Võivere is a village in the middle of the Pandivere upland, and it gives its name to one of the old triangulation points of the Struve Arc, which Struve's team knew by the German name Woibifer. Today the spot is quiet, a place of fields, farm buildings and a small marker explaining what happened here two centuries ago. The surrounding landscape is the real subject: an open plateau of limestone and glacial deposits, where the ground is just high enough to see across the plain and where villages are strung along the road at generous intervals.
Pandivere is also a sensitive area for groundwater. The limestone is porous, and rainwater drains straight through it into the aquifer below, which feeds springs and rivers across northern Estonia, so farming here is carefully regulated. You might notice a number of boulders in the fields, erratics dragged here by the ice sheets and left behind when they melted, and some of them are huge. In spring the meadows fill with wood anemones and cowslips, and in summer the cornfields wave in the wind. This part of Estonia is quiet in every sense, and the loudest sound you are likely to hear is a cuckoo.
The roads around Võivere are a mixture of narrow asphalt and gravel, and they are often empty. Riding here is a matter of gentle rhythm, with long views and a lot of sky, and it is best in dry weather, when the gravel is firm. After rain, clay and mud can make the minor lanes slippery, so be cautious. The distances between towns are long, and mobile signal can be patchy in places, so carry a map or an offline route. Elk, hares and roe deer cross the roads at dusk, and the cycle of light in the long northern summer allows a late and unhurried ride.
Väike-Maarja, about nine kilometres away, is the nearest place with a shop, a fuel station and a cafe, and Tamsalu and Rakke have smaller facilities. Fill the tank in town and do not count on finding it in the countryside. Rye bread with smoked fish, sour cream and potatoes is a typical meal in local cafes. The smell of the place is of hay and woodsmoke, and on a calm evening the horizon seems very far away.