I'm never trusting Google Maps again!

I had a few hours to myself this afternoon so I thought I'd try and get out and about to photograph some listed buildings for the website a few folk on the forums were using. Using Google Maps I'd found a few less than 10 minutes walk away from me but in doing so discovered a path/road that went behind the housing scheme and the hospital before joining up with the river and back up to the main road.

I've fell for this one before with Googles mysterious non-existent roads and so double checked the satellite photos as well and sure enough there was the road disappearing off into the trees.

I wandered down after taking an absolute age to get my gear together only to find the path I was to take to get to this road didn't exist. What had been a hardcore topped path from the scheme to the road was a huge bush but luckily the map said that if I walked around to the next street I could join the road properly. That was fine except the map told me to walk through a fence and across someones back garden to get to it. I guess the maps need a little updating.

Finally I found my way onto the path and was doing great until I turned a corner, stepped on the stones to get across a small boggy section where the road just disappeared and when I turned back to see where I'd came from the stones fell over into the bog. I couldn't go back and from this point on there was no road. Google Maps still insisted that I was on it though and it's photos were proof enough as far as it was concerned. Put politely I was lost.

That's when my sister in law phoned to say she was about to drop Findlay off at the house.

I made it back to dry land and the cycle path I was aiming for eventually but what was to be a short 30 minute photo walk turned into a 4km walk through a bog and I think I managed five photos before standing still to take them became the first step in sinking without trace.

I do like this one but it certainly wasn't worth the walk :)