Ride Australia with Charley Boorman 2024

Our annual Australia adventure rides are back on – You can get all the nitty gritty from our partners in Oz, Compass Expeditions – check out the ride details in the link further down the page. Fancy joining Charley Boorman and his bonkers mate Billy Biketruck in Australia? You can join them in Melbourne and have an incredible once-in-a-lifetime experience riding around wonderful Tasmania and then wind your way to Sydney through the snowy mountains. Charley and Billy are at home in Australia, in fact, this is probably the 11th year of touring that amazing country. With their partners, Compass Expeditions, the routes, hotels, and activities are all guaranteed to put a smile on your face and leave you with some incredible memories. The tour is all on tar – no off-road – so suitable for practically anyone who can throw their leg over a motorcycle.

https://www.compassexpeditions.com/tours/tasmania-and-the-high-country-with-charley-boorman/

“Yes – Australia is open again – and so are we! We are optimistic and hope to see 2024/5 as a bumper year for international travel and adventures – that’s both for our Aussie tours and our African ones! So follow the link and check out the details – then book your place before they’ve all gone!

This is a trip of a lifetime where some of the people you’ll meet will become friends for life! Seriously!”
Charley & Billy xx

2024 Ride Africa, show your interest now!

*Note: We’ve had challenges getting this tour of a lifetime back up and running since Covid – with border issues and accomodation. But we’re working on it and are as keen as mustard to get dates confirmed. We may even do an abridged tour prior to the big one – just to get back into the continent and reconnect with our routes and network. Billy will be heading out to Africa later in 2024 to recce the routes. We’ll keep you in the loop if you send us your email or sign up for newsletter.

Also, for a long time we’ve been considering adding 4×4’s to the group – so if you don’t ride – you can STILL JOIN THE ADVENTURE! Watch this space. Thanks xx

Have your own Long Way Down with me and my good mate Billy Biketruck next Sept/Oct and have the ride of a lifetime from Cape Town to Victoria Falls via Namibia and Botswana – finishing at the awesome Victoria Falls hotel. Or onward through Zimbabwe, Botswana and into South Africa before exploring the Kingdom in the Mountains, Lesotho.  Ride down the infamous Sani Pass, and the beautiful Garden Route back to Cape Town – or do the whole lot – Cape Town to Cape Town. This is our regular double trip and it’s getting better and better! Mica, from the USA was one of about 20 who joined our Cape Town to Victoria Falls trip a while back and with nice helmet cam and digital camera, he’s crafted some pretty cool segments and also ran a trip blog.You can check out the video here http://youtu.be/p4GTmh91tRE and the blog account here http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=725446.

Riding Africa with Charley Boorman

Another couple of riders created youtube bits – here are a few:

John and Val – Photo Montage http://youtu.be/ITJvz8dKh1w

Peter and Mick – clips http://youtu.be/dlcbOdrOoBM and more http://youtu.be/aFBzP2n-Fqc

Hope you like them guys. Thanks for doing them – I think we’ll all remember those trips for a long long time! The last trip was an incredible feast of riding, socialising and discovering – a great bunch of people and a fantastic adventure yet again. Friends made for life.

We enjoyed the life on the road and stayed in some awesome lodges – sometimes way out in the desert or on the banks of the Zambezi river and some right in the swamps – surrounded by crocodile, hippo and lion. Staying in some lovely lodges and some simple ones too – gives you a real taste of Africa.

The upward trip starts in Sept and will cover around 5,000 kilometres and 4 countries,  in about 18 days through Africa’s most amazing countryside. Across open plains, through dense bush-land, forest and barren desert – this is a truly amazing journey, the first leg ending in Victoria Falls – on the Zimbabwe side.

The second leg starts just a few days after and heads South through Zimbabwe, sneaking into Botswana through a tiny little bush border and then back into South Africa’s thriving city, Joburg.  This year we found ourselves in a herd of elephants as we crossed the border – we were glad to have Billy with us, who’s a qualified field guide! What an experience. Leaving Johannesburg we cross an easy border into Lesotho – known as the ‘Kingdom in the Mountains‘ before enjoying the famous Garden Route of South Africa back into Cape Town. The trip uses BMW bikes primarily – a combination of 1200’s800’s. Knobbly tyres and Garmin Zumo GPS’s and we’re off.  We will also have room for partners or family who would rather be in one of the support vehicles – or you can just rent one of our 4×4’s and not even ride a bike at all. This means that sometimes family can get ahead of the riders and laze at the pool or explore till the riders get in.

