Navigation apps have changed how we travel, and mostly for the better. They find routes, dodge traffic and get us to unfamiliar places without the old paper-map arguments. But anyone who relies on them completely soon discovers their limits, especially in a town like Kettering.
An app knows the roads, but it does not know the roadworks that started this morning, the school gates that clog a street at exactly half past three, or the shortcut that avoids the level crossing when the barriers are down. Local knowledge fills the gaps that even the best software leaves open.
There is also the matter of the destination itself. Apps are confident right up to the point where they announce you have arrived, often at the wrong entrance, the back of a building, or a spot with nowhere to stop. Someone who knows the area knows where the actual door is and where you can pull in safely.
The winding lanes of rural Northamptonshire are where this really shows. Postcodes cover large areas out in the villages, and following a pin on a map can leave you a field away from where you meant to be. Familiarity with the countryside turns a frustrating hunt into a straightforward arrival.
Technology and local knowledge work best together. The app handles the broad strokes, and experience of the town smooths out the details that make the difference between arriving on time and arriving eventually.