.
[Ewan] Starting at my house in Scotland,
we'll cross over to the continent,
travel up through the Nordics,
and into the Arctic Circle,
down to the Baltics before winding our way
through the Alps and across France,
returning home about two months later.
[Charley] And we're gonna throw
caution to the wind
by doing the journey
on temperamental 50-year-old bikes
that have been given a new lease of life.
[Ewan] My bike's making a funny noise.
[bike clangs]
[Russ] Riding alongside them
on a third motorcycle
are cameramen Claudio and Max.
And the guys will also be taking
personal diary cameras.
[David] Russ and I will be following
with a small crew and two electric trucks.
Only meeting up
with the guys when necessary.
[cheering]
[Ewan] So, this summer,
Europe is our playground.
- Wow!
- [blowing]
[Ewan] And we're gonna follow our noses
and see what we find on the open road.
We can ring this shop
- [Ewan] Yeah.
- See if they can pick your bike up.
[line ringing]
Yeah?
Hello. Uh, is that Renard?
- Renard? Oh, hello.
- Yeah.
- My name's Ewan McGregor and, um
- Yeah.
I'm doing a trip with my mate Charley.
I've just broken down.
Um, are you able to come
and be my knight in shining armor?
[laughs]
[mechanic laughs] Right.
Thank you so much. Yeah.
We appreciate it so much. Thank you.
You'll be all right.
Your baby will be fine, Ewan.
And, you know, the worst case scenario
- I'm sort of
- we've got fish paste.
Lots of it. So
Do you think
if we just put that in the tank
- Well
- it'd probably help?
- It works for everything else.
- It's true. It does.
- It's magic. Magic.
- Yeah.
- [Ewan] Hello!
- [Charley] Hello.
- Hello, gentlemen. [laughs]
- [Ewan] How are you?
- Excellent. Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you
in these circumstances. Charley.
And I'm Allan. What happened?
- So once we get up to speed
- Mm-hmm.
- [imitates bike] Like this.
- Okay. It doesn't get. Okay.
- [Allan] Let's take it to the workshop
- [Ewan] We'll figure it out.
[Allan] Yeah.
- [Ewan] Thanks, man.
- [Charley laughs]
[Ewan] It's our first day in Estonia.
- First day?
- [Ewan] Yeah. We just got off the boat.
- [Charley] Perfect.
- [Ewan] Thank you, gentlemen.
- [horns honking]
- [Ewan] Hello.
- [Allan] Let's push it inside.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- [grunts]
- How are you?
- Jaan. Okay.
I'm Ewan. Nice to meet you.
They say you're a magician
and I think that's what we need.
It feels like it's falling apart.
- Good luck. And we'll see you
- Yeah, so, uh
- [Allan] See you later.
- [laughing]
[engine rattling]
[Ewan] I don't know whether it's best
to watch or not watch.
- [Charley] Oh, I can't watch
- Is it best to
for my bike. I find it really difficult.
[sighs]
I'm just on tenterhooks.
- [Jaan] Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- [Allan] What? What?
- Whoa, whoa?
- [Ewan] I didn't like "whoa, whoa."
- [Allan] Whoa, whoa.
- Ah, okay. This is burned.
- [Ewan] Missing?
- Oh, that's burned.
[Jaan] I think
this is a bad connection here,
and this might be a problem.
We need to clean it and then put it back.
Think so
[Ewan] Was this the
This was the issue, maybe?
[Allan] Should be okay, yeah. Yeah.
Maybe doing a small test drive
wouldn't be a bad idea.
[Ewan] Yeah, okay.
Just to make sure that, you know,
this thing is not happening anymore.
At least in Estonia.
- You know, that's our aim.
- [laughs]
[Charley] With a bit of luck,
everything will turn out just nicely.
- How's that feeling, Ewan, are you
- Yeah, no problems so far.
It's all over with a little bit of luck.
It's a hundred times better
than when we came in.
- [motorcycle backfires]
- [Ewan] Uh-oh. Uh-oh. No.
Uh, yeah, it's doing it again, guys.
[backfiring continues]
[Charley] Are you Are you stopping, Ewan?
[Ewan] Yeah, I'm gonna have to.
Shall we just head back to the shop?
Whose idea was it
to go on old bikes? Whose idea?
[phone ringing]
[Allan] Wife calling now. Okay.
- Can you talk to her?
- [Ewan] Yeah.
Hello. It's Ewan McGregor. I'm so sorry
I'm keeping your husband from coming home.
It's my fault.
- [wife] Hello. It's okay. [laughs]
- I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
We're heading back to the workshop
with my motorbikes. I'm so sorry.
- [Allan laughs]
- [wife laughs]
She was No, she texted me earlier,
like, "What's going on?"
And I said, "Yeah, I'm kind of with
the guys here and they need some help."
And then she said,
"Please send me a picture to confirm
otherwise you're with Vera in some
Lasnamäe apartment."
