Long Way Home (2025) s01e09 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.
[Ewan] I like carrying
everything I need on a bike.
Riding bikes I've just never tired of it.
I I love it so much.
When else do you get the chance,
day after day,
to just hang and be with a friend
that you like hanging out with? I love it.
[Ewan] We'd been on the road
for over six weeks
since we left my house in Scotland.
Today we're saying goodbye to Lithuania
and riding into Poland,
known as the geographical and cultural
crossroads of eastern and western Europe.
Four minutes to the Polish border.
[singsongy] Polish border comin' up.
[Charley] This is the border here.
Welcome to Poland, everybody.
Welcome to Poland!
Hello, hello, hello. Thank you.
Oh, my arse is numb ♪
[Ewan] All right,
ladies and gentlemen, here we are.
This is the biggest city
in northern Poland.
It's called How do you pronounce
this town we're in?
- [on phone] Bialystok.
- Bialystok.
- Bialystok.
- This is how it's spelled.
But it's, um, pronounced
in a very different way.
We know how to say
the name of the town we're in.
- Which is probably a first.
- [Charley] It is a first, I think.
You know, this could be a a new leaf.
Bia [stammers] Bialystok.
[Ewan] It's difficult to pronounce
and remember.
[Charley] Bialystok.
[chuckles]
[Charley] Yeah. It's very nice.
But it's nice to be in Poland.
I've not been really been here before,
so [clicks tongue] that's another tick.
This is the Versailles of eastern Europe.
It's that pretty, this building.
[Ewan] Apparently, the city's
medical university is based here now.
[Charley] Oh.
- Look at this beautiful ball up here.
- [Ewan] Oh, yeah, that gold ball.
[Charley] That's lovely.
- Wow.
- [Ewan] Oh, look, it's got a moat.
[sucks teeth] Oh.
[Charley] You know what
this reminds me of,
- this garden? [chuckles]
- Oh, my God. It's like
[Charley] It's like the movie
- that we met each other in.
- Yeah.
- But it was sort of like this.
- [Ewan] But it was these little hedges
in, like, very tight,
manicured style, like that.
[Ewan] I played
a pretend Dutch garden designer
and designed a garden just like this.
[Charley] I was an informant, wasn't I?
At one point, I pushed Charley
up against a wall,
and I had a plume in my hand
But do please keep your performance
within the bounds of credibility.
[chuckles] I am yours ex
[grunts, groans]
Your master forced me into this.
His motives are his alone,
but the designs of this garden are mine.
And it's quite hard to do that
- without hurting somebody, so
- You'd hurt someone.
- that's where we bonded, I think.
- Yeah.
- Sticking things up our noses. [laughs]
- [Charley laughs]
[Charley] One of our first conversations
was about motorcycles.
Yeah, that's right, 'cause then
then the next bike I got
- was the Ducati, wasn't it?
- It was the Ducati, the 748.
- We've come full circle. [chuckles]
- Full circle.
[Ewan] This has been amazing.
[Charley] Sticking things
up our noses and
[both chuckle]
[Charley] We're just heading
to Warsaw now.
[Ewan] These long-way trips that we do
- I always forget it's a long way.
- [Charley chuckles]
[laughs]
[Charley] Here we go, mate. This is it.
[Ewan] This is it, mate. Whoo! [sighs]
[Charley] Whoo! Look at the old town.
It's absolutely beautiful.
[Ewan] We made it.
I can't wait to explore this place.
[Charley] As much as we love spending
every waking moment together,
sometimes, it's nice to do things
on your own.
So this morning,
we're exploring the city separately.
So, here we are.
I've never been to this place.
I've always wanted to be here.
Warsaw has an amazing history.
But they nicknamed this place
"The City of the Phoenix"
'cause it keeps being destroyed
and keeps rising from the ashes.
[drumroll playing]
[Charley] This is dedicated
to all the fallen Polish soldiers.
[drumroll stops]
It's very respectful, isn't it?
To have the flames, the guards
to remember.
We all know the history of Poland
and the history of Warsaw is
is a devastating one.
So many of these buildings were rebuilt
after the Germans flattened everything.
They did incredible jobs of rebuilding.
Extraordinary.
[Ewan] I've been here once before
years ago.
I shot a film here.
