The Finnmark plateau is one of the emptiest places in Europe, and a surveyor in 1850 would have thought the same. Baelljasvarri, a modest hill in the Sami heartland of northern Norway, is one of the points that Friedrich Struve's expedition used for the great meridian arc, which ran from this Arctic country down to the Black Sea, and it is part of the World Heritage listing. The surveyors worked here in the 1840s, hauling instruments up bare hills and building cairns to sight from one to the next, in a climate that allows only a short working season. Summer was when they came, and with the midnight sun they could work all night.
The land is the Finnmarksvidda, a rolling upland of tundra, dwarf birch, bogs and thousands of small lakes, at about three hundred metres above the sea, and the home of the Sami reindeer herders. The roads are long and nearly empty, so you can ride for an hour without meeting a car, and the largest hazard is a reindeer wandering across the tarmac. Herds move over the plateau with the seasons, and in autumn and winter they are everywhere, often at dusk, so slow down. The surface is generally good, and the bends are gentle, but frost heaves can crack the asphalt, and strong winds are common.
Kautokeino, the town nearby, is the centre of Sami culture, with a Sami theatre, a school for reindeer herding and in March the Easter festival, with reindeer races and music. The language of the area is North Sami, and the signs are written in two languages. Sami silverwork, knives, and the bright wool clothing called gakti are sold at small shops. Reindeer meat, dried or stewed, is the local food, with cloudberries picked on the bogs in August. The aurora shows from late September through March, and the sky is dark and clear.
Fuel is the most important practical point. Stations are far apart, and often small, so fill the tank in Kautokeino or Alta, and carry some extra if you can. The best months to ride are June to September, when the days are long, and mosquitoes, which can be fierce in July, are a nuisance, so bring repellent and a head net. In winter the temperature drops to minus thirty or below, and the roads are covered in ice, making it a place for specialists only.