[Ewan] I promise you he's not
in an apartment with anyone.
- He's with me in a van.
- [Allan laughs]
[Ewan] Look,
I'm getting everyone in trouble.
[wife] All the best. [laughs]
[Ewan] Thank you very much.
Thank you. I'm very grateful.
[laughs] In LA something like this
can happen and maybe it's realistic.
- In Estonia, if I tell somebody
- [laughs]
you know,
I'm with Ewan McGregor in a van
- second time today driving
- Yeah.
- with his broken bike Okay.
- He's a real pain in the ass.
[both laughing]
Here we are, still in town,
back in the workshop,
and it's 10 o'clock at night.
[Ewan] It's not a good feeling
when it's your bike.
[Jaan] Well, let's take the tank
out and change the wire.
[Ewan] Okay. Change all the wires.
At least we know what to do now.
We have a plan.
- Please let this work.
- On the back of the coil.
Let's do it, huh.
[Jaan] It's the wire.
It's the wire that goes to the coil.
[Ewan] There's a coil right in the middle.
And underneath you see electricity
is coming out of that cable.
So something's wrong with that.
It seems like BMW cables are exactly
the same length that we need.
- [laughs]
- Amazing. That's perfect.
- [Charley] Are those BMW cables?
- [Ewan] Yeah, they're perfect.
- [Jaan] Okay.
- [Ewan] Oh, what a relief. What a relief.
Thanks, man. Good night.
Thank you very much.
You've been amazing.
Thank you very, very much, yeah.
- Thank you.
- [Charley] You guys are heroes.
[Ewan sighs] My god.
Okay, where do we start?
For the first time on this journey,
I had the feeling I might have
to send this bike on in a truck.
But that didn't happen. I think we have
solved it. We'll see tomorrow.
[chuckles]
I'm gonna ride that bike to Scotland.
I'm gonna ride it back.
And I'm gonna ride it up the road.
Through my drive and into the shed.
I'm going to I'm going to do it.
You watch me.
[Charley] Good morning, good morning.
'Kay, you're looking nice!
[Ewan] This is good, man.
I think it's back to back to life.
[Charley] All right! Brilliant.
[Ewan] I think we're back on the road.
- [Charley] Let's go.
- This is great, man.
It was always gonna be like this.
That's what we said, right,
when we planned it.
We'll go on old bikes, they'll break down,
we'll meet interesting people,
they'll help us.
And that's exactly what just happened, so
Couldn't have gone better.
Okay, ladies and gentlemen,
we are now leaving Tallinn.
We're spending the next few days
exploring the Baltics.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Three countries which were part
of the Soviet Union until the early '90s.
We're heading to Kihnu,
an extraordinary island whose women have
kept its traditions alive for centuries.
One of those traditions is music,
which played an amazing role
in Estonia's fight for independence.
Thousands of Estonians gathered to sing
in protest at Soviet occupation.
The fall of the Iron Curtain here
became known as the Singing Revolution.
Two minutes.
Looks like we've made this ferry, guys.
I think so.
Okay. Here we go.
I'm starving.
You've put the fish paste
and crisps right in my head.
[Charley] Bit of the Kalles.
[Ewan laughs]
It's quite a good combo, actually.
Oh, hello.
[Charley] Hello!
[tranquil music playing]
[Ewan] This is the island of Kihnu,
where just a few hundred people live.
We're gonna meet two of them,
Maria and Inger,
who are gonna show us around, and have
kindly agreed to put us up for the night.
[Charley] Oh, I love these houses.
Beautiful buildings.
[Ewan] I like this kind of pine forest.
It's beautiful, isn't it?
Smells amazing.
[Charley] Wow. That's a sidecar.
[Ewan] Hello! Inger, how are you?
Nice to meet you. Oh, hello, Maria!
What is the story?
What's the history with this island?
All we know is that there's, like,
a community of women who live here and
There are men, of course, yeah,
but usually the culture
and the, like, the songs
and the traditions
are usually held by women.
- [Charley] Yeah.
- The men just stay on the background.
Because it's been
a way of life, since, uh
Men's life has been at sea, you know,
hunting seals, fishing.
And then women's life
has been on the island,
taking care of the household
and the children
and the fields and everything.
And animals.
What should we do? What, um
- [Maria giggles]
- We're in your hands.
Oh, I made also Scottish eggs.
Oh, Scotch eggs.
Scotch eggs,
but inside there is, uh, seagull egg.
[Maria] But maybe we could go
and sit, uh, at the table
- and then you could get the eggs.
- Sure.
- Let's look at the eggs.
- [Maria laughs]
- [Ewan] What the heck is that?
- What is that?
- Is that an eel?
- It's eel.
- Eels!
- That's actually my favorite.
- Eel?
- Yeah?
- Eel. I love smoked eel.
- [Maria] Me too.
[Charley] I love it. It's delicious.
- Mm-hmm. Tender.
- [Charley] It's really nice.
