I usually trust my navigation app. It has helped me find places in unfamiliar towns. Last spring, however, it sent me towards a road that seemed to have disappeared.
I was cycling to a guesthouse near Lake Orin when the app told me to turn left after a small bridge. The road became narrow, then turned into a dirt track. After another hundred metres, I reached a metal gate. Beyond it, grass covered what looked like an old road. The app showed me continuing straight ahead.
I checked the map again. My blue arrow was moving, and the route still passed through the gate. I turned around and rode back a few metres. The app changed direction, then sent me towards the same gate again.
An older man was repairing a fence nearby. I asked whether there was a road beyond it. He shook his head. "Not for cars," he said. "There used to be a lane there, but the farm closed it years ago." He explained that the lane had once connected two villages. When the farm expanded, the owner put up the gate and planted grass over part of the track.
That sounded convincing, but I was not entirely sure. The man might have meant a different lane. The map could also have been using an old route, or the app might have mistaken a path for a public road. I could not tell which explanation was correct.
I rode back to the bridge and followed a signed cycle route instead. It took twenty minutes longer, but brought me safely to the guesthouse. Later, I checked the route on my laptop. The line still crossed the closed gate.
I sent a report to the app company, with a photograph of the gate and a note about the man's explanation. A week later, the route had changed. The app now sent cyclists along the signed route, although it did not explain why.
I still use the app, but I treat its instructions as suggestions when the real world disagrees. Perhaps the map was old, the path was wrongly classified, or the change had never reached the company. What I know for certain is simpler: a blue line on a screen can describe a route that no longer exists.
Fiction note: All people, places, locations and events in this text are fictional.