Original subtitles

Got the sun on my face.

I'm sleeping rough off the road.

I'll tell you all about it.

Across 20 years and three incredible adventures, we've travelled to some of

farthest slung corners of the world.

Where does that on the road, Charlie? Where does that on the way, man?

Yet we've never properly explored the countries on our own doorstep.

OK, here we go. Into Europe. Let's do it.

So we're spending the summer riding a spectacular loop through 17 of our

neighbours.

Starting at my house in Scotland, we'll cross over to the continent, travel up

through the Nordic...

and into the Arctic Circle, down to the Baltic before winding our way through

the Alps and across France, returning home about two months later.

And we're going to throw caution to the wind by doing the journey on

temperamental 50 -year -old bikes that have been given a new lease of life.

My bike's making funny noise.

Riding alongside them on the third motorcycle are cameraman Claudio and

the guys will also be taking personal diary cameras.

Russ and I will be following behind with a small crew and two electric trucks,

only meeting up with the guys when necessary.

So, this summer, Europe is our playground.

And we're going to follow our noses and see what we find on the open road.

Dragging my feet in the sand, looking out at the sea.

Don't wait.

You have really, really blown my mind.

We're on the way to Sweden.

I looked at the map last night. I thought we were so much further south,

was like, oh, God, we're still so far up there, man.

Having been as far north as this trip will take us, Our plan for this leg is

start heading south into Sweden and then into Finland as we look to get lost in

the forests and lakes of Lapland.

Everything changes when you cross a border.

That's what's so nice.

Oh yeah, look at that. Straight road down into

some beautiful lake.

Very nice.

Look at this.

Bugs. Jesus.

Jesus.

You could see them.

Clouds of them, but that's funny. Like in the space of an hour. Well, it's

because there's so many trees and so much water here, I guess.

I got some sausages, some dinner.

Yeah, some jerky.

I'm not the kid.

No?

I've changed.

I used to be a jerky boy for a long time.

Okay.

Oh,

there's something on the road there.

Unbelievable. He's got a tiny windscreen.

I know.

It's got like a little, just a little car, isn't it?

Let's see what he's up to. Can he come in?

Yes!

Hello! Wow! What are you doing in there?

What does it feel like in there? Exhausting.

Downhill and the flat is great, but... Yeah.

Up the hills.

Are you on a tour or are you just out for the day?

No, it's kind of a challenge. How many miles or kilometres?

2 ,100.

Oh. 2 ,100 kilometres?

In how long? How long?

18.

What's your name?

Nicholas. Nicholas.

I'm Ewan and Charlie. We do long, long motorcycle rides. OK. But it's very easy

for us compared to what you're doing. Well, well, I mean... It's very hard for

us too. It's very hard for us as well. I mean, the elements.

Good luck, mate. Yeah, good luck. So nice to meet you. Thank you so much.

Good luck. Take care.

Oh, that's fantastic.

Okay, guys, should we go?

That's a good on -the -road song, wasn't it? Yeah, it's a good travel song.

Oh, there's a deer.

It's a big old reindeer, that is.

Holy moly.

There's a little road here on the left.

Don't know where that goes.

It comes straight to our campsite. That's right, then.

Oh, look, this could be good.

Can we camp here? But I guess we can, right?

Yeah.

All right.

Going all around my Johnson.

Taking your life in your hands there.

But look where we are. We're now...

A wood next to a marsh. I mean, we're asking for it, really.

Every paradise.

Oh, no, there's the rain.

Oh, balls.

Speedy, speedy.

Very,

very. Very annoying.

Shit, it's getting so wet, my tent, oh!

Shit, I'm here.

I just came over to you.

Who's I came over to camp tonight?

Oh, boy.

Yeah, what a baptism of, you know, the start of the rest of the trip.

You've got my 10 -year -old just looking at me, trying to get inside.

They want my blood.

All right, Charlie.

What a night. Bloody hell. Maybe I'll be dry in the morning. I hope so.

Let's skip cooking the sausage tonight.

Cheers. Night, Charlie.

Smuggling around out there, Charlie?

Morning, E1.