- Is it locally smoked?
- It's locally smoked, yeah.
- And this is, uh, "Scotch eggs."
- Is that the Scotch eggs?
- Seagulls?
- Yes, yes. Seagulls.
Do we got "Scotch"
because we're not in Scotland?
- Yeah, yes.
- Oh, I see.
- So it's a surprise.
- [laughs] A surprise.
It's a Kinder Surprise.
- A Kinder Surprise.
- Is there like a little [squawks]
- In a way a Kinder Surprise.
- a seagull in there.
- [Maria laughs] Look.
- [Ewan] Look.
- It's a nice Scotch egg.
- [Inger] No little beaks.
- Did you put garlic in the nettles?
- Yeah.
- [Charley] Hmm.
- Mm-hmm.
And this is sour cream?
Sour cream with also a bit garlic.
- [Charley] A bit of garlic.
- I love garlic.
- [Charley] I can tell.
- It's good everywhere.
- [Maria laughs]
- So, how does it taste?
- Yeah. Yeah, weird.
- Weird? Interesting?
My mind might be playing tricks
on me with the egg.
- Aha, okay.
- [Maria laughs]
Try the egg just on its own, Charley.
Okay.
Mmm. Yeah.
But close your eyes
and not think about it.
- [laughs]
- Just tastes like an egg.
- [Maria laughs]
- [Inger] Yeah.
It's a bit fishy I think.
It's got a fishy taste to it.
[Inger] I think it's because I covered it
with smoked seal meat outside.
- I covered it with smoked seal.
- The smoked seal meat is quite strong.
- [Inger] It is.
- Maybe it's that.
- Thank you.
- Very nicely made though.
Th-Th-This is outrageous.
- I think it's just fantastic. Yeah.
- Go ahead.
[Ewan] So tell me about
the traditional clothes you're wearing.
Yeah, actually,
I made this for my wedding.
- [Charley] Gorgeous.
- It's called kört.
- Kört.
- Kört, yes.
We start wearing since we're born.
- Like in the very baby era.
- It's very warm.
It's really warm, yeah.
But actually,
when it's very sunny, summer day,
it actually keeps you even cool.
Or somehow. I don't know.
It works somehow like that.
- Yes.
- How lovely.
So what is there to see around
the island that we shouldn't miss?
- The lighthouse is one thing.
- Right.
- Okay.
- [Charley] We'll follow you on the bikes.
- [Ewan] Is this yours?
- [Inger] Yeah. With a luxury seat inside.
- So it should feel like
- Yeah, literally.
like sitting in a theater
or something like that.
- In the first place.
- It is luxury.
Yeah, that really is nice, isn't it?
Gucci, isn't it? Look.
It's very comfortable.
Gonna take a little nap, are you?
Do you want me to sort of,
you know, take over
Drive me around slowly.
About 15 miles an hour.
[Charley] I could put
your bag on the back.
- [Ewan] All right. Let's do it.
- Whoo!
[Charley] Wow.
It really is quite charming those two
going along in their, uh, sidecar outfit.
Honoring this lovely little island
full of women power.
[seagulls squawking]
[Charley] Hi. Hi. Hello.
[Maria] Hello. This is Silvia.
[Silvia] Are you interested
in visiting the lighthouse?
Are you an American person?
- I'm Canadian. Yeah.
- Canadian!
Sorry! That's like a New Zealander
if they're Australian.
- Yeah, exactly.
- Sorry.
- So what brings you here?
- That's okay.
You know, personal life.
- You know, boy meets girl, falls in love.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All these things.
I moved to Kihnu for love basically.
- Wow. Brilliant.
- Then what happened?
Well, we're not together anymore.
- Oh, wow. That's all right.
- Oh. Okay.
- Not a happy ending but
- Yeah, yeah. He died.
- [laughing]
- Oh, no! [laughs]
- One of the many. One of the many.
- One of the many.
- I'm telling them [laughs]
- No, no, he went missing.
- One of the many men.
- [groans]
[Ewan] Let's go up this lighthouse.
- [Charley] Wow.
- [Ewan] Oh, my God!
- It's nice and blue inside! Look.
- [Silvia] Yeah.
- So
- Shall we go up?
[Silvia] Yes, yes. Please.
- [Ewan] Whoo!
- [Silvia] Oh, gosh. Go on.
Wow.
Oh, my God. It's quite [groans]
Quite, um, vertigo-esque. Vertiginous.
[Silvia] Yeah.
[Charley] Wow.
See, I come up here a lot
but I don't usually look over the edge.
- Don't look over the edge.
- Yeah.
[Ewan] That's probably the key.
- [gasps] Did you feel it sway?
- [Charley] Yeah.
Oh, my God. It really did sway, didn't it?
Does it sway?
- [Silvia] I think it sways.
- It sways a bit, right?
- [Silvia] I think it does, yeah.
- Totally just swayed.
- What a wind. Wow.
- [Silvia] Yeah.
