A keen motorcyclist since his youth, McGregor undertook a marathon motorcycle trip with his friend Charley Boorman and cameraman Claudio Von Planta in 2004. From mid-April to the end of July, they travelled from London to New York via central Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia and Canada on BMW R1150GS Aventure motorcycles, for a cumulative distance of 18,887 miles (30,395 km). The trip formed the basis of a TV series and a best-selling book, both called Long Way Round. En route the Long Way Round team took time out to see some of UNICEF's work in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.


McGregor's second long-distance motorbike trip will be from John O'Groats in northern Scotland to Cape Town, South Africa in 2007 and hopes to visit UNICEF projects along the way. He became a UN Ambassador in 2004 and has visited various UNICEF projects, including schemes helping children and families with AIDS in Africa.


Months before he sets off on his second trip, hollywood adventurer Ewan McGregor is already planning his third and final televised motorcycle trip documentary. As the Scottish actor and pal Charley Boorman plan to hit the road again for "Long Way Down," they hope to conclude their travels in the Americas with "Long Way Up" - a bike journey that will take McGregor and Boorman from the southern-most tip of South America up into the United States.


And these aren't the only adventures McGregor is planning - he's also hoping to make the most of his new love for paragliding by jumping off the Munro Mountains in Scotland. He explains, "There are lots of people who make it their life's work to climb them all (284 mountains) - you'd just have to find a really good rucksack for the paraglider."