A method is provided for detour routing in a mesh network that includes nodes and bi-directional links connecting neighboring nodes. The method identifies any primary links useable to decrease a path distance from a source to a destination node. The method randomly selects one primary link for use, responsive to identifying more than one primary link that is non-defective. The method identifies any secondary links useable to decrease the path distance and orthogonal to a primary link, responsive to the primary links being defective. The method randomly selects one secondary link for use, responsive to identifying more than one secondary link that is non-defective. The method identifies any tertiary links useable to decrease the path distance and reverse in direction to a primary link, responsive to the secondary links being defective. The method sends a packet from the source to the destination node using the identified tertiary links.