VANCOUVER Thursday, July 28, 2011 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing.
Adventurer Charley Boorman in May 2009 in Sydney, Australia. BRENDON THORNE/GETTY IMAGES
Taking the Canadian way around Renowned explorer wraps up cross-country journey MATT KIELTYKA
@METRONEWS.CA
Adventures come in all sizes, big and small. Charley Boorman’s adventures happen to be of the gargantuan variety. The English explorer — best known for his epic motorcycle journeys around the world with actor Ewan McGregor — has taken his insatiable lust for travel to the vast expanses of Canada, where he just wrapped up shoot-
ing for a new television show called Extreme Frontiers Canada. The travelogue, airing first on the U.K.’s Channel 5, has Boorman pushing his personal boundaries as he travels across the True North. “The premise of the show is to see the many frontiers in Canada, and (it) lets ... Charley do something out of his comfort zone while we’re at it,” he joked. “It’s been real crazy. It’s fun to push yourself.” Climbing up sheer cliffs, hopping on the back of a raging bull and cycling down a mountainside
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are just a few of the experiences that rattled the nerves of the renowned trekker. “The one that really got me was mountain climbing. Being 3,000 metres up a cliff is something I’ve never done, so it was pretty extreme,” said Boorman. “Here I am crawling along a ledge on my hands and knees — I couldn’t force myself to stand — while my guide walks across as if it were just another Vancouver sidewalk. We’re attached by a rope, so it looks a bit like he’s walking a dog.” The fact that such thrilling out-
Spaces
Newest homes on the market Sneak a peek {pages 22-27}
door experiences are literally in every Canadian’s backyard astonished Boorman. “We don’t have that in Europe. You can’t just drive out of town for an hour and have these kind of amazing experiences in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “I think we’re all a little guilty of not appreciating what we have, but it seems Canadians enjoy it more. It’s staggering how much playground you guys have here.” Extreme Frontiers’ producers are working on international television deals, so Canadians will
Special feature
soon be able to see their country through Boorman’s eyes. So how did the explorer cap his Canadian journey? By taking the time to enjoy the view. “It’s pretty spectacular staring at the ocean,” a content Boorman, sitting in a chair overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Tofino, said Monday evening. “The road heads down to the beach and Canada just disappears.” Sometimes, it’s the small things that matter — no matter how grand the adventure.
Politics
Make your own NDP caucus fun this summer backs Turmel Get creative {pages 28-31}
MP made leader {page 6}