We made this sort of Polish
"gangster-y" type movie
where I was a sort of
"James Bond-y" character, I guess.
But it was wintertime,
it was just before Christmas,
and there was this whole area
was all, um, winter markets.
So we stayed down that way, but anyway,
that was the last time I was here.
Being James Bond in a gangster movie.
Look at that. Winnie-the-Pooh in Polish.
I played Christopher Robin here.
I liked playing Christopher Robin a lot.
One of the biggest things
that they do here is food.
Food is really important
to the Polish and the
and they have these dumplings
which are super famous.
So I'm gonna do
a little bit of dumpling cooking.
I love cooking, so this should be fun.
Hello.
[chef] The plan for today
is really simple.
You'll try yourself and make the best
pierogi you can find in whole Warsaw.
Best pierogi. I like the word. "Pierogi."
- How does that sounds?
- "Pierogi." Sounds great.
- Sounds great.
- My stomach is saying, "Yes, please."
[Mark chuckling] Yes, please.
So, pierogi is the most popular
Polish dish, right?
The recipe for a dough is really simple.
You have eggs, some flour, oil,
water and salt.
[Charley] Let's cook it. Okay.
- Ooh, a lot of salt.
- Oh, my God, yeah.
I suppose that makes sense.
[Mark] She know what she's doing.
She, like, made thousands
and thousands of pierogi.
[Charley] How many pierogi
will you make a day?
Eight hundred for one person,
and we have, like, two or three, usually
[Charley] Doing it.
That's a lot of pierogi.
- The secret to success, like love
- [Charley] Love. [chuckles]
and mainly our craftsmanship
and only best ingredients, right?
Today, we have potatoes in quark cheese.
And you need to make sure you put it in
right inside of the dough, right?
- [Charley] Yeah, in the middle.
- [Mark] Yeah, yeah.
[Charley] This is like
a mini Cornish pasty.
[Mark] You make this worse
because there is a filling
- [Charley] Filling. Ugh! Damn it.
- [Mark] at the border.
Unbelievable.
You can have sweet or savory.
That's the dessert one.
[Mark] It's blueberries and some sugar.
That's mine.
And look, this is her plump one.
[chuckles]
Shall we cook some of these then?
See if these survive?
[Mark] The typical way to cook pierogi
is to boil them in salted water, right?
[Charley] So these ones
are the ones that we made.
- I think this one is mine.
- You can choose the ugliest.
- That should be yours. 100%.
- The ugliest. [chuckles]
The ugliest is mine. Here we go.
Mmm.
Wow, that's delicious.
- The potato with the dump
- Mm-hmm.
It's very good. Thank you.
I'm gonna go and feed the whole crew now.
Got dumplings for Ewan.
Beautiful.
God, look at this.
- Ministry [mutters]
- [crew] Finance.
[Ewan] You can imagine it in a movie,
in all gray.
People coming in
in their raincoats in the rain.
- [crew] Yes.
- Their briefcases.
Everyone's getting stamped in
and stamped out.
[sighs] It's nice, that breeze.
It was quite hot today.
Ah, I really enjoyed this morning.
It's good to be off the bike for a bit.
But now it's time to go back
and meet up with Charley.
[classical music playing]
[Ewan] Sometimes,
I'm not in control of it.
It just [strains] comes to me.
[music continues]
[laughs]
- All right, mate?
- All right, mate.
- [exhales sharply]
- You all right?
[music ends]
[Ewan] After exploring the city,
our afternoon is gonna be spent
visiting our friends from UNICEF.
We've been UNICEF ambassadors
for all these years, for 20 years.
It's a big part of our lives,
Charley and I.
[Charley] We're looking forward
to another UNICEF project.
It's very much to do with
what's happening in Ukraine at the moment.
[Ewan] Poland and Ukraine share both
a border and a long, close relationship.
[Ewan] At the peak of the war,
Poland took in
over three-and-a-half million refugees
from its neighbor.
They're trying to make
a temporary new life in Poland.
- [Charley] Oh, wow. Look at that.
- Hello, hello, hi.
Hiya, how are you?
This center is a safe place
where children of all ages can play.
While their parents access
advice and support
about education or healthcare so they can
better integrate into life in Poland.
I have a little three-year-old boy,
so this is gonna make me
feel really homesick today.
- [Charley chuckles]
- [child speaks Ukrainian]
- Would you like to play with us?
