I’m currently trying to get in better shape and to that end have started dieting and cycling in my local area. For motivation, I’ve decided to try to ‘virtually’ cycle from John O’Groats (henceforth JOG) in the north of Scotland to Land’s End (LE) in the south of England.

To do this, I measure how far I cycle each day (locally) and record my progress, which I then use to map where I would be on the route Google Maps recommends for cycling (I’m handwaving altitude comparisons because it’s just for fun).

Ok, so - Maps says the recommended cycling route from JOG to LE is 965 miles. Fine. I’ve covered 21.1 miles so far (I’ve only just started and am not very fit).

Now, on the full 965 mile route, that 21.1 miles gets me to a small village called Haimer. However, if I ask Maps to plot me a route from JOG to Haimer, Maps says it’s only 18.7 miles.

I’ve tried the same thing with other towns on the route, and the same is true there too - there’s a roughly 10% disparity, even though the route being plotted is identical. A few yards here or there I could understand, but a 10% difference?? FFS.