Morning, Charlie. How are you? How the devil are you, old bean? Pretty good,

man.

Sorry. I got my trousers down.

Oh, my God.

Well, at least it's not raining.

My God, they're everywhere.

In Siberia? No, Far East and Russia.

I got badly bitten on my... Don't I? Yeah.

I had a really nice camp here last night. There's lots of mosquitoes here.

And my bottom has been bitten rather badly yesterday.

Wow.

There's one, two, three, four, five. There's five. At least five.

And that was just in one squat. One sitting.

And also my willy is bitten in three places.

He really helped himself that one, didn't he? Little greedy bastard.

There's a thing in Britain called a twiglet, which is like a snag.

It's bent, knobbled.

That's what my penis looked like. It was terrible.

It was terrible.

Look at where we are.

Wow, that's just beautiful, isn't it?

We've got a lot of miles to cover today.

as we continue heading south. And with so much of Sweden covered by forest,

we're all set for a beautiful journey.

Oh, hang on.

I can hear you in spite.

I told you to pick this noise.

Oh, that's so annoying for Ewan, isn't it? To have that noise again.

I don't know how to fix it. I don't know myself how to make it better, which

really pisses me off, annoys me.

There we go.

Right. Come on, then.

Get out of here.

To survive on a trip like this, you become so attached to your motorcycle

you become so reliant on it.

When your bike is not running right, it's a horrible, horrible feeling.

Oh, gravel.

I think gravel, guys. Oh.

Watch yourself.

The road less graveled.

You're right there, you one.

It's not running great.

It's just an old bike. You know, it's 1974.

It's got to be fixable.

It's just a machine.

I just want to fix my bike. That's what I want to do.

Should we stop here?

God, that's quite oily still.

So, let's see.

Oh, yeah, look, that's coming through.

Timo? All right, so what is your problem?

I just took the covers off both the float bowls.

I put some fuse wire up all the three jets. I sprayed them, all three jets,

carb cleaner.

Okay, so now I want you to push the plug into the plug wire.

Yeah. I want you to lay the plug wire on the valve cover.

Like this?

Yeah, that should do it. Okay, watch. Ready?

it's sparking, right? It's just sparking initially and then it doesn't spark.

Okay. Check the plug wires going into the distributor cap.

Make sure those wires are pushed all the way in.

Oh, yeah. That went in.

Okay, that... Well, there's your problem.

Was that it?

Make sure they're all in.

Yeah, that just jumped in.

Is it normal to want to cry at the moment like this? Is that sort of a

that happens?

Oh, I feel like a million dollars. Thanks, Mo.

Ah, so smooth and nice.

Oh, it's so nice.

It sounds amazing.

Well, I tell you, it sounds a lot better than it did.

You know, I mean, I didn't want to tell you before, but wow.

Look at those cars.

I wonder where they're going. Should we follow them?

It's a drive script.

I wasn't expecting this.

I think the script must be there where the...

It's so funny. There's so much effort. Money and effort. For how long does it

take? 30 seconds? 25 seconds? Yeah.

Amazing.

Just a quarter mile.

No corners.

Dead straight.

What is that? Look at that. The size of the engine. There's no wonder that it's

so big.

It's huge.

Well, can you tell us how it all works?

They tell me to roll to the pre -stage.

I have my RPM up.

and roll a little bit more. I push the start button and I release the button

and it goes away.

Wow,

that's awesome.

Oh, my God, are there kids racing?

Hello, how old is your daughter?

Oh, wow.

Wait, she was doing this when she was six?

How many children do you have, then? You have three children, and all of them

are... Yes, that's her big brother, 16, and the one on the bike, 14.

Oh, your heart must be... I mean, she's going to be the coolest girl in school.

Oh my God, look, Dave and Russ are going to race.

Are you ready to race, mate? Yeah, let's do this. Come on.

This is me promising that whatever happens at the race is my fault.

I've got to be a humble loser.

Really, it's won or lost.

Reaction. At the reaction time, it's won or lost. That's where Dave did good.

It's reaction time.

I'm surprised.

Like a boss.

I love it. I really enjoyed it.

I mean, what an event to come across in the wilderness.