- Yeah, I want to play. Can I join in?
- Okay, let's go.
- [claps hands]
- [child giggles]
- Okay.
Little Red Riding Hood.
Since opening in 2022,
over 28,000 Ukrainian refugees
have got help from this center.
- Your mummy here?
- [teacher in Ukrainian] Is your mum here?
- Mama? Yes.
- Yeah. Okay, that's good.
- Bye-bye. Nice to meet you both.
- [speaks Ukrainian]
- [Charley] Hello. Can we come in?
- [worker] Hello.
- [Ewan] Hi, guys. Hi.
- Hiya. Hello.
[refugee] The art therapy sessions,
we actually get to know each other better
and also create this safe space
for sharing.
My name is Katya. I am 16 years old.
[in Ukrainian]
This is an apartment building in Ukraine.
Since the war started, as you
can see, everything is burning here.
The house burns both outside and inside.
[Ewan] You can imagine
the disruption to their education
and to their lives is massive.
It's quite powerful, isn't it? Just
[Ewan] Yeah, for sure.
[Ewan] Two strong emotions is
one is the terrible sadness
of what they've gone through.
And the other side of it is the kids
are always really fun and resilient
and uplifting, you know?
You happy with this? Okay.
[cooing]
[Charley] Little fluffy clouds.
Okay, it's-it's good. It's okay.
Let's try.
Oh, it's very good.
Oh, do you wanna have a look?
- [chuckles]
- Look here.
- It's okay? Thank you very much.
- It's very good.
Here, you can do one on Ewan now.
- Okay.
- [child speaks Ukrainian]
- [gasps] Uh-oh.
- [chuckles]
- [children chant] Blyskitky! Blyskitky!
- What does it mean? Blyskitky?
- What does it mean?
- Sparkles.
- Sparkles.
- [Ewan] Sparkles!
- Sparkles!
- [chanting continues]
- [chuckling] Oh! Very nice.
- [Charley] Ooh!
- Very nice.
- Very good. Thank you.
[Ewan] Could you tell us what it was like
when you had to leave?
[in Ukrainian] Leaving your country
is always difficult, but we had no choice
as we had three small children,
the youngest being only nine months old.
We had no bomb shelters or basements.
It must've been unbelievable
not to know where to go or what to do.
This center has huge importance
and impact in our lives
because, actually, here we feel safe
and it gives me some hope for the future.
That's wonderful, wonderful.
Thank you so much. Yeah, cheers.
- Thank you.
- Thank you very much.
- It's lovely to meet you. Yeah.
- Thank you very much.
[chattering]
[chuckles]
[Ewan] It was quite an inspiring place.
Just terrible to think of kids
who are away from their home.
But they don't wanna be away from home.
[Charley] But what UNICEF does
is give these children a place
where they're allowed to be kids again,
and that's so important.
[Ewan] Leaving Warsaw,
we're headed to Kraków.
For 500 years, it was Poland's capital.
It's a three-and-a-half-hour ride,
and we've decided to visit
Checiny Royal Castle on the way.
This place was built as a fortress
in the 1300s,
and was once a home to Polish royalty.
- Huh. Oh, look. Knights of the realm.
- [Ewan] No.
What you have on these carvings
are some spectacular mustaches.
[Charley] I mean he's got a funny,
sort of, shocked-looking face.
- He's like, "Good Lord!"
- [Ewan] Yeah. Good Lord.
[Charley] "Run for your lives,
for God's sake!"
[Ewan sighs] We gotta go
all the way up there, man.
- [Charley] Oh, God.
- [Ewan] Isn't there a lift?
[Charley] We're gonna get up there
and they're gonna say, "We shut at 5:30."
[both chuckle]
[Charley] Can you imagine bringing
all this stone to the top of this hill
- when you're building it?
- [Ewan] Mmm, yeah.
[Charley] And the guy goes,
"Actually, I want a third turret."
- And they're all going, "What?"
- Oh, no.
- "A third one?"
- "We'll have to change your order, mate.
- That's gonna be"
- "That's gonna cost you, mate."
[Ewan] "That's gonna cost you."
- Three turrets, uh Oh, yeah. [groans]
- [groans]
- [Charley] Well, let me just
- Oh, look at the view though. Wow.
That's nice.
