Some of the most important monuments in the world are very small. Lille-Reipas, on a hill above the town of Alta in far northern Norway, is one of them. It is one of the points of the Struve Geodetic Arc, a chain of survey stations running from Hammerfest on the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, about 2,800 kilometres, that was used in the nineteenth century to measure the size and shape of the Earth. UNESCO listed the surviving points in 2005, and a simple marker is all that stands at most of them.
The survey, led by the astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve, took decades, from 1816 to 1855, and relied on triangulation, with observers on hilltops looking across forests and lakes to the next point. The work crossed what are now ten countries and several empires, and it gave one of the first accurate measurements of the Earth's curvature. Standing here, on a hill in the Arctic, you are on the northern end of that chain, and the view across the fjord and birch scrub shows why the site was chosen.
Alta itself is worth the visit. It is the largest town in Finnmark, with about twelve thousand people, a cathedral clad in titanium that is known as the Northern Lights Cathedral, and a long tradition of Sami culture. Its most famous treasure is the rock carvings at Hjemmeluft, listed by UNESCO in 1985, thousands of years old, showing reindeer, boats and people. The Alta river runs through the Sautso canyon, often described as Europe's largest, and is renowned for its salmon. In the late 1970s a fight over a dam on the river became a landmark in the history of Sami rights.
Riding around Alta is open and relaxed. The E6 runs through town with long, straight stretches, wide views and few vehicles outside summer, and side roads lead to quiet fjord shores. Reindeer are common, and wind can be strong. The ground is bare of trees in places, and the midnight sun lasts from late May to late July. Mosquitoes can be a trial in summer, so keep the visor closed.
Fuel is easy in Alta, with stations and shops, and it is the sensible place to fill up and eat. Beyond, the Finnmark distances are long, and services are far apart.