It's we need to keep handing it the pride.

I'm so glad we chose this route, Charlie.

After

last

night's camping in the rain, we booked some cozy cabins for tonight.

Oh, it's gorgeous.

You could put a little fire on to heat it all up. That's perfect.

Is that a little cooking spot we can use in the forest?

Okay, who's hungry?

Is anyone hungry?

Don't worry, it's all going terribly well.

Make sure you don't burn anything.

Think they're done? Yeah.

Thanks, Charlie, for doing the food.

Pleasure.

Wow.

There's real heat coming off it. It's nice.

It feels like if you walked off for like a minute and a half, you'd get totally,

totally lost.

Oh, yeah. Like you'd never find your way back, you know?

This is where I stayed last night.

It was really nice to get some good sleep.

There he is.

Happy bunny.

In the back there.

Going to pack up our stuff now and head off to the next excitement.

And see where we go.

I'm riding along listening to some Nick Drake.

Oh, I love Nick Drake.

It seems very in keeping with the scenery today that rolled through the

of Sweden.

Oh, there's a

deer here.

Oh, that's a big one. Look at that.

Beautiful. Today we've been invited to meet Tony, a traditional craftsman and a

local legend who has a special connection to these magnificent

forest in which they live.

Just down in one of those houses, I think.

Down here on the left.

Think this is it?

Yeah. Looks like it.

Hello, lovely dog.

Hello. Afternoon, Tony.

Tony, nice to meet you. How are you?

You want to say hello to the dog? I wanted to say hello. I didn't know

he was... That dog is so kind. She will only kiss you.

It's like a snow dog.

But she's not barking for the moose. She is always kind.

Everybody loves her.

Sweetheart.

Can we go in?

Yeah, you can show us what you do. First we go in and eat. You're having to

drink coffee or tea. Oh, we'd love that.

Cheers.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

You eat dried reindeer? Yeah. Why?

I've eaten.

I've eaten. I've been eating quite a lot, actually.

I've had some, yeah.

Yeah, I like it.

Have you seen reindeer? Yes. You've seen lots of reindeer, yeah? Yes. On the

road? Yes, yes. It's very dangerous.

That's life here. Okay.

So you ran a business?

I started in the 70s, about 50 years ago. I was a young boy.

Then I started to buy and sell reindeer skin, reindeer horn.

Do you hunt the reindeer yourself?

You cannot hunt reindeer.

They have owner.

Every reindeer have an owner.

If people own them and you can't hunt them, how do you end up with the skin

the meat? Because the owner slaughter them, sell the meat.

And sell the skin.

Dry the skin and sell it. And what do you like to do with the hides?

You take them in the water, take the hair away after five, six weeks, and

you make leather. And then you can make leather for beautiful things.

When you can make leather for this kind, for a knife, or you can

make white leather so you can make this amazing, beautiful small bag.

That is beautiful.

Very beautiful.

You can make the ornaments by yourself today. Oh, we can?

Yeah. Oh, great. I'd love to.

Come on, we're going in here.

I can see you.

Don't move too much. I can see you've had a bit of a tidy up.

One sit here and one sit there. Okay, all right.

And you want to make a bottle opener?

No, no, no. I'd like a cheese knife.

Like this.

What's that say? Cheese? Yeah, that's great.

That's great.

I'm making a cheese knife today.

And you want to have... Like a... Not a knife or a knife.

A knife knife.

A really knife.

A really knife.

Oh, look, he's cutting a horn.

That's not a knife.

This is a knife.

Yeah. We cut this one. Okay. And then you put the... Drill it and put the glue

and then... Okay.

Yes.

That's the technical term. We could do it. Yeah.

So go on, fill your heart up with gladness. Look at the concentration on

Charlie's face.

Not a moment too soon.

Not a moment too soon.

Should be rushing. Yes.

Now we're talking. Look.

That's about enough, isn't it, do you think? Good.

Choose a chart to ignore.

Charlie, that's beautiful.

Yes. Very good.

I will follow the speed.

Won't give it to him quite yet, but we can show it to him.

That's my wife, Olivia.

That's Dune, my daughter, and Kinvara.

