were laid out by following the path taken by a drunk cow. ~ of troy

Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,
The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire,
And after him the parson ran, the sexton and the squire;
A merry road, a mazy road, and such as we did tread
The night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head.

Excerpt from 'The Rolling English Road' by G.K. Chesterton

The Big Dig was underway when I was driving in Boston which complicated things still further. Several times I found myself undesignedly and irretrievably bound for Cambridge where I had to turn around, head back and try again!