Now we do have seals that pop their heads
out lots of times here.
Yeah, we had ate at lunch.
Oh, maybe that was the one that was,
you know, popping its head up
and being like, "Hey, where's my dad?"
- Not mad about
- And then you're like, "Sorry."
- [Ewan] Do you eat the seals?
- Sorry?
- Do you like the seals?
- I've had it.
- But I'm not a big fan of it.
- Me neither. No.
I don't understand.
Is it meat or is it fish?
And I I don't I just don't get it.
And I don't really like it.
And I remember, um,
like with my past partner
when his family would be making
the seal and smoking it,
I remember even the smell of it
already it just was it threw me off.
[Ewan] I think it's an acquired taste.
Tonight we'll be staying at Maria's place.
She's also invited us to join her family
for dinner and a spot of local music.
[Charley] It's okay to park here?
- It's nice to meet you.
- My mother. Helga.
How are you? Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- You have a very lovely daughter.
- Thank you.
- She's been very nice to us.
Very friendly.
Oh, that's your husband?
- [cheers]
- [Maria] Not naked. Wearing pants.
- Yes. Very barely.
- [Charley] Just about. Just about pants.
- Barely. [laughs]
- Just about.
Yeah, you must be so proud.
[Ewan] Sort of what Charley wears
most of the time.
- Yeah. On the motorbike.
- You have to get Charley
But they have to force me
to put clothes on.
- [Ewan] Yeah.
- [Maria laughs]
- [Ewan] Hey, man. How are you?
- [Charley] Wow.
- Nice to meet you.
- Hello, Anto.
- How are you? Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you. Pleasure.
- Nice to meet you.
Sorry to bother you
if you were doing your business.
Yeah, sorry.
[Maria] You're going
to be staying in my home.
[Ewan] We'll stay here?
Shall we bring our stuff?
- Yeah, you can bring your stuff.
- [Ewan] Bring our stuff. Okay.
- God, look at this.
- [Charley] It's lovely.
So delicious. Thank you very much.
Yes, of course. It's fresh potatoes,
fresh fish, fresh cucumbers.
What do you want, right?
- Delicious. Yeah. Absolutely lovely.
- [Charley] Spectacular.
[Ewan] Is it totally particular
to this island, this way of life?
Really only exists on this little island?
- Yes.
- Yeah.
Some of the customs are all over Estonia.
But we still practice it today.
- We wear these clothes every day.
- And you enjoy that?
Yeah, but some of the regions
just come out once or twice a year
when they're, like, performing somewhere.
[Charley] That is good.
- It's dirty, but it's good.
- Hello, good evening.
[Helga] It's Kihnu national dance.
[Estonian folk music playing]
[musician exclaiming]
[all cheering]
[Ewan] It's so Scottish sounding.
[laughing]
- [Charley] It is.
- Sounds like we're at a cèilidh.
How old is your accordion?
[speaking Estonian]
- But can you understand?
- Oh, sorry.
It is wrong way in hand.
- Right. It's the other way round?
- Normally it Yeah.
[Silvia] He was a child.
He started learning himself.
- He learned it the wrong way.
- [Ewan] The wrong way?
- Wow.
- And that's how he learned how to play.
- Is it very old? Is it an old one?
- Which works great for him.
Yeah, it looks like everything can
get saved from duct tape and, uh
What is it?
MacGyver tape they call it. Yeah.
- [speaking Estonian]
- [all laughing]
[guitar playing]
[Ewan] Oh, the summer time is coming ♪
[Silvia laughs]
And the leaves are gently blooming ♪
And wild mountain thyme ♪
All around the blooming heather ♪
Will you go, lassie, will you go? ♪
If I were to lose my true love ♪
I'd surely find no other ♪
To pull wild mountain thyme ♪
All around the blooming heather ♪
Will you go, lassie, will you go? ♪
And we'll all go together ♪
To pull wild mountain thyme ♪
All around the blooming heather ♪
Will you go, lassie, will you go? ♪
Will you go, lassie? ♪
Lassie, will you go? ♪
[music ends]
- Oh, that was nice.
- [all cheering]
Good morning. This is, um,
where we stayed last night.
Isn't that just pretty?
We had home-cooked dinner
for the first time in ages.
It was very, uh, very delicious.
Really good company. Lovely people.
And amazing music.
Everybody joined in and it was, um
It was fantastic.
Had a really amazing experience last night
with, um, that lovely family
on this beautiful island.
And I loved playing along with them.
You know, just trying to
follow the chords along
to these Estonian folk songs
that I'd never heard before.
But I really enjoyed it.
We ended up, um,
making friends, it felt like really.
It was really beautiful.
I'm excited to get into Latvia today.
And then Lithuania.
[giggles]
[upbeat music playing]
[Charley] Here we go.
This is the exciting bit,
when you cross over the border.
Do we have to do anything? Do we have to
show our passports or anything?
No, nothing.