If you want to come – but worry that it’s too hard – it’s certainly not an enduro – it’s sometimes challenging and borders can be frustrating, but well within the reach of most competent riders. We always recommend that riders should have completed an off road riding course in your home country, just to set you up and give you some confidence for the trip. Billy Biketruck, based in Ireland also offers low ratio or one on one training prior to the trip – contact him at billy@charleyboorman.com In the UK and Ireland. Remember, it’s an Adventure Ride – it’s not a race, not an enduro – it’s about culture, travel, sights, fun and riding, all wrapped into one – it’s about feeling the sense of Africa – the good bits and the challenging bits! Once you’ve been to Africa – you’ll come back!

We’ve had a bit of a break with Covid and missed three years of Africa. The good news is that Charley and Billy will continue on with their Australian and African tours for 2023/4/5 and onwards. Our new booking site has had numerous delays – again, thanks to Covid but in the coming weeks we hope to have it live – so please bear with us and watch this space. If you’d like to express an interest please email billy@charleyboorman.com – we are optimistic and hope to see 2024/5 as a bumper year for international travel and adventures!

So what are you waiting for – Africa in 2024/5, get your interest on the record now by emailing billy@charleyboorman.com and we’ll be updating you shortly with a new website showing the routes and letting you pay your booking deposit.

Charley xx

Quad Lock – My go to accessory…

I’ve been using Quad Lock for years – yes, before everyone started using them! I used a lot of them too – as me and Billy (Biketruck) would have them on our bikes in Africa, Australia and the UK.  Quad Lock is very cool Australian based startup that revolutionised the smartphone mounting market in 2012 with the introduction of Quad Lock®, a smartphone mounting system. I have used Quad Lock for years both as an everyday mount for my iPhone as well as on all of my expeditions and adventures. The Quad Lock® range now includes mounts for Motorcycling, Cycling, Driving, Running, Photography and a range of Lifestyle options and it is the very best smartphone mount for an active lifestyle. They are super tough and I have properly put them to the test. For example each time I crashed my bike my body may have been a bit smashed up but my phone survived perfectly as did the mount! I highly recommend them 🙂

Find out how Quad Lock can fit into your routine – whether you’re riding, driving, running or just in the office!

www.quadlockcase.net

Charley x

Charley Boorman – Dublin – this Saturday

With Jeremy McWilliamsPhillip McCallen and David Knight MBE  – both adventure enthusiasts and motorcycle fans will have a fantastic night out. Billy Ward, a man no stranger to Adventure riding, will be your host and compere – great friends with Charley and many of the guests. All to celebrate and support the amazing Dublin rider Oran O’Kelly who is taking Ireland back to Dakar in just a few months time.

Tickets are going fast – so get yours now at The Helix Theatre website!
https://thehelix.ie/what-s-on/all-events/an-evening-with-charley-boorman/


Massive thanks to some of our key sponsors for the evening – including Megabikes Dublin, one of Ireland’s leading motorcycle dealers and Pacific Trading Aquaculture Ltd an international distributor of high-quality hatchery nutritional products for marine fry production and growth.

Dakar Rally Show – Dublin 16th Sept

A young Irish enduro rider has entered the Dakar Rally for January 2024. Charley knows full well how challenging it is – not only racing the Dakar – but even just getting to the start line. Oran O’Kelly, a Dublin lad, has been in training for many years and has just had his entry confirmed, so he’s full steam ahead to be the first Irish Dakar Motorcycle competitor for over ten years. Charley is heading up a fantastic evening of celebration in Dublin on the 16th of September at The Helix Theatre. The night will be an amazing gathering of celebrity motorcycle legends as well as Ireland’s own Dakar veterans.

With Jeremy McWilliams, Phillip McCallen and David Knight MBE – all in attendance – both adventure enthusiasts and motorcycle fans will have a fantastic night out. Billy Ward, a man no stranger to Adventure riding, will be your host and compere – great friends with Charley and many of the guests. Bikes, including Dakar Rally machines, will be on display.

Tickets are going fast – so get yours now at The Helix Theatre website!

https://thehelix.ie/what-s-on/all-events/an-evening-with-charley-boorman/

Massive thanks to some of our key sponsors for the evening – including Megabikes Dublin, one of Ireland’s leading motorcycle dealers and Pacific Trading Aquaculture Ltd an international distributor of high-quality hatchery nutritional products for marine fry production and growth.