[Charley] Wow, it's just worth it
just for that, isn't it?
I do believe we can get up
to the top of the turret.
- [sighing] Oh, God.
- [chuckles] I'm sorry. Let's do it.
You'll have to go up the tower
on your own though,
- I'm afraid. Yeah.
- On my own? Okay.
'Cause obviously I'd come with you,
but I'm all tied up right now, so
- Okay. He's all tied up. All right.
- I won't be able to
- Up you go, mate.
- [panting] See you, mate. Okay.
- Bye. Okay.
- Let me know when you get to the top.
[Charley panting, groans]
[groans, chuckles]
- [groans]
- [Ewan] I'm coming.
Let's do it.
[both panting]
- [Ewan] Feel the burn.
- [Charley sighs]
[Ewan] Feel the burn, man!
[Charley sighs] Oh, my gosh.
- Wow!
- [Ewan pants]
[panting]
[exhales]
[Charley] Oh, my legs are feeling
so good at the moment.
[Ewan] Well done, Charley. That was fast.
[Charley] Yeah. [exhales deeply]
I mean, I was tired and felt the burn,
but I can do it.
I've not been able to do that since 2016.
- [Ewan] Wow.
- Which direction are we going?
Well, there's the motorway.
I think we're going
I feel like we're going that way.
But we might be going that way.
- If you're ready.
- [Charley] Yeah, let's get out of here.
- [Ewan] Go down to, um, Kraków.
- Kraków.
Now, we got 92 miles.
[Charley] That's one hour, 35.
- Let's make it beautiful, man, okay?
- [Ewan] Make it beautiful.
We'd been in the saddle for 48 days,
and we've got ten more days
of our journey to go.
We're on our way to Kraków,
known for its beautiful architecture
and for being one of
the more creative cities in Poland.
I'd been planning to get
this bit of my tattoo
I got a new tattoo recently in Atlanta.
But I think I might get it done here.
Gotta get to Kraków
See what's going down ♪
Get out of the country
And get into town ♪
[Charley] All right, boys.
[Ewan] Yeah, we're almost there.
[sighs]
- Kraków.
- Kraków, what a cracker.
- [Ewan] Oh. I think it's here.
- [Charley] Oh, we're here.
[Charley] It's a beautiful day.
It's a beautiful city full of
Baroque and Gothic architecture.
You know, it feels like
the whole place is a museum.
Look where I am at the moment.
Look how beautiful this square is.
Good morning. And [groaning]
We're in Kraków, and, uh
I thought I'll go and get my tattoo,
so I texted Charley and said,
"I'm gonna get my tattoo finished."
And, uh, Charley said,
"I'm gonna have one."
I don't know
if it's the right thing to do.
My wife was saying
she doesn't think much of the idea at all.
Do I really want to do it?
[sighing] Ooh la la.
Ooh la la.
I'm a little a little nervous.
But I'm really glad that Ewan
is gonna be there with me.
- Oh, yes, it doesn't doesn't
- Oh, yeah.
[Charley] Okay.
- [chuckles]
- [door beeps]
Please pass.
[Ewan] Hey, guys. Morning.
- How are you? Nice to see you.
- [Charley] Morning, morning.
- Nice to meet you.
- Hey, how are you?
- Charley.
- Hi.
How are you?
I wanted the words "safe" and "home."
In here, "safe." And in here, "home."
- And then Charley's never had a tattoo
- Oh, yeah.
- and suddenly thought he wanted one.
- [Piotr] And you're for the first one?
But I wanted to do a spark plug. Uh
Um, I wanted to have the initials of
my wife and my two children, so, uh
My wife is not so keen,
but my kids love the idea.
- [Ewan] Oh, so they're going to love it.
- [chuckles]
It's going to stay
for the rest of your life,
but don't think too much about it.
[both chuckling]
- [Charley] I love that.
- You looked like this the whole time.
- Oh, did I? [chuckles]
- [chuckling] No, I'm joking.
I'm not surprised.
[tattoo machines buzzing]
- [Ewan] That'd be great.
- [Charley] That's beautiful.
- That's it, old chum.
- [Ewan] That looks great.
I'd kinda like the spark
to sit slightly in the
- Oh. What is that?
- in the scar. I cut
My forearm was snapped backwards,
- and the bones came out.
- Whoa.
