The Zilov Gap was a 400 mile (640 km) roadless section in Central Siberia where there was no east-west road - the only communication was via the Trans-Siberian Railway[1]. The Zilov Gap was a major challenge to long-distance overland expeditions and nearly caused the end of the Mondo Enduro expedition; the Long Way Round trip avoided it altogether.[2]
Notorious for the muddy terrain where 300 metres progress can take 3 hours[3] and its numerous serious river crossings, the Zilov Gap was first crossed in 2000 by the Terra Circa expedition.[4]
There is a well established road route round the north of Lake Baikal which follows the Baikal Amur Mainline line.[5]
There is a new road from Khabarovsk to Chita which was under construction in 2005, see article (with link to map in Russian) [6]and photos.[7] The remaining 2 km gap on the southern route was about to be filled in. The road was then used to export used cars from Japan.[5][7]
Eastbound travellers on M58 highway (Russia) would load their cars onto cars of the Trans-Siberian Railroad at Chernyshevsk for the 800-km trip to Magdagachi (at least this was the case in 2001.[8]). The Chernyshevsk-Magdachi gap is just north of the northernmost part of Manchuria.