A Long Walk Through the Mountains

Later this year, a blockbusting survival epic will hit cinemas, courtesy of Peter Weir (Master and Commander and The Truman Show). The Long Walk, starring Colin Farrell and Ed Harris, is based on best-selling novel The Way Back, by Polish WWII veteran Slawomir Rawicz.

The story echos the real-life odyssey of Witold Glinski, who escaped from a Soviet labour camp in Siberia, crossing the Himalayas, Tibet and the Gobi Desert, to British India. In May, three young Polish mountaineers set out to follow in his footsteps.

The young adventurers are allowing themselves only the bare essentials that were available to their WWII forebears - they do not expect to be back in Warsaw before mid-November. 87-year-old Glinski, who has lived in the UK since the war, is wishing the lads every success, and believes they're fully up to the job.