I find this is a useful tool for route checking in foreign lands.
http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/home.do At the bottom of the page you can select country,region,type of trail. The ones to look for are offroad 4x4, trailbike trails and even mountain bike trails as these are often just unsurfaced tracks. I'm guessing you will be going for a fairly direct and non to challenging (Muchalarnick type) route.
Hi Rob, thanks for that but it would depend on me being able to get the 'net whilst travelling...? I've asked my neighbour, who is off the Riga and then Russia on Thursday, to get me an atlas of Russia showing teh roads. I'll have plenty of time on the trip so I don't mind 'map & compass' navigation.