It's very special. Well, thank you.

What do we owe you for this?

No. I never take one krona. I don't need a house for 400 square meters.

I don't need to show the new car.

And I have 1 ,300 hectares because I don't want to cut the tree. I save it

the next generation and next and next. That's important.

Because I have a free life.

That's a very, very rich life.

A little bit mosquito sometimes, but otherwise it's cool.

What kind of person would complain about that?

i just found it very moving tony i just clicked with him as soon as i met him

and that's what this trip is all about connecting with people and learning

the places they live

we've

been told about an amazing eco hotel up ahead where we can get even closer to

tony's beloved forest and sleep among the trees

The kind of pine forest is beautiful, isn't it? Yeah. It smells amazing.

I love it. I love the shimmer when you look through the trees.

Have you ever stayed in a treehouse before?

No. I don't think I've ever slept in one.

Welcome to the treehouse.

Each room here has been uniquely designed by a leading Scandinavian

with extreme care taken to have as little impact on the environment as

Go on, Charlie, you go first.

OK. You replace.

OK, come into my house, you know. Oh, bird nest.

Stunning.

350 bird's house.

So nuts.

Oh, my God, look at that.

It's a glass roof. That's amazing.

Extraordinary. Well, have a lovely time, Charlie.

Right, let's have a look at yours. I'm desperate to have a look at yours. Come

on, then.

Oh, I love it.

So you can see this one.

It's hanging in the trees.

Wow. Yeah. And what we need to do is that we need to open for the trees to

Wow.

It's nice that we are next to each other.

Oh, my gosh.

Look at that. This really feels high up, doesn't it?

It's really amazing.

It's just us and nature.

I mean, it's just stunningly beautiful.

Tony the craftsman. Wow.

Was he a character?

We spent, what, three hours with him. We just had the most fantastic, fun, great

entertainment. And lovely to see how he lived in harmony with his surroundings.

Anyway, time to get them to sleep now in my beautiful tree house.

Good night.

It's nice to be in beautiful places like this.

It's obviously much nicer if you have someone to share it with.

Hello, Charlie.

Good morning, my good man.

How are you in your treehouse? I'm sitting in my chair, thinking about you.

In your swing chair?

Charlie, no.

I'm doing my video diary. That was completely on camera.

Oh, no.

I was just joking.

Well, we'll make them wonder now, right?

I'm sure they'll wonder anyway.

We're now leaving the forests of Sweden and crossing into Finland, known as the

land of a thousand lakes.

Oh, wow, look at this.

Finlandia!

Woo!

That's why travelling overland is so much fun.

It's this train constantly.

Could you tell I'm getting hungry?

Let's stop over here, shall we? Yeah.

Maybe make our own tea, do some fishing.

Yeah.

Ewan's got the old stove going along.

We've got food.

You know, it's perfect.

You got a lighter?

Yeah, I sure do.

Ooh. Did you fall down? Yeah. Did you?

This is dumb.

Okay, are you having the dhal rice? Yeah, I'm gonna go for it.

Hmm.

It's always a good idea to bring some seasoning along.

Are they actually blueberries, though?

Are they ripe enough to eat?

Mm -mm.

Really close.

Reminds me of when I was in Ireland.

In Ireland, they called them frockens.

And we'd always go off looking for frockens. I would go with my friend Kaz,

we'd go on our motorbikes together and just go off into the Wicklow Mountains.

We'd sit there.

Just talking rubbish and eating handfuls of frockens. Or blueberries.

Ah, that was a good one. That's a good cast.

Any nice gonna go Charlie we are can go All

right, but Judy my beauty

Feels a bit bit heavy this one is that we've got a smaller

Oh

I went right over the... Oh, shit.

Oh, my God, the drone.

I just cast over the head of it.

Hold on, I think I've got it caught.

Can you wind it in? I'm winding it in, yeah.

Went right over the top.

I'm cast.

Have you got it? I think I've got it.

Oh, wow. What a cast.

Jesus. Like... There it is. It's still on.

I caught a fish.

I caught a fish.

I caught a fish!

Amazing. Oh,

my God, that is outrageous.

We did it!