It's one of many.
If he starts to show you,
- we'll be here for a long time. Yeah.
- Okay. [chuckles]
- Perfect. So who's going first?
- I'll go first.
[machine buzzing]
Getting closer to my turn now.
[singsongy] Whoo-hoo.
Wow, look at that.
[Ewan] You nailed it.
- Thank you very much.
- Yeah.
[Ewan] You've made it fit
really beautifully. Thank you.
- That's it, guys, isn't it?
- [Charley] That's great.
[Ewan] 'Cause it's just slightly
its own thing and it's still part of the
It's great.
- [Piotr] Thank you.
- I love it.
It looks good. Really sharp.
- Trust the process. I will.
- Trust the process.
It's only on there
for the rest of your life, so
[indistinct]
- Don't overthink it.
- Don't think about it.
- [Charley] Good.
- [Ewan] All right, Charley.
[Piotr] Trust me.
- [Ewan] Good, Charley? Are you good?
- Yeah.
There's no no going back now.
- That's it.
- No, that's it.
I've always imagined having
my wife and my children on my arm.
It doesn't hurt that much.
- Not so bad.
- [Ewan] No.
It's all right, isn't it?
Now it hurts more. [chuckles]
Just it's just kicking in.
[groans] Wow.
I'm happy. I'm really happy with it.
Wow. Holy moly. Look at that.
Geez.
- That's incredible. Yeah.
- Like it?
By this time next year, Charley's gonna be
covered in tattoos, I think.
- [crew laughs]
- You know?
Wowee, that's outrageous.
Wow, thank you.
I think this trip, for me,
has been a real eye-opener.
I just suddenly thought, "You know what?
This is probably the time to do it."
- Thank you, brother. Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
We'll keep in touch and see you again.
- We'll keep in touch. Thanks.
- Yeah, of course. Thanks so much.
I'd definitely come back here
with Olly and the girls, actually.
- What about me? What about me?
- What, oh [chuckles]
We're gonna come over
- then come back together.
- Yeah, that's right.
- That's
- And we're gonna do and if you just
- if you twist this tattoo here
- Around.
If you just twist it round,
it says "Ewan."
- On the back.
- On the back.
- It says "Ewan."
- Well, nice of you to do that.
Wow, look at this.
- Holy moly.
- Wow.
- Those statues are stunning.
- God, it's spectacular, isn't it?
[Charley] Beautiful.
Just beautiful.
Goodness me,
I've never seen those instruments before.
What are those?
[singing Ukrainian folk song]
Interesting that they're playing
the chords on the
- That's just amazing.
- on the ones on the left.
But then, they're not
- [Ewan] Yeah. What does that do?
- They're not playing them.
- I don't know what that does.
- [Ewan] I don't know either.
- Oh, beautiful.
- Wow.
Very neat.
- They are Ukrainian instruments.
- [both] Ukrainian?
- We are from Ukraine.
- [both] Are you from Ukraine?
- [musician] Yes.
- Oh, nice to see you.
Yeah, lovely.
- [Charley] It's beautiful music.
- Thank you.
We're so sorry about
what's happening in Ukraine. I'm so sorry.
[in Ukrainian] We are praying.
- [Charley] Yeah, exactly.
- [Ewan] Yeah. Oh, beautiful.
We'll let you play. It's beautiful.
Nice to meet you.
It's an amazing town, Kraków.
It's really a nice walking around town.
There's a really nice vibe everywhere.
[Charley] You're gonna love
this next place I found.
It's just here on the right.
I just love the idea of a pinball museum.
- Oh, here? Yeah.
- Here. Yeah.
Our generation
it was a bigger thing, really,
- for us, wasn't it?
- Right.
- It was in a pub or a Yeah.
- Yeah.
- But now
- And you sat and you played it.
- Here we are.
- Pinball.
- Well, you stood and played it.
- You stood and played it.
[Ewan] Maybe you sit because of your legs.
You probably do sit down to play pinball.
[laughs] Wow.
[Ewan laughs]
That was below the belt. Literally.
- Let's have a look.
- Oh, my God. This is huge.
[Ewan] I love it.
Oh, it's been a while since I've played.
- [machines beeping]
- [imitates beeps]
Ooh!
- [Charley grunts]
- [Ewan groans]
Oh, yeah. Oh,
you gotta play this one, Charley.
