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August 18, 2008
Goat Rhodes
We shall not believe the 'Must See' merchants on holiday - or indeed at home. Have you heard them?
'Oh, you must see this or that or the other!' they say.
Why?
Their 'must-see' is not yours; and neither is their 'don't see'.
A 'must see' gathers around it so much blindness. If you are told you must see something, there are immediately 99 things you do not see, as you scrabble for the presribed experience. The cat resting beneath the way side hedge is quite as important as the castle on the hill. But it isn't 'must see'.
Which reminds me of the Goat Way. Up above where we are staying, cutting across the sky line, is a huge outbreak of bare rock - sparse and sunbaked.
'Is there a path up?' I ask a local.
'There's no path, no.'
'So no way to the top?'
'No. Apart from the Goat Way.'
'The Goat Way?
'But only a fool -'
'Does the Goat Way take you to the top?'
'It takes you to snakes, scorpions and heat you have not known. Do you have proper walking shoes?'
'Er.. no.'
'Then I do not advise it.'
The Goat Way haunted me for the rest of my stay. I never trod it - and I wonder if I will regret this on my death bed. The Goat Way less travelled - agghh! I believed the 'Don't See' merchant; and that made all the difference.
Posted by Mr Bojangles at August 18, 2008 12:53 PM