Excess Baggage - 17/10/2009

The urge to visit the scene of a family member's wartime experiences often follows the realisation of what dangers they have been through. Journalist Tom Carver's father escaped from a prison camp in Italy in 1943 and went on the run behind German lines. Tom found himself tracking down the Italian family who had helped him and exploring the cave in the Abruzzi countryside where his father had hidden out. Julie Summers's grandfather was the senior British officer building the bridge on the River Kwai, and when she went there she found the real story very different from the image given in the famous film - most notably the fact that it is still in use. John McCartthy also talks to Diego Torres, an award-winning tour guide from Ecuador, who explains that, although his country lies firmly on the Equator, it is far from being just Equatorial. It has a dazzling variety of landscapes from jungle to mountain plains, as well as the renowned Galapagos Islands.