Google Maps throws users off the deep end

Google Maps

Google Maps appears to have been designed with a sense of humour, if its directions from Chicago to London are to be believed.

A request for directions advises users to drive from the Windy City to Boston and go to the city's Long Wharf. The next instruction reads: 'Swim the Atlantic Ocean - 3,462 miles.'

The software then tells the user to swim east, turn slightly northwards after Nova Scotia then head for Le Havre.

The hapless traveller would then have to go to Boulogne, don water wings again and swim to Dover before heading to London.

While many people swim the English channel each year, only one man has managed to swim the Atlantic. French-born Benoit Lecomte swam the ocean in 1998, taking 72 days and eight wetsuits to make the epic crossing.