NOT even G. K. Chesterton ever imagined that the rolling English road from Nottingham to Bideford, Devon, went by way of Dublin, Cork and Brittany.

His poetic imagination, which got us to Birmingham via Beachy Head, and to Paradise through Kensal Green cemetery, has been far exceeded by the RAC, whose online route-finding service has been directing motorists from the East Midlands to Devon via the Irish Republic and western France, avoiding motorways but involving three ferries.

Drivers who followed RAC advice would have found themselves embarked on an exhausting two-day expedition of 1,070 miles through three countries. Even the most cursory glance at a road atlas would show that the journey can be accomplished without a boat.

The problem appears to have been corrected. When The Times visited the website yesterday, requesting no motorway driving, it offered a route of 248 miles via Nuneaton, Coventry, Bristol and Bridgwater, in Somerset. Total estimated driving time: 6 hours and 40 minutes.

An embarrassed RAC spokeswoman could only conclude that the route-finder had suffered a technical fault. Still, it would have been a scenic drive. Its first instruction, to take the A52 Derby road, seemed sound enough. Having been directed to Chester, the wary motorist’s suspicions might have been stirred by the next order, to take the A55 to Holyhead. “After 122 yards take the 2nd exit off the Llanfawr Road, exit off the roundabout and continue to the Holyhead to Dublin ferry,” the instructions said. Any sensible driver would have become convinced by now that he was being directed all round the houses.

Things got worse. Having arrived on Irish soil, the motorist was then directed to Cork via Shannon and Limerick. Picturesque, undoubtedly. Long, most certainly. Wrong direction, don’t tell me.

Now separated from Bideford by the Irish Sea, the motorist was instructed to hop on the ferry from Cork to Roscoff in France. Next: catch the first ferry back to Plymouth.

Ah, Devon at last; plain sailing from there on in, straight up the A386. Instruction no 94 on the recommended route was a huge sigh of relief. “You are now entering Bideford.” Mark McArthur-Christie, of the Association of British Drivers, concluded yesterday that there must have been a bug in the RAC’s software. “I hope no one ever actually tries this route.”

Many drivers dislike motorways, and use route-finder websites to avoid them. Mr McArthur-Christie said: “This shows that there is no substitute for a map and a bit of local knowledge.”

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