[Charley groans] Lost that one.
I'm not very good at this.
That was good. I actually forgot
how much I liked pinball machines.
It's fun, isn't it? Oh, oh, oh!
- That's me.
- [Charley] Oh, yeah, look.
[Charley] There's Ewan.
You're here you go. Ready?
[chuckles] Oh, you gotta
have a go on it, Ewan.
You're immortalized, Ewan,
in a in a pinball game.
Does it feel weird?
It just brings back my
It's funny 'cause it brings back my
love of St like, when I was a kid.
The music and
You know, listening
to R2-D2 and 3PO and whatever.
I loved It was such an important part
of my childhood.
- Okay. You have a go, Charley.
- [Charley chuckles]
Remember when they rereleased the movie,
- the original?
- Yeah.
- And, um We went to see it.
- Oh, yeah, we went to see it.
And you already knew
that you were gonna, um
- Oh, that's right.
- that you were gonna be in it.
- But you couldn't tell anyone.
- That's right.
- There we go.
- See that music?
- [Star Wars theme playing]
- That makes me feel like I'm 7 again.
[Charley laughs]
I could've stayed in there,
I think, all day.
It brought out the child in me, for sure.
Now we're gonna
get on the road and head south.
Well, I shall always remember Kraków
for my little tattoo.
Yeah, that's right.
It's gonna be a forever reminder.
[Charley] Yeah.
[Ewan] The mountains
on the right are amazing.
[Charley] Rumbly clouds ahead of us.
[Ewan] We're heading to Witów
in southern Poland.
Known as the Polish highlands
in the foothills of the Tatra Mountains.
- This is sheep country.
- [sheep bleating]
Tonight, we're being hosted
by a family of musicians
who are going to treat us
to some local folk tunes.
Oh, this is the place.
- [hosts] Hello, hi.
- [Ewan] Hi. Wow, you look amazing.
- Thanks.
- What is this?
- A national costume? Or regional
- Regional.
- Regional? Well, it's so beautiful.
- Yeah.
Look at those colors, yeah.
Is it made of felt? Can I touch your leg?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- Oh, wow, it's really warm.
- Wool.
- It's wool.
- Because we're up high now.
Okay, so would you like to come inside?
- [Ewan] Yes.
- [Charley] It's a beautiful house, gosh.
Come in.
- [Ewan] Wow.
- [Charley] Wow, what a place.
I'm in slight panic mode.
One of the things that makes me panic
is when people dress up.
- I can't I'm feeling
- [Ewan] You haven't done that.
- You used to always do that.
- Do that, yeah.
- [inhales sharply]
- Charley used to always
When he was talking,
he would always touch his own breasts.
- But he doesn't do it anymore.
- [sighs]
- Took a course?
- I did a course, yeah.
- To stop it?
- I did a course to stop it.
- Stop breasting. And [chuckles]
- [chuckles]
- [Charley] Okay, is it gonna be okay?
- [Ewan] Don't panic.
- We are here with you.
- [Charley exhales deeply]
[Ewan] You don't have to panic.
- Do we keep going down, down?
- I can't remember.
- Um
- [horn blowing]
[Ewan] Whoo-hoo! Oh, sorry.
Shepherds try to communicate
throughout the mountains.
- Can I have a go? Can I try?
- [hosts laugh]
- Yeah.
- Okay.
Okay.
[playing "Taps"]
[blows harmony]
[Charley laughs]
[chuckles]
[hosts cheering]
- [musician] Wow.
- [all chuckling]
Wow, wow.
- That was good.
- That was amazing!
- [Charley] That was amazing.
- That was great.
That is fun. Wow.
[gasps] Okay, there is a bagpipe.
Is it a goat or a sheep?
- It's a goat.
- Goat. Of course it's a goat.
- It was a goat.
- [all laugh]
- No, it still is.
- [child] Under the fur.
Like, you know,
the goat's soul is still in here.
It's family tradition
that we all play together.
Is that how you met?
Did you meet through playing music?
- Did you?
- Yeah.
- Yes. Yeah, through, like, a folk group.
- Oh. That's romantic.
- [blowing bagpipes]
- [Ewan] I'd love to hear them.
- [singing in Polish]
- [Charley] Oh.
[all harmonizing]
- The harmonies are, like, really unique.