- [Ewan] You don't think so?
- [Charley] Nothing here.
That's just the border right now.
[Ewan] Oh, that's it. Welcome to Latvia.
[Ewan] We're riding south
towards the capital, Riga.
On the way, we're gonna pass Sigulda
which is home to
a Soviet era bobsleigh track.
It's one of the few in the world
where they'll let you have a go.
[upbeat music continues]
[Ewan] Look at that. He's flying with us.
It's huge.
[groans]
[groans] Thank you very much.
I made myself all wet then.
That was stupid.
- [Charley] You got me wet now.
- [Ewan] Sorry, mate.
[both laughing]
[Charley] We are heading
to a bobsleigh run.
I'm sort of nervous
and excited at the same time.
Look at that.
Wow.
It's quite a thing to see. I wasn't
expecting it be so, um so big.
[Ewan] Home to
Latvia's Olympic bobsleigh team,
who won gold at the 2014 Olympics,
the Sigulda track is 1,200 meters long.
It has 16 dramatic curves
creating top speeds of
up to 125 kilometers an hour.
Taking us down the track today
is Olga Lapsova,
who pioneered women's bobsleigh in Latvia.
She's a legend, isn't she, here? She is.
Holy shit. That's quite a full-on corner.
- You seen it?
- [Charley] I'm trying not to really.
I feel slightly nervous.
Got the little kind of butterflies
- in the stomach.
- [Ewan] Collywobbles.
Collywobbles. That's the word.
And I think we should probably have to
cancel the whole thing, I'm afraid.
Just too rainy.
If you could just
take this letter for Mary.
- [laughs] Okay.
- And I'll take yours for Olly.
- There. You take it.
- Okay. We'll be all right.
Olga, I want to know about your life
and about your sport.
And how you ended up doing this and
My history
My history is here in Sigulda. [laughs]
- Yeah?
- Yes.
[Olga] I started figuring skating,
and then I was bobsleigh.
It's the best kind of sport.
You feel like you run
in the water, you know
- Uh-huh.
- with a little bit of pressure.
Just wow, wow, which is very good.
- Oh, wow. Wow. That's amazing.
- Yeah.
You make it sound so exciting.
- I like speed, you know.
- Right, right.
Have you always been competitive?
Even when you were a little child?
- I was like a boy, you know.
- [laughs]
My nickname was, um
- Peter.
- [laughs]
- [Charley] Peter?
- Yes.
I love that. That's brilliant.
- Hey, Peter. [whistles, laughs]
- Yes. [laughs]
[Charley] We both ride motorcycles here.
But Bob is better.
- Bob is probably better.
- Bob is better?
Bob. Bob with Peter.
[Olga laughs]
- Peter and Bob.
- Peter and Bob.
Don't worry, be happy. [laughs]
This is another fine mess
you've got me into, Charley Boorman.
- All right.
- [Ewan] Oh, my God. We're going.
- Oh, my God. There's someone pushing us.
- [Ewan] Shit.
- [Charley] Oh, don't [groans]
- [Ewan] Yep.
[Charley] That was close.
Oh, we're just going.
[Ewan] That's it. We're on
and we go. That's nice.
[Charley] Great.
[Ewan] Oh, wow. It's amazing.
[Charley] So smooth.
[Charley] Okay. Oh, that's hell.
[both groaning]
- [laughs, groaning] Ouch.
- [Ewan laughs]
- [Charley laughs] Oh, my God.
- [Ewan] Whoo!
[both exclaiming, laughing]
Whee!
[Ewan] Oh, here, we're at the corner.
[both exclaiming]
- [Ewan] Whee!
- [Charley laughs]
- [Charley] Wow! That was awesome.
- [Ewan laughs]
- [Ewan cheering]
- Whoo! [laughing]
- Oh, that was fantastic.
- That was fantastic.
- [Olga] It was good run.
- [Charley] Oh, yeah.
- That was brilliant.
- That was brilliant fun.
[Charley] Aw, man. That was awesome.
Oh, yeah. I was so nervous
about it making me feel sick
and it was great.
And the acceleration
is like so fast. It really
I wasn't sure
I was gonna like it very much
and then once we got going I was like,
"Oh, no! God. I really like this.
This is great." It was good.
- It really felt
- She's very good.
- Very.
- [Olga laughs]
But it really felt like you're
on a on a motorcycle.
Didn't it? It had the same feeling
as being on a racetrack.
- I'm the best, I know.
- The best.
Well, thank you so much. That was amazing.
[motorcycles start]
- [Ewan] All right, guys.
- [Charley] Let's roll.
[Ewan] That was fun.
I think I must have been more nervous
than I was thinking
because I feel so much better now
that we've done it.
There was a certain amount of g-force
going round those corners
that if you did a few more times,
it would make you queasy but
[Charley] I think once
or twice would be good.
A third time, you'd start feeling it.
- [Ewan] Riga.
- [Charley] Riga. Here we go.
