Two countries share this river valley, and two currencies, and, curiously, two clocks, since Finland is an hour ahead of Sweden. Tornio on the Finnish side and Haparanda on the Swedish are twin towns divided by the Torne river, and the line between them is a short bridge. The big grey church of Alatornio stands on the Finnish bank a few kilometres upstream, a stone building from the late eighteenth century, in a region where wooden churches are far more common. The Torne itself flows free of dams, one of the great wild rivers of Europe, and every spring its ice breaks up in a spectacular rush.
The country around here is flat and watery, with pine and birch forest, marshes and long straight roads. Riding is easy, with smooth asphalt, modest traffic and strictly enforced speed limits on both sides of the border. Elk and reindeer can wander onto the road, so be careful at dusk, and in midsummer the sun barely sets, so you can ride in a pale, golden light at midnight. Winter is brutal, with ice and darkness, and the riding season is short, roughly from May to September. Mosquitoes in early summer are fierce, so bring repellent.
Haparanda has nearly seven thousand people and Tornio over twenty-one thousand, so fuel, food and shops are plentiful, and the border is open, with no formal checks on most days. Haparanda is known, perhaps unexpectedly, for a large IKEA store that opened in the 2000s as a deliberate boost to the town, and the two towns share a town square straddling the border. A few kilometres up the river, the rapids at Kukkolaforsen are famous for whitefish, caught with long-handled nets in the old way and served grilled at the local restaurant.
Both languages are spoken here, along with Meänkieli, a Finnic tongue native to the Swedish side. People switch easily between Swedish, Finnish and English, and will often pay in euros or kronor without fuss. After a day on the road, order grilled whitefish with boiled potatoes and dill, a northern classic, and let the sunlight linger.