- Yeah.
[Ewan] Just very animal-shaped, still,
- aren't they?
- [Charley chuckles] The leg.
- [chuckles]
- [Ewan] Wow.
- Wow. Wow.
- Wow, that's amazing.
[Charley] That is incredible.
I've never heard anything like that.
[Ewan] I didn't expect that at all.
That was lovely.
It's my last cup of Polish coffee
in Poland.
Gonna head to Slovakia today,
and rediscover a place that we were
20 years ago on Long Way Round.
We crossed into Slovakia
from the Czech Republic.
We went from west to east.
That's what I wanted to do on that trip.
[yawns]
[grunts] And we're gonna go back
to this castle that we visited then.
[bike engines start]
[Charley] Okay, here we go.
Okay.
[Ewan] Okey dokey, here we go.
[horn honks]
Just wake everybody up
on a Monday morning.
[both chuckle]
I am just now enjoying
this beautiful sunny morning.
Um, so Slovakia border in,
like, 15 kilometers.
Last time we were here on our first
Long Way adventure two decades ago,
we rode into Slovakia heading
east from Czechia.
But today, we're riding south from Poland,
and we'll intercept our old route
at Bojnice Castle.
[Ewan] I'm sure it's gonna be
an emotional moment.
[Charley] A day of memories today, really.
Really excited to meet Russ and David.
We're trying to catch the boys up
because we're trying
to recreate this moment
of Long Way Round in 2004.
The 20-year-younger selves of ours
hammered along that road,
full of vim and vigor.
This is a crazy, crazy memory for me.
We've all stayed close friends,
so it means something.
So it's gonna be a fun little moment.
[Ewan] Oh, look. There's Dave and Russ.
- Oh, yeah. Wow!
- [Charley] Yeah, there it is.
[Ewan] Can you believe we're back
here together after all these years?
[Ewan] It's an incredibly important part
of my life. I wouldn't have known,
when we did Long Way Round,
how much of a part of my life it would be.
[Russ] I mean,
it completely changed my life,
so I have a lot to thank Ewan for. A lot.
- You remember that?
- Yeah. [chuckles]
Our friendships are unique
because of what we've been through.
I don't know that anyone knows me
as well as these guys do.
Twenty years.
[Charley] Do you remember
which way you went in?
[Ewan] We must have walked up here.
- [Charley] Yeah. We walked up here.
- [Ewan] Okay, Charley.
Come on. Let's see if
we can remember this place.
- I don't think any of this Oh, oh, oh!
- [sighs]
Okay, the well's in here.
Where were the little stairs?
- Yeah.
- [gasps] Here they are.
- Yes.
- I remember we walked up here
[Ewan] And they were sort of,
like, frustratingly
- [Charley] Small.
- Yes, look.
[Charley] Must have been quite lazy,
so he had had these small steps made.
[Ewan] He's very tired of it.
So he didn't spill his wine.
[panting]
We must have come up here. Goddamn.
- [Charley gasps] There it is.
- Okay.
- Let's do it again. Let's do it again.
- Yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
Twenty years ago
we looked down this hole, Charley,
and here we are again.
None the wiser. [chuckles]
Does this come out?
Oh, my God. [chuckles]
This is gonna be the cruel cut back
and forth between us 20 years ago and now.
Oh, I dropped it.
It's very good luck, that.
Suck in a bit.
[indistinct mumbling]
hardly changed at all.
[both chuckle]
[Charley] Well, well, well.
[both] Three holes in the ground.
- I'm so glad that we're still
- Twenty years.
knocking around
through the world on bikes. [laughs]
- See you in another 20 years.
- [Charley] Yeah, hopefully.
[both laughing]
What'll that be? Fifty 77, I'll be.
- Yeah. 73.
- You'll be 73.
- That's all right. We could do it.
- That's all right. Yeah.
[Ewan] Lovely.
We really are on the last leg now.
[Charley] It is such
a beautiful part of the world.
- Oh!
- [person] Those are testicles.
[Ewan] Whoo! Charley.
[Charley] I thought I'd just drop in.
This is it. This is the last day.
[Charley] We've done a huge amount.
And I've loved every minute of it.
[announcer] Welcome to England.
That was a hell of a long way around
to get to your house, Charley.
- That's for sure.
- [Charley laughs]