CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 345 km round trip from Oulu - roughly 5 h 12 in the saddle. The stops in between: TORNEA Alatornion kirkko, PERRA-VAARA Perävaara and back through TORNEA Alatornion kirkko. It crosses from Finland into Sweden - carry ID and check the toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Oulu is the biggest city in northern Finland and sits where the Oulu River meets the Gulf of Bothnia, on land so flat that the horizon seems to go on without a bump. For centuries it was a tar port. Pine tar from the forests inland, vital for waterproofing wooden ships, was floated down the river and shipped out to Europe, and in the early nineteenth century Oulu was one of the world's largest tar exporters. When steam and steel replaced wood, the city turned to timber, then to technology, and today it is known for a big university and a strong electronics industry.
Read the complete Oulu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Oulu is where the day begins. Next is TORNEA Alatornion kirkko.
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.
Read the complete TORNEA Alatornion kirkko write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
TORNEA Alatornion kirkko comes up about 134 km into the recorded legs. Next is PERRA-VAARA Perävaara.
Perävaara is a modest hill in the Swedish Tornedalen, a little north of Haparanda, and it is one of the points of the Struve Geodetic Arc. Between 1816 and 1855, the astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve and his teams measured a chain of triangles stretching from Hammerfest on the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, over two and a half thousand kilometres, to determine the exact size and shape of the Earth. The survey points were marked on hilltops, church towers and rocks, and the surviving ones in ten countries were listed by UNESCO in 2005. At Perävaara, the station is a small marker on the summit, with a sign explaining its place in the chain. Struve's neighbours on the arc nearby include Jupukka and Pullinki, both a short ride away.
Read the complete PERRA-VAARA Perävaara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 172 km into the recorded legs you reach PERRA-VAARA Perävaara. Next is back through TORNEA Alatornion kirkko.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete TORNEA Alatornion kirkko write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through TORNEA Alatornion kirkko, late in the day. Next is Oulu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Oulu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Oulu. That is the ride.
Oulu → TORNEA Alatornion kirkko is 134 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
TORNEA Alatornion kirkko → PERRA-VAARA Perävaara is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
PERRA-VAARA Perävaara → back through TORNEA Alatornion kirkko is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through TORNEA Alatornion kirkko → Oulu is 136 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.