We did it! No, no, no, no.

Look,

it's totally mangled in there. What are the chances, Charlie? You had the whole

lake. The whole lake. The whole lake, and it just cast that way.

Right over the top.

God, it went way past.

Oh, God, that is funny. Well, at least we caught something.

Amongst these Finnish lakes we've heard of this crazy sport where they race

snowmobiles, but not how you might imagine.

My brain doesn't understand what it's seeing.

It's like playing the bagpipe, because you've got to have constant breath going

through the pipe so you can't stop.

And this is like the sort of water motorsport version of playing the

Because if you stop on one of these, it's a thing.

It looks like he's in trouble, this guy.

Oh, my

God.

Who was the first person that got to a lake on their snow mobile and went,

I'll try it and ride across.

And so I can make it. Yeah.

Mac and cheese.

I want you to meet Miko.

Oh, wow. Hello,

very nice to see you. This is Bodyguard.

Hey, buddy, how are you?

Nice to meet you.

Hello, Miko, hello.

How are you?

Nice to meet you. We can go to the pit.

Let's go and see.

Yeah, let's do it. Yes, absolutely.

That's amazing.

Oh, good snackage. Yeah, I told you.

Look at the cake and the doughnuts.

Sausages. Oh, sausages.

Nice to meet you. How are you?

Hello. Hi, I'm Charlie. What was your name?

Emmy. Are you in the final today?

Yes. Congratulations.

Thank you. Are you excited?

Yeah. I'm excited to the finals.

Okay. Can I see it?

Yes, of course.

Is it all to do with your body? Yes, it's very wobbly, yes.

And you have to keep the weight off the front, up.

I hope we get to see your final.

We'll be rooting for you. Thank you.

You're Ewan McGregor? Yes.

Oh, shit. That's right, that's right.

How are you? Nice to meet you. What's your name? I'm doing fine. Jarkko.

Jarkko. Charlie Berman.

There's a lot of American muscle here in Finland and in Sweden, right?

There seems to be like a... Yeah, because the distances are long.

Basically, you have two things to do.

Enjoy motorsports some way or drink.

Right. Right.

This is the ladies' final.

Ladies' final.

Have a good race.

Whale, whale in the lake.

Well done, well done, well done. Brilliant, that was a good race.

Are you going to celebrate tonight? Are you going to celebrate? Yes, Oscar!

What a bonkers, niche, niche, niche sport.

Snowmobiles on the water.

A nothing thing.

How do they get it back?

There is a special boat.

So the boat comes and he lifts it out of the water? Yes.

How many are missing?

Three now.

Three now.

So they're at the bottom somewhere. So we are really busy trying to find these.

We will see you in a bit. Thank you.

that you have enjoyed.

We loved it. It was so cool. Thanks, man. Tell nice stories. Yeah, yeah. Tell

all our friends.

Thank you very much.

I'm happy that you are enjoying.

Have a safe journey.

They're so gorgeous. Look at these fox gloves and the wildflowers.

Pretty.

They're almost like thistles.

Can't resist.

It reminds me of home.

Get further south, guys.

We've been told that there's something special hidden in the forest up ahead

that's worth checking out.

Look, there's one over there. There's a load.

There's one there, look.

They're everywhere. And down there, look. Okay. How bizarre.

Try one.

Oh, there's an instrument on top.

Yeah. Side by side.

Woo.

We should probably be naked for this.

It's like a mad professor, look.

You can tell who's musical and who's not.

You're already playing some lovely songs and I'm just bashing away.

Jazz, man.

Jazz!

On my microphone.

Still going.

I have always been fascinated by the north of Europe, but never,

never been.

Yeah. And I have to say, I've just loved it.

You having a good time? Really, really good time. I'm having a great time too.

feel like I've really got to know it.

Wow.

I wasn't expecting that view.

You're the charm.

Yeah.

What a special place.

Kind of God.

It's July.

It's just a passing shower.

Bloody door. What a day.

It's like a little drizzle.

It looks like a million scarecrows. I'm sort of blending in with my hair.

How cool is this?

Your own private little island. This was a dream.

Here we come.

That's amazing.