Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman have dropped a new moto-adventure on the world (this time, it’s titled Long Way Home). It’s been on the tube (or rather, on Apple TV) for a few days now. So what’s the story?

I’m gonna throw out a disclaimer here: Between flights across the continent and camping and family duty this week, I haven’t had enough spare time to sit down and watch any of this for myself. I did finally break down and sign up for Apple TV recently, so I expect I’ll get around to it … when riding season wraps up in the fall, maybe. Why watch a moto-show, when you can live it out for yourself?

But here’s the gist of what the reviewers are saying at this point. Some of them seem to think it’s an enjoyable enough show, but there’s no real tension. The Telegraph’s review opens with the following headline and sub-head:

Long Way Home, review: what Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman need to do is have more rows

The friends are reunited again on Apple TV+ for another Top Gear-style quest, but what it’s lacking is Top Gear-style grit

As we told you previously, this series’ story follows McGregor and Boorman running around European countries on vintage motorcycles (a 1974 Moto Guzzi Eldorado for McGregor, a BMW R75/5 for Boorman). Instead of a RTW rip, they’re on a Scotland-to-Scandinavia run, then off through the Baltics and then back across Europe through England, covering 10,000 miles over 17 countries in total.

Obviously, this makes for a much different trip without the challenges they faced in the wilderness regions of Africa, Asia and South America in their previous Long Way series. In his review for the Telegraph, Benji Wilson’s review writes:

There have been tweaks to the format to keep things interesting. Along with the new, circular route – one that begins and ends at (one of) McGregor’s houses and so allows for some celebrity nosing – this time they have rubbish bikes. Or “vintage,” depending on whether you like looking at motorbikes or riding them. This means you get a whole Pimp My Ride-style episode as their 50-year-old steeds are brought back to life, but it also means that the bikes are highly temperamental.

It would be enough to drive most people to distraction, but although this is McGregor and Boorman’s fourth outing in just over two decades, they get along just swell. That’s great for them, less so for Long Way Home, because the doctrine for this kind of blokeish, warm-ale and bad denim cannonball run is the Top Gear specials.

The Sunday Times review was more kind (see here for the whole thing), pointing out there was indeed some trouble along the way, although certainly not the same sort of trip as their previous jaunts:

If you enjoyed the prior three series, the Long Way Home is more of the same, and that’s no bad thing at all. If you’re a biker, it will also make you pine for the open road. One wonders if, with both gentlemen are now in their mid to late 50s (Boorman, 58, McGregor, 54), they’ll chalk this one up as their final televised adventure together and settle into old age without having to sleep in tents, risk serious injury and deal with the logistics of epic round-the-world journeys.

In The Upcoming, Christina Yang says the latest Long Way series is a “reflective follow-up” to the previous entries:

While The Long Way Home documents fewer natural challenges than its predecessors, the mechanical quirks and tribulations of the aged bikes are shown with dramatic flair, highlighting the inherent risks of traversing empty roads on unpredictable vehicles. The absence of the extreme landscapes featured in previous installments is apparent at first, but the series ultimately finds its identity in the quieter moments.

So should you watch? Maybe it depends on whether or not you can actually go riding yourself? If so, maybe you want to save this for a rainy day. YMMV…