The Raven Brothers' Trans-Siberian Adventure

Driving the Trans-Siberian

The Raven Brothers drove Russia's new Trans-Siberian Highway eight years before it was completed. During the journey to Vladivostok, their beat-up saloon crashed through endless rivers and canyons. It has been quoted as the most epic Russia road trip adventure ever!

Have you ever wanted to get into your car and just keep driving? To abandon routine and commitment in favor of adventure? That's precisely what The Raven Brothers decided to do while stacking boxes of frozen oven chips in a -30°C freezer. The UK travel writers, who were not petrol heads and knew nothing about internal combustion engines, started their rusted Ford Sierra Sapphire and headed east. 

Not expecting to reach Poland, the pioneering brothers miraculously arrived in Vladivostok, Siberia, on the Sea of Japan. They had driven the entire length of the new Amur Highway before it was finished, which spans Russia and Siberia over a 6,200-mile stretch of cracked tarmac and potholes. They also crossed the notorious Zilov Gap on the border with Asia. This 400-mile (640-kilometer) swamp was long considered impassable.

Along the way, our faithful heroes drink vodka with Chechen criminals, avoid highway robbery, trade banana-flavored condoms with Russian cops, meet the eccentric and plain weird at truck stops in darkest Siberia, endure torturous road conditions, and race to the finish with the Germans.      

In this toe-curling comedy about extreme road trips, The Raven Brothers must confront their worst fears after barely making it through this insane journey.            

ROUTE

The United Kingdom.

France.

Germany.

Poland.

Lithuania.

Latvia.

Estonia.

Russia -

St. Petersburg.

Ivanovo.

Nizhny Novgorod.

Kazan.

Yekaterinburg.

Omsk.

Novosibirsk.

Kemerovo.

Krasnoyarsk.

Irkutsk.

(Lake Baikal)

Perm.

Chita.

(Zilov Gap)

Mogocha.

Khabarovsk.

Vladivostok.

Eight time zones.

VEHICLE 

1989 Ford Sierra Sapphire. 

Miles on the clock: 120,000. 

Previous owner: A businessman from Wolverhampton.

Vehicle cost: $500 in cash from a used car dealership. 

Condition. Rusty bucket. The engine refuses to turn off, and the tracking moves to the left. Positives: Sunroof.

EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES 

Spare tire.

jack.

oil.

a box of string.

fuses.

rope.

an old bicycle inner tube.

a squeaky foot pump.

tin foil.

exhaust paste.

compass.

sellotape.

Their grandad's screwdriver from the 1930s.

phrasebook.

and the brilliant John "Lofty" Wiseman's SAS Survival Guide.

RISK FACTOR 

Seven possible dangerous situations:

1. Break down in the middle of nowhere and get eaten by a pack of wolves or bears.

2. Chased by a group of enraged Siberian forest men. 

3. Accidentally skinned alive by nomadic reindeer herders. 

4. Robbed by bandits. 

5. Cooked in a forest fire. 

6. Hit a deep pothole. 

7. Get lost in the wilderness forever!