Long Way Up – 18th Sept 2020 – Apple TV

Guys – so excited now to say that at long last, Ewan and I managed to get the Long Way Up off the ground and done and dusted. It was fantastic to have the whole team back together and amazing to be doing something so radically different. Riding with mates is partly why we ride and so being back in the saddle riding alongside Ewan heading north through South America was really a dream realised. So the 18th September is the date and it’s all good to go on Apple TV. There are free deals and after that it’s pretty reasonably priced I hear. Hope you like it!

Charley x

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Going with the Green Team at myenergi…

As many of you will now know, my most recent expedition with Ewan saw us travel the Long Way Up covering 13,000 miles over 102 days through 16 border crossings and 13 countries, from Ushuaia at the tip of South America to Los Angeles. Ever since the Long Way Down it has been a dream of ours to journey through these epic terrains but this time it was made even more challenging by the fact we wanted the expedition to explore the possibilities of the newly emerging electric motorcycle genre and the longer term aim of more sustainable travel. We chose to use cutting edge technology riding on prototype electric Harley Davidson LiveWire’s supported by electric Rivian 4×4’s.

This experience of riding purely on electricity has been pretty transformative for me and so I have decided to team up with UK based green energy business myenergi who innovate and manufacture revolutionary green energy products from Great Britain. I am going on a Green Journey with them to gradually transfer my own home and vehicles to using cleaner and greener energy. Follow my journey over the next few months on my Instagram!

“The green team at myenergi are so excited to be partnering with Charley to help fuel’ his curiosity for amore sustainable future. After his epic electric adventure we feel we’re the perfect fit to help him on his personal journey to an electric eco lifestyle.” Jordan Brompton, Sales Director myenergi

MyEnergimyenergi are a very cool, young and UK based green energy business who innovate and manufacture revolutionary green energy products from Great Britain. I am going on a Green Journey with them to gradually transfer my own home and vehicles to using cleaner and greener energy. Follow me on my journey to an electric eco lifestyle.

 

My new Book “Long Way Back” MotorcycleLive

Head over to The Adventure Bike Shop stand in Hall 2 at #MotorcycleLive for signed copies of my new book ‘Long Way Back’. Overland Magazine @Overland_Mag described it as “an easy to read exposé of the man. It’s honest and a terrific personal insight.” Thanks for a nice review – the book was certainly from the heart. Sitting either in a hospital bed or wheel chair for months and months seriously focuses the mind and it seemed a pretty good way to use the recovery time. My reflections on dyslexia, the tragic loss of my sister and of course the dreaded crash – were heartfelt and difficult to get down into words – I hope I managed it and I hope you enjoy reading it. Charley x

 

Charley Boorman “LIVE” in Dublin

We’ve been meaning to do this for years – and at last we managed to put some time in and pull it together for 2017 – August 28th at the Casino in Cape Town. This is Charley’s touring show with of an added update regards his accident last year – how it happened and how the recovery is going. Charley will be leading a pack of Adventure Motorcyclists across southern Africa – but the day before they go, we have the show – this should create a nice send off. This show has toured the UK, Australia and even South America so we know the South African audience will love it too.

The first half is about Charley’s background, his hollywood days and leads into the second half with his befriending of Ewan McGregor and the idea of the Long Way Round – where did that come from? With big video screen, lots of great stories and the chance to have a beer with Charley after the show – get an autograph, get a photo and maybe even buy his latest book – The Long Way Back!  Tickets are on sale at Quicket – see link here:

https://www.quicket.co.za/events/27519-charley-boorman-live-in-cape-town/#/

Big Giveaway at the MCN London Motorcycle Show

Guys, come and say hello at the Triumph Stand – The MCN London Motorcycle Show this weekend! Charley will be signing, photo bombing and giving stuff away both on the Friday and Saturday. Friday 17 th Feb 10.30am and again in the afternoon at 2.00pm. Saturday 18 th Feb 11.45am and again in the afternoon at 3.00pm. We may also be doing some LIVE FACEBOOK CHAT depending on Internet connections etc, so watch this space and keep an eye on Facebook and Twitter for more information. As usual, the show will be full of amazing bikes and some great bike action with John McGuiness and pals! See you there!

Also, follow @UKTriumph and @Charleyboorman to keep abreast of what’s going on…