Riga.
[Ewan] I think we should
take a look around.
Riga is known for its beautiful
architecture and historic monuments.
We're gonna start our tour
at the central market.
Built in the 1920s
by repurposing the metal skeletons
of the old World War I
zeppelin airship hangars.
[Charley] So, these are the
are the zeppelin buildings?
[Ewan] Just beautiful.
The gates must be on the other side, Ewan.
For the to get the zeppelins in and out.
Yeah, unless they just deflated them
before they brought them out.
- Dragged them through [laughs]
- And then blew them up again.
- Can you imagine?
- [blowing]
Come on. Get it in. Get it in.
[Ewan] Dining cars and pretty fancy.
[Charley] No, I mean it was
it was the way to travel,
- wasn't it?
- [Ewan] Yeah, for a time.
[cheering, laughing]
- [Charley] Awesome.
- [Ewan] Wow. That's awesome.
Meat hall.
Get a nice, big bone
for your dog here. Look.
- [Charley] Woody would be beside himself.
- [Ewan] He would love that.
- [Ewan] Cheese!
- [both gasp]
Thank you.
Let's take that one. That's perfect.
- [Charley] Up over there
- Yeah.
- there's foodie stuff here.
- [Ewan] Do you wanna
Oh, it's not the brassieres that you were
You said, "Could we go round here?"
And I was like, what, towards
the massive bra selection?
- I don't know where your mind was but
- I don't know.
- You were the one that pointed at them.
- I was
Oh, wow.
- Wow.
- Shit.
- Shit, bro.
- Hey.
Whoa. Wow.
[Ewan] These buildings
are cool, aren't they?
And there's the old ones.
[Charley] Oh, yeah. Oh, they're beautiful.
- Yeah, that's Definitely.
- Sixties, '50s, '60s.
- Yeah.
- Still Still rumbling along.
[Ewan] Look. Whoo-hoo!
Very cool statue.
That is to the Soviet Bloc.
It's dedicated to the Latvian riflemen
who fought between 1915 and 1920.
What do you think this thing is?
Does it look like a staircase down?
[Charley] Well, let's see.
"Remembrance Memorial
to the Victims of the Soviet Occupation."
[Ewan] In the 1940s, more than 60,000
Latvians we deported to labor camps.
Oh, wow.
Oh, actually, feel it. Touch it.
The vibration is amazing.
It's like a statue memorial,
but it also has an added medium,
an added element.
It is very, very emotive
and very, very powerful.
Powerful, yeah. Absolutely.
[Charley] Oh, it's so quiet on this side.
Oh, wow.
[somber music playing]
[Ewan] This is a copy
of the symbolic handkerchief
owned by one of those
people deported, Merija Stakle.
It's embroidered with the signatures
of 88 of her fellow prisoners
and the date of her arrest.
Gosh.
So moving.
Riga seems like such an interesting place.
It's a shame that we're
just in and out so quickly.
[motorcycles start]
- All right, Charley?
- All good. All good, all good.
Guys, well, another country today.
[Ewan] It's been very nice in Latvia.
It's very cool.
[Charley] Got a full tank of gas.
[Ewan] We're heading to Lithuania.
[mellow indie music playing]
[Charley] Hello. This is the border.
[singsongy] Lithuania, here we come.
[singsongy] Lithuania!
Lithuania is known as
a real nature lovers' paradise,
famed for its forests, lakes
and beautiful coastline.
Today we're heading
to an amazing peninsula,
which borders Russia,
called the Curonian Spit
to hunt for amber,
known in these parts as Lithuanian gold.
But first, we've been tipped off
about a crazy motorbike sport
that we just couldn't miss out on.
[Charley] Hello, hello.
[Charley] Oh, look at this.
[Ewan] Oh, there's a crowd.
Holy moly!
Geez, what is this?
- [Ewan] So bonkers!
- This is outrageous, isn't it?
Look at the balls.
What are they doing?
- I've never seen anything like this.
- [Ewan] Look at that.
Oh. Do you see how he's trapped the ball
- between his foot and the bike?
- Yes.
- Look. He's got it right there.
- Yeah, he's just spinning around.
- [crowd cheering]
- [whistle blows]
[Ewan] They're obviously not allowed
in the green bit, right?
It's so bonkers.
- Oh, there's an actual ref!
- [Charley chuckling] What?
- You never noticed him before, did you?
- No.
No.
Oh! Oh! Oh!
- [Charley chuckles]
- He crashed right into his foot.
Oh, he has to come off.
- He's off.
- There's a sin bin.
- Oh.
- Ooh, ow!
[crowd applauding, cheering]
[chuckling] Super entertaining.
I mean, these guys, like, they're
It's so hard to do what they're doing.
They're changing gear on both sides,
braking on the back wheel on both sides.
Incredible.
Oh, look.
They're taking kids out for rides.
[cheering, applauding]
[Charley] Righty, righty, righty, righty.
Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.
