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 387 km round trip from Pajala - roughly 6 h 00 in the saddle. On the way it passes PULLINKI Pullinki, AVASAKSA Aavasaksa, PERRA-VAARA Perävaara and back through AVASAKSA Aavasaksa. It crosses from Sweden into Finland - carry ID and check the toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Somewhere on a rocky hilltop above the Torne river, a small mark in the stone once helped answer a very old question: how big, and what shape, is the Earth? Kerrojupukka is one of the points of the Struve Geodetic Arc, a chain of triangulation stations that stretches roughly 2,800 kilometres from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea. Between 1816 and 1855, the Baltic German astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve and his teams measured it, hilltop by hilltop, working with tripods, signal towers and an extraordinary patience, and the result was one of the most accurate measurements of the Earth's size and flattening made up to that time. Thirty-four of the surviving points, spread across ten countries, were listed as a World Heritage site in 2005. Sweden's share lies up here in the Torne valley.
Read the complete KERROJUPUKKA Jupukka write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
KERROJUPUKKA Jupukka is where the day begins. Next is PULLINKI Pullinki.
Just north of the Arctic Circle, in the valley of the Torne river that forms the border between Finland and Sweden, stand some of the stations of the Struve Geodetic Arc. Between 1816 and 1855, the astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve and his teams measured a chain of triangles from the Arctic coast of Norway to the Black Sea, more than two thousand eight hundred kilometres, to determine the exact shape of the Earth. The arc is now a World Heritage Site spread over ten countries, and the points in the Torne valley, with names like Pullinki, Perävaara and Jupukka, are marked by drill holes and cairns on the hilltops.
Read the complete PULLINKI Pullinki write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
PULLINKI Pullinki comes up about 88 km into the recorded legs. Next is AVASAKSA Aavasaksa.
Aavasaksa is a wooded hill rising above the Torne river on the Finnish side of the border with Sweden, near the town of Ylitornio, just south of the Arctic Circle. It is a modest height, around 240 metres, but it has a remarkable history. In 1736 and 1737, a French expedition led by Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis came to the Torne valley to measure the length of a degree of latitude near the pole, and their observations helped prove that the earth is flattened at the poles, as Newton had predicted. Over a century later, Aavasaksa became one of the points of the Struve Geodetic Arc, the chain of survey stations running from Norway to the Black Sea, inscribed by UNESCO in 2005.
Read the complete AVASAKSA Aavasaksa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 134 km into the recorded legs you reach AVASAKSA Aavasaksa. 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.
PERRA-VAARA Perävaara, about halfway. Next is back through AVASAKSA Aavasaksa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete AVASAKSA Aavasaksa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through AVASAKSA Aavasaksa sits at 261 km, about halfway. Next is back through PULLINKI Pullinki.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete PULLINKI Pullinki write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through PULLINKI Pullinki comes up about 298 km into the recorded legs. Next is KERROJUPUKKA Jupukka.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete KERROJUPUKKA Jupukka write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
KERROJUPUKKA Jupukka closes the day.
KERROJUPUKKA Jupukka → PULLINKI Pullinki is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
PULLINKI Pullinki → AVASAKSA Aavasaksa is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
AVASAKSA Aavasaksa → PERRA-VAARA Perävaara is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
PERRA-VAARA Perävaara → back through AVASAKSA Aavasaksa is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through AVASAKSA Aavasaksa → back through PULLINKI Pullinki is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through PULLINKI Pullinki → KERROJUPUKKA Jupukka is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.