In the countryside of Satakunta, west Finland, a low forested ridge hides thirty-odd heaps of stone laid down more than three thousand years ago. Sammallahdenmäki is a Bronze Age burial site, with granite cairns up to several metres across, built by people who lived along what was then the coast. When these cairns were raised, the sea lapped nearby. Since then the land has been rising, still lifting after the weight of the ice sheet, and the shore has retreated kilometres, leaving the graves stranded on the hill among spruce and pine. UNESCO added the site to its list in 1999.
The most unusual structure is known as the Church Floor, Kirkonlaattia, a rectangular pavement of big, flat stones, with no known parallel in Finland. A short, well-marked path loops among the cairns, so you can walk the ridge in an hour, with moss underfoot and the sound of wind in the trees. The cairns are protected, so do not climb on them or move stones. The ridge feels remote, but the road is a few minutes away.
Lappi and Eurajoki are small places nearby, and the nearest real town is Rauma, about fourteen kilometres off, a seaport with a beautifully preserved old wooden quarter, also a UNESCO site, and a tradition of bobbin lace. Rauma has fuel, restaurants and a few small hotels. Eurajoki is known mostly for the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant, whose reactors stand on the coast to the west.
The riding in this part of Finland is flat, smooth and a little monotonous, which is a fair description of most Finnish roads, though that is also their charm. Long straights run through forest and farm, with fine asphalt and strict speed limits enforced by cameras, so keep an eye on the signs. Elk and deer cross at dusk, and a collision can be serious. In June the sun barely sets, and the roads are empty and glowing. Autumn colours in September are superb, and winter is for those with studded tyres only.