Some side-paths lead through wildly fascinating groves of trees and flowers that entrance the eye. Some are just hard slogging, rough and unrewarding. Many travelers who go down the side paths never return, but a few push on along each to the end, and find themselves back on the road to truth. Sometimes they are a bit battered for the experience, and sometimes they've had to backtrack to recover the true path. Further down the valley, orchards start to appear along the road, full of trees laden with fruitful error.
Some travelers stop for a taste, and then move on.
Some stay there, feeding on error for the rest of their lives. But the road is always in front of them, waiting for them. It will never go away. At the end of the valley the river broadens out still more, and there is a last spur of rock standing at the edge of the fertile plain. Most travelers, reaching here, think they have finally arrived.