I thought about it but then I realized they were all sleeping so

I feel like there's sort of a strange stigma surrounding "the beaten path" and I kind of have a problem with it. 

A few months ago I was trawling for info on the PCT (thank Cheryl Strayed for my odd fixation with it) and I stumbled upon the acronym: HYOH. It means, "Hike Your Own Hike". I think this perfectly sums up the problem with the 'beaten path' and the disdain that seems to surround it. 

I've been on the beaten path. I've been off it, too. I wasn't disappointed by either. 

Beaten path? This monster paved that path.

But it all boils down to this: are you hiking your own hike? Are you walking your own trail? I'm not going to put a price or a label on the joy I felt when I watched the hilarious, garish light show of le Tour Eiffel or when I stood at the peak of the white caterthun in Brechin. A piece of modern art that looks like scaffolding has no more or less right to exist or be loved than a Pictish fort. It is what life is: a clean-cut matter of opinion. 

There's is a path that runs neatly around Hamilton Marsh, but it's hardly a beaten one.
 

I'm not sure any path, by definition, can really be unbeaten. Wherever you go, someone's been there before. It's the problem I have with articles like this (don't hate me! I actually love Buzzfeed. Buzzfeed is my encyclopaedia, and I'm amazed I could spell encyclopaedia) that discount the travel experiences of people who walk the 'beaten path'. Buzzfeed says that "literally everyone" has been to the Great Pyramids of Giza, to which I have to reply...

And?

Does that mean that the Pyramids are now not worth seeing? Instead, they encourage travellers to visit Petra, an ancient city in Jordan. Petra is breathtaking - one of my must-sees - but can't we see both? Can't we hike our own hike without being judged by "literally everyone"?

There's a reason why the so-called "beaten path" has been treaded by so many. Because it's worth treading. The Palace of Versailles and the Marrakech Medina are worth seeing. Go to Edinburgh and Toronto and Brazil's carnival if you want to. I think those are today's key words: if you want to. Go where you want to go; do what you want to do. Travel where you want to travel. You don't deserve to be judged for wanting to see popular attractions or monuments. 

There's a reason why they're popular.