Daytime: Is the Earth really round? Round as in completely spherical? That’s a question that busied scientists for hundreds of years. Wilhelm Struve took on the task to find out what the globe actually looked like. His meridian arc, from Odessa on the Black Sea to Hammerfest in Norway, showed among other things that the Earth is not a perfect sphere, but flatter at the poles. Struve’s arc is a World Heritage and four measuring points are located in the Swedish part of the Torne Valley, among them this one at Jupukka which gives us an idea of how laborious the project using triangulation from Odessa to Hammerfest must have been.

It’s a long way to the next height, the mountain Tynnyrilaki in Kiruna municipality. The path from the parking to the measuring point is steep, perhaps 600 metres long, and constantly uphill. But you’re rewarded with a fantastic view from the top of Jupukka once you’ve arrived. The mountain is sometimes called ‘the green peak’, as it’s still a grass-covered slope after generations having used it as pasture. There are nice barbecue areas here, too.

Afternoon:
In the afternoon you go to Vassikavuoma. It’s old marshland that was used for haymaking and now it’s a nature reserve. Its total size is 250 hectares. Once there were more than 200 log barns here where the hay was stored, and 82 of them remain. There’s a project in place to preserve the unique biotope created here by resuming the haymaking and renovating barns. The wetlands are flooded annually and it’s a great environment for birds.

Around 70 different bird species have been surveyed around the marsh, and the vegetation is one of a kind. Parts of the area have been adapted for those with reduced mobility and provides good footbridges that partly work for wheelchairs, but adaptations are not in place throughout.

When you return to Pajala you have a caffe latte at Älvbodan, just across the street from the hotel. The old bank premises have become both a café and an interior design shop. While enjoying your coffee, you google other things you could have done. An excursion to Kengisforsen rapids of course: one of the best fishing spots in the world for salmon fishermen. The mansion in Kengis played a big role in the area’s northernmost industrial history.

You could also have taken your car to Sattajärvi and Kero shoes outlet and shop. Another brand with a rich cultural history in this part of the world is Lovikkavanten, traditional knitted mittens. But since the summer is warm here in the square, you enjoy your coffee without mittens. You can hear people at the café talking about a sandy beach and they give you the location, down past the health centre. You gather your swimming trunks and a towel, have a latte to-go and head off for an afternoon swim.

Packing up: Well, your intention was to move on, but you stay another night at the hotel. You have Thai food at Dansai, next to the state off-licence. In a way it’s a blessing that not all food is reindeer, Arctic char and other animals. There’s another life in the north. The life of those who have chosen to move here.

Further up along the river valley there is experience accommodation in Kangosfors, at Lapland Guest House and Pinetree Lodge, as well as Arctic River Lodge in Tärendö. Any pike fishermen would probably have booked their stay at Camp Juno in Junosuando. Before you go to bed you tell Mikael that you’ve heard from a friend that he is “a hell of a cocktail maker”. He laughs and says that at least he can make something other than a ‘Pajala Sunrise’ (vodka with a slice of Falukorv sausage), so you order a Lynchburg Lemonade.

“Coming up right away,” says Mikael and the inn feels just like at home.