The lonely road to Europe's Arctic edge

Most visitors come to Norway for its dramatic western fjords. But the country's most extraordinary drive heads in the opposite direction – into a treeless Arctic wilderness where Europe finally runs out.

In Norway's remote far north-east, the small town of Tana Bru sits at the crossroads of four very different worlds. Across the river and to the north, a quiet road leads over a high plateau to the forgotten fishing village of Kongsfjord. South lies the Sami community of Karasjok. South-east is Kirkenes and the Russian border. But the true treasure lies in a shore-hugging road that takes you further east than any other in Western Europe.

This is the E75. It branches east from the E6 – Norway's longest road, which runs 2,578km (1,602 miles) from south of Oslo to Kirkenes. Here, the traffic falls away and the landscape begins to feel like nowhere else in Norway. Unlike the country's natural drama further south-west there are no cliffs, no green meadows; only a narrow strip of tarmac that unfurls beneath a long line of mountains, along a narrow coastal plane above the widening inlet of Varangerfjorden. I can no longer see tourist Norway, not even in the rear-view mirror.

I've only been driving for about 20 minutes when, out on the shoreline, the sun picks out the white-spired structure of Nesseby Church, one of the loveliest in Norway, as storm clouds gather and purple mountains that could be Norway, could be Russia, provide a backdrop far across the water. Poignant and glistening from a distance, the church is so perfect it feels like a miracle. And perhaps it is. Built in 1858, it was one of few buildings to survive the scorched-earth destruction of defeated German soldiers as they retreated at the end of World War Two. Up close, wild seabirds wheel and screech in strong winds, dodging the spire as they go.

A little further on, after rounding a headland where the road is all that separates mountain and sea, the E75 eases down into Vestre Jakobselv, a narrow village of colourfully painted wooden homes fringed with A-frame racks where salted cod, hung like Polaroid prints, dries in sub-Arctic winds.

One of Norway's 18 National Scenic Routes, the Varanger Scenic Route follows the E75 and Fv341 for 160km (99 miles) from Varangerbotn to Hamningberg, tracing the country's remote Arctic coastline. Allow a full day, although two days gives time to explore Vadsø, Vardø and Ekkerøy.

Best time to go: June to September for long daylight hours and wildlife. Winter offers snow-covered landscapes and the Northern Lights but requires confidence driving in Arctic conditions.

Around 18km later, I reach Vadsø. Vadsø is what passes for a city in these parts despite a population of fewer than 6,000 souls. It is shrouded in low clouds and its streets are empty. The view out into the frigid Barents Sea runs only for a few hundred metres before disappearing into sea-level mists. On land, the rain comes in horizontal sheets. It feels like Siberia.

"In winter, this would be a good day," Astrid Carlsen, a local hotel manager out walking her dog, tells me.

When I venture that it must be a........

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