[Ewan] Motocross football.
- [chuckling] And it's just fantastic.
- So bonkers.
[Ewan] We're on our way to this peninsula
that runs down
the, uh, west coast of Lithuania.
And the very end
of that peninsula is Russian.
But just before the Russian border,
there's a place that we can,
uh, see if we can find amber,
which is found in this area.
[Charley] Beautiful forest. Oh, gosh.
Big bump coming. Big bump.
[Ewan] Nice one. Whoa.
[Charley] Okay, here we go.
It's where the other guy is.
- Hi!
- [Charley] Hi.
[Ewan] Are you our amber man?
- [Charley] Here he is. This is him.
- Guten Morgen. Hello!
- [both chuckle]
- [Ewan] Hello, hello.
Are you gonna lead us
to some amber treasure?
- Very nice to see you.
- Hi. I'm Kazimieras.
- [Charley, Ewan] Kazimieras?
- Yes, Kazimieras.
[Charley, Ewan] Great name.
- Kazimieras.
- Yes, of course. Kazimieras.
[chuckles] Very good. Let's go.
[Charley] This tiny strip of land
has been one of the Baltics' best places
to find amber for millennia.
Perfect balance. [blows raspberry]
I never thought you'd fish for amber.
[Kazimieras] Yes, we can try fish.
Look, look, look, look, look.
- [Charley] Is that amber? It's floating.
- [Kazimieras] Yes. Yes.
- [Charley] It floats?
- Yes.
It's, uh, not heavy.
[Ewan] This is amber?
- I didn't realize it floats.
- It floats.
Well, it can't all float.
[Kazimieras] Yeah, amber floats.
- All of it?
- It's not stone.
- [Ewan] Oh.
- Stone goes down but amber floats.
- [Charley] Ah, so this Oh! Shit.
- [Kazimieras] Yeah.
- So this is
- No problem. You can have that.
- Yeah, it's
- [both chuckle]
[chuckling] Sorry. It was so light.
Amber goes to the to the beach.
- Must, like
- [Charley] Oh, it gets stuck in here.
- It gets stuck in here.
- Yeah, yeah. Oh, whoa, whoa!
Whoa, whoa. Look, look, look.
- [chuckling] Oh. Look at that.
- Look. Yeah.
That's beautiful actually.
That one. Look at that.
- Because
- That's lovely.
And that's more the color you'd
- I would expect.
- [Kazimieras] This is clear. Clear amber.
- And is it a resin?
- Clear is resin from pine tree.
- Oh, so it's like
- Because it's organic mineral.
- It's organic mineral.
- Yeah.
Amber lives here down about 50 million.
Fifty million years old?
Fifty, every one.
- Fifty million?
- Fifty million.
[Ewan] I can't believe they're so old.
Oh, look. He's got loads in there.
Look at that.
You can see amber there.
[Kazimieras] This is small,
of course. Not-Not so big.
How long have you been looking for amber?
About 50 years.
- [Charley] 50?
- Yes.
[Charley] There's some more there.
- There's loads of 'em.
- [Kazimieras] Yeah.
The Baltic Sea present us
amber in the beach.
- Yeah, we did very well.
- [Charley] Oh, well done.
- We did very well, my friend.
- [chuckling]
- [Ewan] Lovely.
- Beautiful.
I have in my special case
If you see this one.
- Oh, what is this one?
- [chuckles]
- Look.
- Oh, this has got a mosquito in it.
Is it like
some 50 million-year-old mosquito?
And it looks exactly the same
as the ones now.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Exactly.
So we go into this mosquito,
we get a drop of the blood
that it drank from a dinosaur,
and we recreate the dinosaur
from that drop of blood.
- [Charley chuckles]
- That's what happened in Jurassic Park,
- isn't it?
- [Charley] Yeah.
[Kazimieras]
Special for you like like this.
Oh, my God. Is this for us? Thank you.
Little present. That's nice.
A 50 million-year-old present.
[Kazimieras] For the mother,
or the sister, the kids
- from the who dog, cat [chuckles]
- [Ewan] Thank you, sir.
- That's very kind.
- Whatever. It's yours.
Because it's present from the sea.
[mellow indie music plays]
[Ewan] Well, that was a very nice treat
to look for amber on the beach.
And to be lucky enough
to find so much of it.
[Charley chuckling]
That was very funny. Very bonkers.
What a lovely, lovely man.
And, um, you know, and that experience,
that's a real experience
of a country, of the people.
And, um and it's precious, those things.
We're gonna set up our tents in
the grounds of a 19th century castle,
before heading up on
a sunset balloon ride.
The perfect way to see
the beautiful Lithuanian countryside
and say farewell to the Baltics.
[Ewan] What a lovely day.
Fishing for amber on the beach
and balloon rides in the evening.
[Charley] Very grand entrance.
[Ewan] Holy moly. Look at that.
Spectacular.
[Charley] Look at that big turret.
Beautiful, isn't it?
