Not exact, but so far to travel (2,1,4)
I believe the answer is:
of a sort
'not exact' is the definition.
(eg a job of a sort means not exactly a job)
'so far to travel' is the wordplay.
'travel' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen 'travels' mean this).
'so'+'far'+'to'='sofarto'
'sofarto' is an anagram of 'OF A SORT'.
'but' is the link.
(Other definitions for of a sort that I've seen before include "after a fashion" , "Vague, inexact" , "Roughly" , "Rough, inexact, inferior" .)