Left or Right Wheel

Why a random walk beats a planned route sometimes

A planned route only ever takes you where you already decided to go. It can never surprise you with a street or a shop you would not have thought to seek out deliberately. Spinning left or right at every junction removes that planning entirely, and the resulting route regularly passes through places a deliberate plan would have walked straight past.

Running an actual random-walk day out

Pick a rough starting point, then spin at every junction and follow whichever direction comes up, letting the route build itself one intersection at a time. Keep a loose note of the general direction travelled so far. Finding the way home again is still worth being able to do, without retracing every single turn.

Adding a third option for longer exploring

Add "straight on" as a third segment when a walk needs to cover more ground rather than doubling back on itself constantly. A pure left-or-right wheel tends to curl a route back toward its own starting point fairly quickly. A straight-ahead option lets the walk travel further before the turns start bringing it home again.

Why this reliably produces places you would never choose

Left and right carry no information about which direction leads somewhere more interesting, which is exactly the point. A route chosen deliberately reflects existing knowledge and preference. A spun route reflects neither, which is precisely why it tends to surface streets and small discoveries a planned walk through familiar territory would never lead to.

Using the same mechanic beyond walking

The identical two-option spin works for choosing a seat on public transport, picking a queue at a checkout with two equally short lines, or deciding which direction to walk around a museum floor. Anywhere a genuinely arbitrary two-way choice needs an answer, the same mechanic applies regardless of context.