Here it is.
Yellow to yellow.
[Ewan] What have you found? A frog?
So teeny-teeny. Little, red one.
Hey, buddy. Hey, buddy.
I know. It's okay.
I'll put you back.
[gasps]
He's fine. Totally fine. Totally fine.
- He's fine.
- [chuckling]
You should film him so the audience
knows he's not hurt, like
Because otherwise,
they'll think I hurt him.
And I didn't. Look, he's fine.
I mean, that was like
falling 30 storeys for him,
- but, uh, he's fine.
- [chuckles]
Put our tents up
and now we're going for a balloon ride.
[tranquil string instrumentals play]
[pilot] Don't let it go
until I tell you to.
And don't get scared
when, uh, the fire starts.
[Ewan] We're quite close to it.
[chuckles]
We've gotta jump in. We gotta climb in.
Okay, I'm in. Okay.
Here we go!
Bye, Dave! Bye, Uncle Dave!
[Charley] Ciao.
Up, up and away, on my magical balloon!
[Ewan] Yeah, we're up. We're up.
- Look at that view!
- [speaks indistinctly]
- Oh, my God!
- [Charley] Oh, geez.
[Ewan] There's the castle. Look.
[Charley] It's so peaceful.
[mouthing] Geez, I wanna cry.
Very beautiful.
- It's very beautiful.
- Quite lovely.
When was the first balloon ride?
[pilot] 1783.
[Ewan] No way!
[pilot] It was French guys.
They invented the hot air balloon.
But they were afraid to fly themselves,
so they found two volunteers,
and it was two friends of theirs.
So they were flying
for about 15 to 20 minutes.
There were still some farmers
attending to their fields,
and, uh, basically, what they saw was
a huge, black, smoking object,
uh, landing from the sky.
- Oh, my God. The fear.
- Noth Yeah.
They thought it was, uh, that it was
the devil landing in their fields.
- "Let's kill them."
- [gasps]
But they had something with them
which saved their lives.
[Ewan] Couple of bottles of red?
[Charley] Uh, some gold?
They had a bottle of sparkling wine.
- Yeah.
- Sparkling
Yes. Because the lives of the first pilots
were saved by a bottle of sparkling wine,
every, uh, pilot has at least
one bottle of sparkling wine with him
in every single flight.
[both chuckle]
[Charley] Oh,
we're coming down quite quickly.
[Ewan] Yeah, yeah.
Are we gonna try
and land in that green one?
[Deividas] Uh, we'll see
where, uh, the wind takes us.
- So, prepare for landing.
- [Charley] Okay.
- Get ready for landing. Go.
- Adopt the landing position.
- Guys, just please bend your knees, okay?
- [Ewan mimics a fart]
- [Charley] Indeed. Okay.
- Yes. My knees are bent.
Here we go. And touch down!
[all exclaiming]
- It's amazing. Oh, we're moving.
- Hey! Oh, look at this.
- What a great landing.
- What a great landing, man.
That was cool.
[Deividas] All right, gentlemen.
- It is now safe to leave the basket.
- [Ewan] Thank you.
[Charley] Just like packing my tent up.
[Ewan] Well, we have very large tents.
Look at that. There's a balloon in there.
Now, the procedure itself is quite simple.
Is it fine to grab one or two hairs
uh, from your head
- Yeah.
- and light it on fire?
- Yes.
- You seriously want to?
- Yeah. We do this after every flight.
- Yes.
Uh just lean forward a little bit.
- Oh, I see.
- Yes, of course.
- Oh.
- Wow, wow, wow.
- Oh.
- I can smell it.
- [sniffs] Whew!
- [person exclaims]
Yeah, our hair doesn't burn too much.
- Whoo!
- Oh.
So please repeat after me.
- The bigger the field
- "The bigger the field"
- the softer the landing.
- "the softer the landing."
- [clicks tongue] Mmm.
- The bigger the field
- The softer the landing.
- Exactly.
Now, please don't wipe this off
for two weeks.
And if you do, you will need to fly again.
Okay. You're a great pilot.
Lovely. Thank you.
- Thank you. Cheers, guys.
- [all] Cheers.
It was amazing to discover
this part of the world.
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, I-I'd no sense
of those countries before, really.
Just been so rich, with meeting people
and experiencing things.
And I think you're sort of
opened up by doing these journeys.
You're, somehow, sort of peeled open.
And, um, it's such an amazing experience.
These long-way trips that we do,
I always forget it's a long way.
All right, ladies and gentlemen.
Here we are.
Welcome to Poland!
- We've come full circle, Ewan.
- [chuckles]
[Ewan] It's been a while
since I've played.
[Charley] He's got a funny,
sort of shocked-looking face.
He's like, "Good Lord!"
[Ewan] Oh, wow.
Look at the place. So beautiful.
- [blows instrument]
- [laughs]
Do I really want to do it?
[sighing] Oh là là.
No going back now. [groans]